More than 150 students from the the orchestra and chorus of National Sun Yat-sen University wrapped up an island-wide concert tour yesterday with a sold-out performance at the Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center's Concert Hall in Taipei.
"We've always wanted our students' performance to be as good as professional, and indeed, they have demonstrated high-caliber performing skill that is no less than a professional orchestra," said Lee Mei-wen (李美文), chairwoman of the Department of Music at National Sun Yat-sen University
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
In their concert, entitled Music from West Bay the NSYSU orchestra and chorus treated the audience to performances such as the classic piece, Overture in the Italian Style in C, Opus 170, by Franz Schubert and a chorus from the Nelson Mass by Joseph Haydn.
Before making its last performance in Taipei, the university's orchestra and chorus had toured in Taichung and Pingtung, receiving passionate audience responses.
"NSYSU is an important cradle for music talents in southern Taiwan, but its music is less heard in the north," Lee told the Taipei Times yesterday.
"But judging from our box office, in which all tickets were sold out, I believe we've won the quiet yet solid confidence from the audience in northern Taiwan," she said.
"The reason for making our final stop in Taipei is to introduce our students to the best recital hall in Taiwan -- the Concert Hall of the CKS Cultural Center -- and to let more northern audiences learn what we've achieved in the past," said Lee, who is also the conductor of both the orchestra and chorus.
To add a special note to the performance, Lee introduced Hong Kong-based guest violin virtuoso, Yao Jue
"Yao is the representative for The Butterfly Lovers, as she is the first violinist to play this tune on TV, which made her name known to the world by playing this Chinese love story," Lee said.
Returning to Taiwan after a 10-year absence, Yao said "Taiwan has made tremendous improvements over the past decade, and it's an honor for me to perform together with these students who have shown a very sound skill."
Yao left Shanghai to study in San Francisco at the age of 16, under a full scholarship from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
She later graduated from the Julliard School of Music in New York where she studied under Dorothy DeLay.
"Yao's joining the orchestra has significantly inspired the students, who made quick progress in their performing techniques under guidance from a master instructor," Lee said.
"Never underestimate a person's talents when he or she is guided by a maestro in a perfectly tuned ambiance," Lee said, referring to the influence of Yao on the students.
"Sometimes they just can't play a tune right. But when Yao came, they make it in just one go," Lee said.
"All of them aim to enter a professional group for their future development. And by performing with a virtuoso, I think it's the best way to lead them to that door," Lee said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS