About 300 musicians are to perform at a 24-hour festival featuring the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) starting today.
Weiwuying chose Mozart for this year’s musical marathon following the success of its 24-hour Franz Schubert festival last year.
The performances are to take place from 5pm today to 5pm tomorrow at different areas of the arts center, with tickets selling from NT$400 to NT$1,200, depending on the time and program.
Photo: CNA
The arts center plans to make the 24-hour festival a regular feature in the first half of each year, Weiwuying general and artistic director Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬) told a news conference on Thursday.
Mozart is “an unpredictable musical genius,” Chien said, adding that his music is pure and spiritual, but his letters and scores reveal an approachable nature.
At times he projected a nonchalant spirit, but that is because all he cared about was music, he said.
About 300 performers are to bring his symphonies, concertos, operas, sonatas and chamber music to life at Weiwuying’s Concert Hall and Recital Hall, he said.
There would also be lectures on the musician’s life and work, as well as a screening of the director’s cut of the film Amadeus, which won eight Academy Awards, he said.
Weiwuying discussed with the performers which of Mozart’s more than 600 compositions to include in the program, he said.
Chamber music and a jazz adaptation of Mozart’s works are to be featured at 1am tomorrow, followed by piano solos at 3am to allow the audience to relax or even fall asleep on the comfortable seats in the halls, he said.
Chien said he is not worried about people snoring during the show, as “based on our observations, people are friendly and usually remind those who accidentally make noises by gently tapping them.”
Featured performers include the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra, the Counterpoint Ensemble, the Southern Taiwan Chamber Music Society, the Planetesimal Vocal Art Workshop and the Jia-yin Chamber Orchestra.
People can also visit Weiwuying’s Banyan Plaza, where the arts center has prepared a piano and a copy of the musical score of Mozart’s Twelve Variations on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” — and play their “13th Variation” of the popular composition.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS