- Piet Kee
- Saint-Georges
- Phasma-Music
- Malcolm Miller
- Die Schöpfung
- Huang Ruo
- ACO Collective
- Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition
Taiwan Philharmonic
The National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan's current season runs until 27 June 2025
Based at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, the Taiwan Philharmonic, also known at home as the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), was founded in 1986. German/Japanese conductor Jun Märkl has been music director since 2022. The orchestra aspires to be a cultural ambassador of Taiwan and it extensively commissions, performs and records music by Taiwanese composers.
The Taiwan Philharmonic's 2024/25 season continues until 27 June 2025. Highlights, all at the strikingly red-columned National Concert Hall in Taipei, include a weekend (7-9 March 2025) when Austrian pianist Rudolf Buchbinder plays all of Ludwig van Beethoven's piano concertos.
Poster for Rudolf Buchbinder's Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos in Taipei, March 2025, with images of Rudolf Buchbinder (left) and Jun Märkl
Other highlights include Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 5 (Thursday 13 March 2025) coupled with a chance to hear Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3 with a different pianist - Kyohei Sorita from Japan - and the first performance of Das Lebewohl (The Farewell) by Taiwanese composer Wei-Lin Li (born 2002), a composition student of Ching-Mei Lin at Taipei National University of the Arts. Das Lebewohl is part of the 'One-minute Symphony' project.
American baritone Thomas Hampson visits, for an orchestral concert on the evening of Sunday 13 April 2025, to sing a selection of songs from Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Johannes Brahms' first Piano Quartet, orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg, is also on this programme, as is the first performance of Yu-Chen Ho's Imperfect Machine (again from the 'One-minute Symphony' project).
The Taiwan Philharmonic. Photo © dadaimage
There's also a series of chamber concerts with slightly strange names, such as Absolutely Three on the evening of 23 March 2025, at which you can hear more Beethoven - the Trio in C for two violins and viola, Op 87, plus Antonín Dvořák's Terzetto in C, Op 74 and Zoltán Kodály's Serenade for two violins and viola, Op 12. Three Cubed on 16 May 2025 features music for combinations of violin, cello, clarinet and piano by Beethoven (again), Franz Schubert, Gian Carlo Menotti and the Viennese composer Walter Rabl (1873-1940).
The full programme of concerts until June 2025 and much more information about the Taiwan Philharmonic is at npac-nso.org
Posted 31 January 2025 by Keith Bramich
