Taiwan’s National Center for Traditional Arts on Tuesday announced the launch of the inaugural “Taiwanese Opera Competition,” an event undertaken in concert with the promotion of various languages and dialects in Taiwan.

The competition has total prize money of NT$3.5 million (US$116,000) to be divided between three groups: youth, amateurs and professionals.

Individuals can sign up for the competition from March 6 to April 30, with prospective participants required to upload a 60-90 second video of them performing a Taiwanese opera piece.

Following an online preliminary round, the competition will move on to regional semi-finals and then finals, the center said.

At the Tuesday press conference announcing the competition, center director Annie Chen (???) said that the panel of judges for the competition will consist of 28 industry professionals including recognized performers and scholars.

The center has consolidated and released 16 opera scripts and 300 accompaniment music files that are free for potential performers to download and use to practice, Chen said.

In addition, eight Taiwanese opera stars have recorded instruction videos for prospective competitors.

At the presser, Minister of Culture Shih Che (??) said he hopes to see Taiwanese opera become a bigger part of daily life in Taiwan.

Lin Mao-hsien (???), who drafted the competition’s rules and convened its panel of judges, said Taiwanese opera is the epitome of grassroots culture in Taiwan as it combines literature, music, dance and other folk performances.

Many awards will be presented at the competition such as champion, most popular performer, most creative performer, as well as a jury prize, Lin added.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel