Taiwan Philharmonic Tours North America Following Triumphant 2016 U.S. Debut

By: Oct. 11, 2018
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Taiwan Philharmonic Tours North America Following Triumphant 2016 U.S. Debut

"One of Asia's best" (Los Angeles Times), the Taiwan Philharmonic embarks on a North American tour this fall stopping in Costa Mesa (10/30), San Diego (10/31), Seattle (11/3), and San Francisco (11/5). The orchestra, led by Maestro Shao-Chia Lü, launches the tour by returning to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa nearly two years after their highly acclaimed United States debut at the same hall in December 2016. This time the performance features star pianist Stephen Hough performing Liszt's dazzling first piano concerto. One of today's greatest living pianists, Hough is described by The Guardian as possessing "the most perfect piano playing conceivable." The concert name, "From Formosa," gives a nod to the historic republic on the island of Taiwan while the music traces Taiwan's classical music tradition with Taiwanese composer Gordon Chin's "Dancing Song" from Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra. The first performance of the tour marks the work's North American premiere.

The orchestra continues their tour to San Diego and Seattle with Hough, finishing in San Francisco with 24-year-old Taiwanese violinist Yu-Chien Tseng. Tseng, rapidly gaining attention on international stages and signed to the legendary record label Deutsche Grammophon, performs Barber's intensely lyrical violin concerto with the orchestra.

Music Director of the Taiwan Philharmonic for the past eight years, Maestro Lü has been hailed as a "fastidious conductor with a huge vocabulary of gestures" by the American Record Guide who also lauded the Taiwan Philharmonic saying, "Many fine groups have demonstrated how classical music is thriving in Asia. The Taiwan Philharmonic demonstrated something even more impressive: excellence, pure and simple."

2018 North American Tour Details

Tuesday, October 30, 2018 | 8:00 PM
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
600 Town Center Dr, Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Gordon Chin: "Dancing Song" from Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra*
Franz Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124
Claude Debussy: La mer
Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2
* North American premiere

Stephen Hough, piano
Taiwan Philharmonic
Shao-Chia Lü, conductor

To purchase tickets ($38-268), call the Philharmonic Society of Orange County's box office at 949.553.2422 or visit their website at https://tickets.philharmonicsociety.org/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=17853.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 | 8:00 PM
Copley Symphony Hall
750 B Street, San Diego, CA 92101

Gordon Chin: "Dancing Song" from Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra
Franz Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124
Claude Debussy: La mer
Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2

Stephen Hough, piano
Taiwan Philharmonic
Shao-Chia Lü, conductor

To purchase tickets ($25-200), call the Jacobs Music Center Ticket Office at 619.235.0804 or visit the San Diego Symphony website at https://purchasing.sandiegosymphony.org/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=7134.

Saturday, November 3, 2018 | 7:30 PM
Meany Center for the Performing Arts
4040 George Washington Lane Northeast, Seattle, WA 98105

Gordon Chin: "Dancing Song" from Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra
Franz Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in N*E*R*D major, Op. 73

Stephen Hough, piano
Taiwan Philharmonic
Shao-Chia Lü, conductor

To purchase tickets ($67-75), call the box office at 800.859.5342 or visit their website at https://meanycenter.org/tickets/2018-11/production/taiwan-philharmonic.

Monday, November 5, 2018 | 8:00 PM
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

Gordon Chin: "Dancing Song" from Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra
Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in N*E*R*D Major, Op. 73

Yu-Chien Tseng, violin
Taiwan Philharmonic
Shao-Chia Lü, conductor

To purchase tickets ($35-200), visit the City Box Office's website at https://www.cityboxoffice.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=2507.

About the Taiwan Philharmonic
Founded in 1986, the Taiwan Philharmonic, also known as the National Symphony Orchestra at home, is hailed as one of the best orchestras in the Asian Region and became the resident orchestra of the Taipei Theater and Concert Hall, an affiliate of the National Performing Arts Center, in 2005. Led by renowned conductor Shao-Chia Lü as its fifth music director starting August 2010, the Taiwan Philharmonic has increased the country's cultural richness and music educational strength through Taiwan.

The Taiwan Philharmonic, with 99 members, presents a 40-week musical season of approximately 75 concerts/chamber recitals and one opera production each year. It also launches educational programs and outreach projects constantly. Tour performances are regularly offered throughout Taiwan and overseas. It has toured to Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Geneva, Milan, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, among other cities. The Taiwan Philharmonic works with internationally acclaimed conductors, such as Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Leonard Slatkin, and soloists including Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Yuja Wang, Gautier Capuçon, Vadim Repin, Hilary Hahn, Ray Chen, Mischa Maisky, Martin Grubinger, Louis Lortie, Stephen Hough, and many others.

For more information, please visit http://npac-nso.org/en.

About Stephen Hough
One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career as a pianist with those of composer and writer. Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year's Honors. Since taking first prize at the 1983 Naumburg Competition in New York, Hough has performed with the world's major orchestras and given recitals at the most prestigious concert halls. He is a regular guest at festivals such as Salzburg, Aspen, Blossom, Tanglewood, Edinburgh, La Roque-d'Anthéron and BBC Proms, where he has made more than twenty-five appearances.

Hough's extensive discography of over 60 CDs has garnered international awards including the Diapason d'Or de l'Année, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Awards including Record of the Year and the Gold Disc. As a composer Hough has been commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Musée du Louvre, London's National Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the Genesis Foundation, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Indianapolis Symphony, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. His music is published by Josef Weinberger Ltd.

Stephen Hough's first novel, The Final Retreat, was published by Sylph Editions in March 2018, and he has written for The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and the Evening Standard. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York.

About Yu-Chien Tseng
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Tseng previously won first prizes at the Singapore International Violin Competition, Sarasate Violin Competition in Pamplona, Spain and the Isang Yun Violin Competition in Korea.

Following his win at the XV International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in 2015, Yu-Chien (Benny) Tseng has made a series of major debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. He has worked with Maestros such as Valery Gergiev, Ji?í B?lohlávek, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Osmo Vänskä, Jacek Kaspszyk, and most recently Mikhail Pletnev who has invited him to Tokyo for his debut there in 2019. Signed to Deutsche Grammophone in 2016, his first album was released in January 2017. His second album will be released in 2018.

Tseng plays the 1732 Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu Ex "Castelbarco-Tarisio" on loan from the Chi-Mei Culture Foundation, Taiwan.



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