Taiwanese composer and performing arts promoter Hsu Po-yun (許博允) died on Monday at the age of 79 after battling cancer for years, said New Aspect, a foundation he had run for more than four decades to introduce global artists to Taiwan.
Hsu is believed to have died from organ failure caused by the cancer, which had spread.
His wife, flutist Fan Man-nong (樊曼儂), has been handling the day-to-day operations of the foundation, and would make the funeral arrangements, New Aspect public relations manager Emma Lee (李慧良) said on Monday.
Photo: Lin Mei-hsueh, Taipei Times
Further information would be released in the coming days, Lee added.
Born in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) in 1944, Hsu began studying music theory and violin under National Taiwan Normal University professor Hsu Tsang-houei (許常惠) in 1960 and published his first music pieces in 1962.
In the early 1970s, choreographer and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre founder Lin Hwai-min (林懷民) used several pieces composed by Hsu Po-yun for his dance pieces, including his solo performance Han Shih (寒食) in 1974.
Lin said that Hsu Po-yun had been one of the biggest supporters of the dance troupe when Cloud Gate was founded, and had helped with “raising funds, offering advice and giving the dance troupe its first audio recorder out of nowhere.”
Composer Lai Deh-ho (賴德和), who won the National Award for Arts, said Hsu Po-yun’s pieces were the result of his passion.
“They are avant-garde and creative,” Lai said, adding that Hsu Po-yun never played by the rules.
“One time, he could not finish a commissioned work, so he just went on stage and talked about the piece to the audience during a concert. Only he could do such an astonishing thing,” Lai said.
After New Aspect was founded by his father in 1978, Hsu Po-yun brought many international programs to Taiwan, so that the country could keep up with the world in the field of performing arts, Lai said.
“He opened a door for Taiwan to the world,” Ju Percussion Group founder and former National Performing Arts Center chairman Ju Tzong-ching (朱宗慶) said.
The New Aspect foundation has brought top class groups to Taiwan, such as Japanese drumming group Ondekoza, and created opportunities for young local percussionists through events including master classes, Ju said, praising Hsu Po-yun for his influential role in the development of percussion in Taiwan.
The numerous international artists New Aspect introduced to Taiwan included ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, tenors Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, and International Chopin Piano Competition winner Argentine pianist Martha Argerich.
New Aspect was also once the only organization that took Taiwanese artists overseas, including sculptor Ju Ming (朱銘) and groups such as Cloud Gate and Performance Workshop.
Despite all of his achievements, Hsu Po-yun’s journey was not always a smooth one. A grand outdoor concert he organized in 1997 featuring US singer Diana Ross, and tenors Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo generated massive losses because many people barged in and saw the performance for free.
Hsu Po-yun was found guilty in 2016 of sexually harassing an opera singer in 2012.
Last year, Hsu Po-yun marked his 60-year career as a composer with a collection of performances that included National Award for Arts holder and Peking opera actor Wu Hsing-kuo’s (吳興國) performance of Han Shih at the National Taichung Theater.
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