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 the Ningbo Symphony Orchestra, Creation Opera Institute, and more I have opined before that opera is a rarity here, so I wasn’t going to miss the chance to see one of the more famous pieces in the repertoire being … Continue reading Ningbo Symphony’s Carmen
featuring Igor Levit “If you’re ever in that part of town, you should try…” It’s a small world, but it isn’t that small. You probably won’t accidentally find yourself in Taipei anytime soon, but if you were to, you might learn that … Continue reading Bayerisches Staatsorchester in Taipei
Welcome back, everyone, to another round of concert reviews, with stuff I always forget to mention, people who don’t know how to behave themselves in public, stunning, stellar music, a later bedtime than I usually have, and the overwhelming feeling … Continue reading NSO: Blazing Masterpieces
We’re quite spoilt here in Taipei. I won’t go on again about having seen the world-famous ensembles from Berlin, Vienna, Chicago, and Munich come visit, along with the likes of the Concertgebouw and Philharmonia, and on and on, but we … Continue reading Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Taipei
featuring Hakan Güngör, Burcu Karadağ, and Aykut Köselerli under Howard Griffiths Dear TSO, I think you’ve found your calling. Tonight’s program was just remarkable. And I’ll explain what that is, but first I want to say that I’ve come to have … Continue reading TSO’s Istanbul Symphony
featuring Freddy Kempf, conducted by 張尹芳 (Zhang Yin Fang) Midweek concerts are always a bit tougher to get around to, especially in rainy weather, and tonight’s turnout showed it. As a heavy-duty subscriber to the NSO, I get some perks, … Continue reading NSO’s Concerto for Orchestra
with the Ensemble Quatrain Cologne and 陳必先 (Chen Pi-Hsien) Connections are a good thing to have. It took me some time to get into the system, to figure out how the ticket buying and membership-ing all works, but once you … Continue reading 2016 Innovation Series: Klassic Kindheit Concert
featuring violinist Ray Chen The concert season is starting back up. It feels like it’s been ages since I’ve been in the concert hall, and I guess it has been. With the exception of an outstanding Othello at the beginning of July, the last … Continue reading TSO’s Heroic Voices
The salon concert is here! I had the privilege of attending last year, and as usual, it was a highly-anticipated event. It’s the NSO’s 30th anniversary this coming season, and we had the privilege of enjoying comments and thoughts from … Continue reading NSO’s 2016/17 Salon Concert
There are no words. But I shall try. Maybe it’s just me, but for some of these really special concerts from visiting ensembles (and/or just amazing performances all around), there’s a strange sense of connection, of appreciation and gratitude, that … Continue reading Berlin Philharmonic in Taipei
April has been and will continue to be a busy month for concerts, as will May. It is due in part to last-minute concerts I heard about and didn’t want to miss. Last weekend’s chamber concert of Spohr and Brahms was … Continue reading Concert Review: 張昊晨 Piano Recital
Who doesn’t love a good premiere? It’s historical. I must say Maestro Lindberg is an outstandingly enthusiastic person, and I bought my ticket for this concert many months ago when they were on sale. The Taipei Symphony has been consistently … Continue reading TSO: Christian Lindberg’s Symphonic Postcard
This is the actual part that talks about the concert. It’s the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra’s 70th anniversary, and what better piece (well, aside from like, Mahler 8) to commemorate than something as huge and glorious as the Auferstehung?! I talked earlier … Continue reading Concert Review: NTSO’s ‘Resurrection’
with Håkan Hardenberger The takeaway from this concert: Håkan Hardenberger is a classy, really nice dude who makes beautiful sounds on the trumpet. Like a Swedish George Clooney. As with every Taipei Symphony performance Maestro Varga leads, this one is … Continue reading Concert Review: TSO’s Trumpet Calls on the Wasteland
I’m going to start this discussion by talking about bad excuses for Italian food in Asia. Italian food in Asia usually isn’t. It’s Taiwanese, or Japanese, or Chinese Italian food. It’s sufficiently different from the local food that it makes for a nice change of pace now … Continue reading Concert Review: Parabola (Taipei Symphony)
It’s time to give the Taipei Philharmonic another chance. Let me explain. A few things. First, our ‘National Symphony Orchestra’ (from the original Chinese: 國家交響樂團) is referred to both in Chinese and English as the ‘NSO,’ but outside of Taiwan, … Continue reading Concert Review: Taipei Philharmonic
This is only my third opera, but after my incredibly awesome experience with Fidelio back in the summer, I was eager to revisit the National Theatre. This time, we enjoyed Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the Taiwanese premiere, with the never-ceasing-to-impress Taipei Symphony Orchestra and lots of other … Continue reading Opera Review: Eugene Onegin
The actual music portion. Part one yesterday I suppose was more like a long preface or lead-in to the two concerts that will go down in my books as the most anticipated things I’ve ever attended. But yesterday, all we talked … Continue reading Concert Review: Vienna Philharmonic in Taipei- Part 2
So much to say, and yet so little that needs saying. It’s the Vienna Philharmonic. We have been extremely fortunate lately here in Taipei to have some really wonderful ensembles lined up. As you may have read, I saw the … Continue reading Concert Review: Vienna Philharmonic in Taipei- Part 1
I look here and there for good ‘beginner’ concerts, evenings with programs that would be really good for someone whose never set foot in a concert hall before. In thinking about that, I wrote yesterday’s post about what for me … Continue reading Concert Review: NSO- An Evening of Piano Concertos
Fugue for Thought 