The Ministry of Culture would “fully support” an expected visit by the Prague Philharmonia to Taiwan next year, Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) said on Monday.
The ministry would also support the publication of translations of literary works from Taiwan and the Czech Republic, and continue to boost mutual exchanges, residencies and other projects by young artists, he said.
A delegation led by Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil that includes representatives from the Czech Republic’s arts and culture sectors on Monday visited the Taipei branch of the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute in Zhongzheng District (中正).
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Culture
At the institute, they met with Lee at an event that was closed to the media due to disease-prevention considerations, the ministry said.
Jiri Dedecek, president of the Czech branch of writers’ association PEN International, and Prague Philharmonia director Katerina Kalistova were among the Czech representatives who attended the meeting, the ministry said in a statement.
According to Kalistova, who invited orchestras from Taiwan to perform in the Czech Republic, the Prague Philharmonia is to perform in Taiwan in September and October next year, the statement said.
Vystrcil told the meeting that a person can gain an in-depth understanding of the “depth of [a nation’s] soul” through its music, the statement said.
Lee said that there have been other cultural exchanges between Taiwan and the Czech Republic, including a 2009 performance in Kaohsiung — when Lee was deputy mayor of the city — by former chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Zdenek Macal.
Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra have also performed in the Czech Republic, he said.
A solo exhibition featuring contemporary Czech artist Vladimir Kokolia, titled Inner Emigration: The Frame of an Image Is You is on view at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and has resonated with Taiwanese audiences, Lee said.
The exhibition runs through Oct. 18.
Toward the end of the meeting, Vystrcil presented Lee and the ministry with a Czech glass work of art, while Lee presented Vystrcil and his delegation with a Hakka-style blue-dyed scarf, the ministry said.
The delegation is to depart on Friday.
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