The world’s top musicians will gather in Taiwan for a triennial percussion extravaganza later this month, presenting a wide range of musical styles.
Thirteen groups, three local and 10 international, and two individual percussionists, will join in the seventh installment of the Taiwan International Percussion Convention (TIPC), which was launched in 1992 by the renowned Taipei-based Ju Percussion Group (JPG).
The teams will stage 26 performances from May 20 to May 28 in eight venues across Taiwan — in Taipei, New Taipei City (新北市), Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County, Greater Taichung, Changhua County, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung.
“The festival has become a platform for local percussion bands to exchange new ideas with their counterparts from the international community over the past 20 years,” said Ju Tzong--ching (朱宗慶), founder of JPG.
He said fans may find the line-up of the groups familiar, because most of them have been invited to TIPC or other events in Taiwan, but each of the teams will perform new pieces that have not been played here before.
Two of the new groups joining this year are Ensemble 1002, a local group that will team up with Bulgarian-born percussionist Svet Stoyanov in two performances, and South Korea’s Hannuri Yeon-hee Dan.
NEW AND OLD
The more familiar acts include: the world’s oldest percussion band, Les Percussions de Strasbourg; Israel’s rising duo PercaDu; the Amsterdam Percussion Group, renowned for its classical and modern mix; the Percussion Ensemble Okada of Japan, Asia’s first percussion group; New Zealand’s Strike Percussion; Seoul Percussion Ensemble; and Azaguno from the US.
FROM THE HOSTS
The festival will begin with a performance by JPG, which will present a dozen of its commissioned works that were written by Taiwanese and international composers.
JPG will also debut two compositions at the upcoming concerts.
One was composed by John Psathas, the composer for the Athens Olympic Games, and the other by Emmanuel Sejourne, who is collaborating with JPG for the third time.
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