Orchestra is preparing to open a new season
‘ONE MINUTE SYMPHONY’:
The National Symphony Orchestra says it will pursue a project that offers young composers in Taiwan an opportunity to improve their skills
The National Symphony Orchestra hopes its upcoming concerts to kick off the 2022-2023 season will bring back audiences lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the orchestra’s music director Jun Markl said Monday.
“One of the very important points is to regain the audiences that we may have lost during the COVID crisis. I hope this program is a very good start,” Markl said during a press conference in Taipei for promote the orchestra’s forthcoming concerts featuring three Scottish-themed pieces.
The concerts which will take place in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Taitung over the next two weekends will begin with Marche scossaise on a popular theme by Claude Debussy.
Photo courtesy of the National Symphony Orchestra via NAC
Debussy wrote the piano duet piece before developing it into an orchestral piece, which has parts similar to the dance music of central France, Markl said.
France would be one of the main themes of a second season, with composers Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
The orchestra would be joined by guest violinist Paul Huang (黃俊文) for a concerto titled Scottish Fantasy by German composer Max Bruch, Markl said.
The New York-based violinist described the concerto as “sounding like a funeral march at the start, but ending in a festive mood”.
Huang said he felt the piece reflected the current climate as people began to see light at the end of the tunnel after more than two years of the pandemic.
The violinist said he was looking forward to performing the piece with the orchestra’s lead harpist, Chieh Shuen (解暄).
The orchestra will play Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56 (Scottish) for the second half of the concert, Markl said, with several works by the German composer to be played in the new season to mark the 175th anniversary of his death this year.
The concerts will be held tomorrow at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Kaohsiung National Arts Center on Saturday and the Taitung Art and Culture Center on September 25.
Huang also helped organize a series of chamber music concerts for the new season, some of which were presented by members of the orchestra. Huang will headline two such concerts in January next year.
Markl said the orchestra will continue the “one-minute symphony project” it introduced last season to help cultivate composers in Taiwan.
About 12 one-minute pieces will be presented in the new season to give young composers the opportunity to improve their skills working with the orchestra, he said, adding that five of the 10 composers in the last season were chosen to present their new works.
Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. The final decision will be at the discretion of The Taipei Times.