The Taipei Traditional Arts Festival 2010, one of Taiwan’s premier annual cultural events, highlights cross-border cooperation between Oriental traditional music and Western orchestral music, gathering world-acclaimed musicians from Taiwan and abroad in a series that will play out over three months in Taipei.

The 2010 Festival, which marks the 23rd anniversary of the event, will run from March 11 to June 5 in Jhongshan Hall, a venue with great historical significance, concluding with an eight-day international conference that hopes to find a way out for folk music.

Hosted by the Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO), which is also celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, this grand event pushes boundaries and presents an unprecedented mixture of East and West, traditional and modern arts.

"We hope audiences will see how TCO has grown in the past three years through these programs,” said TCO General Director Chung Yiu-kwong in the opening ceremony held March 11.

During the three-month session the TCO will be taking on a challenge by presenting a wide range of programs covering six themes – cello, theatre, music masters, classics, new voices and Silk Road series – and providing diverse choices that will satisfy audiences from 0 to 99 in age.

The Festival’s programs reveal a deep curiosity concerning cultures and music genres. The TCO has braved the challenge of crossing over the boundary between Eastern and Western music and sought to inspire a conversation between the two. Six ambitious themes with different focuses ensure that all music fans will find some favorites.

"Introducing Eastern music to the Western world is my top goal in planning the programs,” pointed out Chung. He added, “I hope this festival will help Western audiences to better understand and appreciate the beauty of Chinese traditional music.”

In the cello category, the Western cello, the lowest-pitched instrument in the violin family, teams up with its counterpart the erhu, known as the Chinese violin, to present three concerts. 

On May 8 and 9 there will be a duet that audiences won’t want to miss—Take a Bow, featuring highly-respected cellist Mischa Maisky and Shanghai erhu performer Ma Xiao-hui. This will be a cross-cultural music treat for Taiwan fans to feast on.

Farewell My Concubine is a piece based on a household story about a tragedy between the Emperor Xiang Yu and his concubine. This time Finland cellist Anssi Karttunen will portray Xiang’s imposing manner through the powerful and strong melody, while huqin player Jiang Ke-mei, a skilled talent in interpreting elegant and delicate tunes, will portray Yu’s graceful image. 

Audiences for the series will appreciate the two world premieres – Enjott Schneider’s symphonic poem Earth and Fire for sheng and orchestra, and Farewell My Concubine, the new piece revised by Chung Yiu-kwong.

To complement the concert which falls on May 29, the Tuvan throat-singing group Huun Huur Tu from south-central Siberia will also present the world premiere of Tuvan Impression.

Under the theatrical theme are three plays which fall under different genres, including Chinese Opera, Taiwanese Opera and children’s theatre, to meet the different needs of theatre fans.

Meng Xiaodong, a Chinese Opera Musical which is the opening performance of the Festival this year, features contemporary Chinese Opera diva Wei Hai-min with the Guo Guang Opera Company.  

Wei’s mastery in singing skills and deep research into the character has successfully reproduced some important life segments of Meng, a renowned Chinese Opera actress, in the role of Laosheng.

A Silk Banner from the Emperor is a period drama elaborating on the subject of justice. It will be presented by the Holo Taiwanese Opera Troupe, a group which enjoys a wide reputation among locals.

Traditional music is now not exclusive to elders but can also attract the attention of youngsters. IFKids Theater and the TCO will collaborate to present a concert entitled TCO’s Magic Stone, ready to usher the audience into the world of magic on April 9-11. “This program is designed to meet children’s needs and will help cultivate their interest in traditional music,” said Chung. 

Taipei Traditional Arts Festival 2010 also provides plenty of chances for Taiwan music fans to meet international music masters specializing in different musical genres.

Can you imagine what would happen if modern dance, pantomime and Chinese music were to appear on the same time on the stage? The Floating Musical Notes on April 24 will give you the answer. 

World-acclaimed pantomime master Philippe Bizot will perform under the floating notes of traditional Chinese music, following up his collaboration with the TCO in the Taipei Deaflympics 2009.

Two of the four pieces—Zhezhi Dance and Erhu Concerto No. 2 Meng Xiaodong, both new pieces by Chung, will be making their world debut at this time.   

Following Farewell My Concubine, Huun Huur Tu, which specializes in Mongolia’s unique ‘Overtone Singing’ , will team up with the Aashti Ensemble and sheng player Wu Wei, together with the TCO Ensemble, to present the concert Feel the Chemistry on May 30. Fans of diverse music will not want to miss the chance to feel the chemistry of voices from faraway Mongolia.  

Moment of Glory Reconstructed, as the title suggests, will transport the audience back to the era when today’s classics were new to the world.

Violist Yu Lina made her debut with Concerto for Violin and Chinese Orchestra Butterfly Lovers in 1959 when she was only 18 years of age. Pianist Yin Cheng-zong once prompted spectacular reviews with Piano Concerto Yellow River back in 1970.

The two masters will again fete audiences with these classical tunes on May 22 and 23.

In the Classic section, highlights include three performances, Cross-over 3, The Power of Movement and Vote on Orchestral Masterpieces.

Cross-Over 3 is the TCO’s plan to step away from Taipei and tour down to Taichung and Kaohsiung to give music fans a chance to appreciate traditional music.

The Power of Movement on March 27 will feature traditional Chinese music along with a performance by calligrapher Wu Zhenqi.

Vote on Orchestral Masterpieces will present two performances on June 2-3, and the program to be played will be up to the audience, who can visit http://suona.com/ and vote for their favorite classics. Chances are that your favorite will be played on stage for you.    

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the TCO, its counterpart in southern Taiwan, the Kaohsiung City Chinese Orchestra, will perform in this program. 

Time brings out the classics, and there is always a need to find new voices. Thus the TCO is reserving a spot on stage for other young performers, giving them the chance to be seen in the world.

The Taoyuan-based Chiuko Traditional Orchestra has been invited to present the program Colorful New Sound on May 1.

The TCO Civic Orchestra II will present Memories of the Past, covering Taiwanese folk songs with beautiful tones and graceful lyrics, including Longing for Spring Breeze, Come Back Soon and Memories of the Past, on May 15.

Aside from introducing new voices to the audiences, expansion of the repertoire of Chinese musical pieces is also of critical importance. The TCO therefore organized a competition for new compositions, and a total of eight pieces will be performed in the TCO 30th Annual International Composition Competition.

The Silk Road signifies a channel connecting East and West, and the TCO presents the Silk Road Series in this spirit. An Evening with the Kronos Quartet and Wu Man features the Kronons Quartet, a Grammy winner and one of the most influential contemporary chamber music groups, together with Chinese pipa master Wu Man.

Together they will explore and break down the boundaries between Chinese and Western string instruments. They will present Dun Tan’s 1996 experimental multimedia work Ghost Opera.

Beyond the Silk Road I and Beyond the Silk Road II both remix western music and traditional Chinese music to explore possibilities in fusing the two.  

The former work brings together world-class timpani soloist Jeff Prentice, erhu master Zhu Chang-yao and once again pipa prodigy Wu Man, to perform with the Jiangsu Province Performing Arts Group.

The Taipei Traditional Arts Festival 2010 will close with an international conference that will see an assembly of scholars from the Middle East, Central Asia and China.

"Scholars will discuss the future development of folk music in the 21st century,” said Chung, continuing, “and I hope an answer to the future of Chinese music will also come up through the discussion.”   

For ticket information please visit http://www.artsticket.com.tw/ or call 02-3393-9888.