Music concerts with a Taiwan-related theme mostly adopt the route of sentimental nostalgia. However, a cultural community is not merely a flat imagination. Although this commissioned concert features “creations based on Taiwanese music or Taiwanese cultural material,” the music composers do not limit themselves to the narrow scope of nationalism but instead demonstrate their unbounded, diversified interpretation of “Taiwan.” Chen Lily’s work shows a perfect combination of sheng and occidental musical instruments, exquisitely delineating the soundscape of Taiwan’s east coast. Lee Cheng-Wei begins with his own life experience. Liu Wei-Chih’s work is embedded with political issues, echoing the mixed voices of contemporary society. Hsiau Ching-Yu draws inspiration from elements in musical memory. Lin Mei-Fang builds her work from the tradition, translating nanguan music with occidental musical instruments. The five composers have endeavored in breaking the old framework of “Taiwanese music” to open up a freer, broader vision. (Commentator: CHEN Yi-Chen)
This concert was the sixth session of Taiwan Music Institute’s program, “The 2019 Taiwan Music Image,” and commissioned five Taiwanese composers to create music works based on Taiwanese music or culture. These new music pieces were then performed by E-MEX Ensemble from Germany and outstanding traditional instrument musicians from Taiwan. The invited composers are from different generations. Representing the generation of those in their thirties are Chen Lily and Liu Wei-Chih, the generation of those in the forties are Lin Mei-Fang and Lee Cheng-Wei, and the generation of those in the fifties is Hsiau Ching-Yu. The dimensions of their creative works include the soundscape of Taiwan’s east coast, political issues and social unrest, personal life experience and state of mind, transformation of folk music memory as well as fantasy about temporal rhythm inspired by nanguan music. Through the musical collaboration between the East and the West, the concert has unfolded a free and expansive interpretation of “Taiwanese music.”
LEE Cheng-Wei / Curator, composer
Lee Cheng-Wei holds an MA in Art Theory (Theory and Composition) from National Sun Yat-sen University. He was the recipient of the 2009 and 2010 Literary and Artistic Creation Award, Ministry of Education. In 2016 and 2017, he was the recipient of the National Culture and Arts Foundation grants for chamber music creations in the Taipei International New Music Festival. He was the curator of the memorial concert for Chen Jin-Tang, entitled Legendary Landscapes of Wuxia & Symphonic Poem to Hakka in 2018. He was Secretary-General of the International Society for Contemporary Music - Taiwan Section, and is now its council member. He is currently teaching at the Department of Music, National Taiwan University of Arts and music classes for talented students in several junior and senior high schools.
LIN Mei-Fang / Composer
Lin Mei-Fang holds a BA in Composition and Theory from National Taiwan Normal University, an MA in Composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and a PhD in Composition from the University of California at Berkeley, USA. She also studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) and IRCAM in Paris, France. She was Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Associate Professor of Composition at the Texas Tech University. Her works have been domestically and internationally honored by and performed in various composition competitions, and have been included in music albums issued in Taiwan, France, Italy, the UK, the US and New Zealand. She is now Associate Professor of Composition at the National Taipei University of the Arts.
CHEN Lily / Composer
Chen Lily receives her BFA and MM from Taipei National University of the Arts, and holds a PhD in Music Composition from the University of California at Berkeley, USA. Her work explores timbral materials with subtle theatrical potentials in both acoustic and electronic music, which convey her observations on literary, emotional, or social aspects of the contemporary condition. In recent years, she has been honored by awards in Taiwan and abroad and has been commissioned to compose new works. She has participated in Underwood New Music Readings, June in Buffalo, Mise-en Festival, Asian Composers League Conference and Festival, etc., and collaborated with various orchestras from Taiwan and around worldwide. She is now Assistant Professor of Composition at the Department of Music, Taipei National University of the Arts.
LIU Wei-Chih / Composer
Liu Wei-Chih holds a BA in Composition from Soochow University and an MFA in Composition from Taipei National University of the Arts. He has been commissioned by or performed for numerous performing arts institutions, including Taiwan Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music, National Theater and Concert Hall’s Innovation Series Music, National Symphony Orchestra, Chai Found Music Workshop, Forum Music Hall, Shakespeare's Wild Sisters Group, Ju Percussion Group, KNM Berlin (Germany), THReNSeMBLe (Hungary), Alea III (USA), iKultur (Austria), Composit New Music Festival (Italy), Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, etc.
HSIAU Ching-Yu / Composer
Hsiau Ching-Yu holds a BA from the Department of Music, National Taiwan Normal University and a Diplôme Supérieur de Composition from École Normale de Musique de Paris. She was awarded the First Prize when graduating from the “Ecriture du 20ème Siècle” at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Her works include symphonic music, choir music, chamber music and recital. She has endeavored in composing music with mixed arrangement of eastern and western music instruments while continually presenting performances in Taiwan, Europe and the US. She is the author of various publications, including The Study of Three Themes in Messiaen’s “Vingt Regards sur L’Enfant-Jesus” and French Contemporary Piano Music: from Debussy to Dutilleux. She is currently Professor at the Department of Music, National Taiwan Normal University.
E-MEX Ensemble
E-MEX Ensemble was founded in 1999 by six musicians from Cologne and Ruhr District in Western Germany. E-MEX has received wide acclaim for its recent concert tours in several countries. The ensemble has been commissioned to create numerous works and have presented many world premieres in addition to the large number of recordings for CDs and radio broadcasts. E-MEX's work involves regular collaboration with composers from the region, through which the ensemble's tirelessly explores unconventional ways of presenting new music. Many of E-MEX's concerts seek to create programmatic connections with visual arts, theater, dance, literature, performance art or multimedia works. The ensemble now has a core of ten musicians.
CHEN Chi-Mi / Sheng
Chen Chi-Mi is a sheng virtuoso and composer, who is currently a member of the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan (NCO) and the honorary chairman of sheng of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society. In recent years, Chen has collaborated with important musicians and orchestras from Taiwan and abroad. His unique music style is enriched with vivid vitality and artistic appeal.
YANG I-Hua / Zheng
Zheng virtuoso Yang I-Hua received her BFA in Chinese Music from Tainan National University of the Arts and her MA in Musicology from National Taiwan University. In recent years, she has actively participated in modern music performances and received accolades for performing compositions of contemporary music for traditional instruments.
Taiwan Music Institute, National Center for Traditional Arts
The antecedent of the Taiwan Music Institute was the Center of Ethnic Music established by the Council for Cultural Affairs (now the Ministry of Culture) in 1990. In 2002, the Center of Ethnic Music was placed under the National Center for Traditional Arts and renamed the Ethnic Music Research Institute. In 2008, it was renamed again into the Center of Taiwan Music in accordance with an organizational merger. In May 2012, the Ministry of Culture was officially established, and it was renamed Taiwan Music Institute. In 2016, Taiwan Music Institute became headquartered at Taiwan Traditional Theatre Center, where it has strived to preserve historical materials of Taiwanese music and deepen its research. At the same time, the institute has employed performance interpretation, cultivated talents, encouraged original creative work and shared resources to pass down the legacy of Taiwan’s diverse musical culture and spirit to continue the vitality of Taiwanese music.
