This now marks the fourth time I’ve seen the BRSO. They came almost two years ago and held three concerts, thankfully all with Mariss Jansons himself. They presented three excellent programs then, and there were two exceptional programs lined up … Continue reading Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Zubin Mehta
featuring Arabella Steinbacher, violin Well, it’s certainly been quite some time since we did this, hasn’t it? The last one was a couple of months ago, but before that… was another couple of months of not much concertgoing. It seemed … Continue reading NSO’s 2018 Season Opener
featuring Yuja Wang, piano It seems like the last year or two we haven’t had as many of the big-name, super famous ensembles come through Taipei. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra decided (last minute?) not to come to Taipei, and the … Continue reading New York Philharmonic in Taipei
featuring Jo-Pei Weng (翁若珮) and the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus When you think of famous movie scores, what do you think of? Most likely John Williams. Maybe Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, or Danny Elfman, James Horner, Philip Glass. Well, The Last Jedi came … Continue reading NSO’s At the Movies 2: Star Wars
featuring 黃心芸 (Hsin-Yun Huang), viola The dilemma! There were two concerts this evening, and I really wanted to go to both of them. If you’ve read any of my other concert reviews, you’ll be aware that we have two major … Continue reading NSO: Osmo Vänskä & Sibelius
with Leonidas Kavakos under Herbert Blomstedt Well, add one more to the list. Yet another world-class orchestra comes through Taipei, with a world-class conductor and soloist. I’ll be honest. When I heard about this concert many months ago, my first … Continue reading Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in Taiwan
featuring Kirill Gerstein Welcome back, everyone! I met a certain fellow concertgoer (and at least occasional reader) formally for the first time this evening while we stood in line to meet Gerstein and Maestro Varga. The gentleman, who I see … Continue reading TSO’s Season Opening Concert
featuring cellist Pablo Ferrández and conductor Robert Trevino It’s been quite some time since I’ve paid the Taipei Symphony a visit, in fact more than four months. They spent a little time traveling down south for some concerts, and had one or two … Continue reading TSO’s Don Quixote
featuring Carl St. Clair, conductor; Albrecht Mayer, oboe Yes. It’s called that for the reason that you think it is. But we’ll get there. It’s been more than a month since I’ve been in the concert hall, and that’s a … Continue reading NSO’s Eroica
First, the Hong Kong Sinfonietta is a blissfully talented ensemble who gave us a stunning concert this evening, one of the best I’ve heard in a while. Secondly, I’d like to apologize to them on behalf of the audience tonight for … Continue reading Hong Kong Sinfonietta: Taiwan Debut
Featuring Pinchas Zuckerman and the Taipei Symphony under Gilbert Varga Some things never change. Strangely like the initials of some concerts. This evening was originally to be Frank Peter Zimmerman playing a Bartok concerto, and for various secretive reasons he was unable to … Continue reading TSO’s Violinsimo
We’re coming up on the end of the concert season. I attended my last TSO show last week, and there are only two more left in this season from the NSO, so this began the countdown of the final three. … Continue reading NSO’s The Planets
Fugue for Thought 