Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

As a concert, 6 Plus 11 gets down to the essence of music, creating its own path without using any mainstream crossover tricks. The entire concert consists of arrangements for piano and percussion, which is an extreme rarity in Taiwan and seldom seen elsewhere. Wu, Pei-Ching is an outstanding Taiwanese percussionist, and US-based Jenny Lin is a top pianist. Here, each is a match for the other. An initial collaboration is both an experiment and a challenge, and through seven pieces in different styles, they face off and come into dialogue. As they do, the sparks fly, and a world-class performance is the result.

( Committee member/ Lin, Tsai-Yun )

Artwork Introduction

All Music Theatre’s The Duo Matchless invited two soloists, percussionist Wu, Pei-Ching and pianist Jenny Lin, to perform 6 Plus 11, a piano and percussion ensemble concert that featured several modern pieces which were mainly new arrangements. Even though a percussion and piano ensemble is new for Taiwan, the performed works included Eastern and Western elements that were familiar to local audiences.

The wide range of performed pieces highlighted the unique characteristics of the various percussive instruments while showcasing the wit and talent of the composers and performers. For 6 Plus 11, they premiered Piano VS Percussion Ensemble which featured the piano, xylophone, glockenspiel, and a variety of drums. The energetic Platinum by Dave Hollinden used sound and rhythm to express anxiety and impatience, while Graciane Finzi’s Fantaisie Romantique showcased the timpani drum in this upbeat, fast tempo work. Mark Glentworth’s Blues for Gilbert featured the harmonious glockenspiel. The popular xylophone came into full play for Keiko Abe’s Prism Rhapsody.

They also premiered Chen Yi’s  Speedy Wind (from her Percussion Concerto), a work that showcases the enormous diversity of possibilities and the individual personalities of the numerous percussion instruments. Divided into three different movements, the work features the patterns of narrating and reciting, and gong and drum playing, an original feature that is known in Chinese opera. The last movement climaxes with a fast-paced beating of gongs and drums.

The Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra by Emmanuel Séjourné was commissioned by the famous marimba performer Bogdan Bácanu. In the first movement, the adagio is sharp and vigorous, while the second movement combines jazz and flamenco, allowing for a free-flowing improvisation. Matre's Dance by John Psathas was inspired by a non-stop dancing character in the sci-fi novel Dune and consists of strong, unrepetitive rhythms that increase in a dance-inducing energetic momentum.

About the Artist

All Music Theatre is an artistic group belonging to All Music Publishing, whose founder is Mel Yang. Their publication All Music Magazine features high quality musical, artistic, literary, philosophical and educational works.

In 2003, All Music Theatre presented their first Chinese-language musical Liang Chu, followed by Song of Love in 2006, after three years’ of preparation. The highly acclaimed musical April Rain (2007) was performed in Taiwanese.

Besides producing musicals, All Music Theatre published a book collection of The Year of Musical (2006) and Playbill. Together with the Taishin Arts Award, they published the three volume New Specs on Arts (2007).