The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) will begin 2023 with three chamber music concerts, featuring violinist Paul Huang (???) and “his friends,” the orchestra said at a news conference in Taipei Wednesday.
“(I am) very happy we begin the new year with this program,” said NSO Executive Director Kuo Wen-chen (???) at the news conference. “Chamber music concerts planned by Huang have been praised by the audience and orchestra members”
According to Kuo, Huang and three guest musicians — French horn player Radovan Vlatkovic, violist Timothy Ridout and pianist Juho Pohjonen — flew to Taiwan on the New Year’s Eve weekend and had their first rehearsal on Monday.
It’s the second year the NSO has started the new year with chamber music concerts planned by Huang, and chamber music is highlighted by the orchestra with a series of concerts planned in its 2022-2023 season, some of which were proposed by its members.
The three guest musicians also have connections to Taiwan, Huang said.
Vlatkovic has performed in the country several times over the past 20 years, Pohjonen studied under Taiwanese musician in Finland Hui-ying Liu-Tawaststjerna (???), and Ridout recently married Taiwan-born violist Lai Ting-ru (???).
Ridout, who performed in the Recital Hall in Taipei four years ago, greeted reporters by saying “I’m very happy to perform in Taiwan again” in Mandarin.
Meanwhile, Pohjonen said he learned about Taiwan through his Taiwanese teacher, so it feels like “coming to home” to him.
The first of the concerts, which is titled “Chamber Music Extravaganza” will be held on Thursday at Taipei National University of the Arts, with the four musicians and several members of the orchestra.
They will play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Horn Quintet in E flat major, KV407,” Joaquin Turina’s “Scene Andalouse for viola, piano and string Quartet, Op. 7 and Ernest Chausson’s “Concerto for piano, violin and String Quartet in D major, Op. 21,” according to the orchestra.
The musicians will then play at the Shine Arts Foundation’s venue in Xiluo Township, Yunlin County on Friday, performing the same Mozart piece and Johannes Brahms’ “Piano Trio No.3, Op. 101.”
The musicians will return to Taipei for the third concert at the National Concert Hall on Saturday, performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Sextet in E-flat major, Op. 8,” Franz Schubert’s “Octet in F Major, D 803” and the Brahms piece they played in Yunlin.
Vlatkovic and Pohjonen will also take part in an NSO concert with guest conductor Stefan Asbury at the National Concert Hall in Taipei on Jan. 12, the two musicians said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel