Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

The “Twilight Through Thick Woods” series of concerts gathered six representative young composers who are full of vitality and had them use the creative musical languages they’re proficient in to pay tribute to the contemporary Chinese composer CHOU Wen-Chung. The diverse musical works from the young composers reflect the musical style of Chou, which was boldly creative, revolutionary and integrated differences in various cultures, over his sixty-year career. The climax in this series of concerts is a trilogy of music scored based on Dark Green Pines by CHOU Wen-Chung. The young composers used one theme to create Western, Korean and Chinese-styled musical scores. These composers not only fully grasped the characteristics of all the instruments and the organization of the orchestra, but the music in the scores also emanates the inner spirit of different cultures, making for a classic and unforgettable performance.   Committee member:SUN Chia-Tsung

 Born in 1932, CHOU Wen-Chung established his status at the age of 32 by And the Fallen Petals in the United States in the 1950’s. Chou did not stop his steps by the achievements, yet pushed himself in absorbing the techniques from the West and researching the cultural spirits of the East, which completed his rich and broad style in composition eventually Tribute To CHOU Wen-Chung I-II is the symbol of our ultimate respect to this dedicated 90-year-old master.

Artwork Introduction

Under the mission of cultural convergence, Taipei Chinese Orchestra has maintained an enduring foundation of cultural interaction with young composers from Europe, Asia, and North America to create a contemporary model of traditional Chinese musical composition and performance. At the TCO’s request, the Asian Young Musicians' Connection invited Chinese-born American composer CHOU Wen-Chung to serve as the guest senior composer. Along with Professor Chou, six young composers from Taiwan, China, Japan, the United States, and Switzerland premiered their new works of Chinese chamber music.

The result was an unprecedented concert featuring a set of pioneering works. Instead of an arrangement, Professor Chou composed three pieces under the same title, Eternal Pine. Each belongs to a different genre: Eternal Pine, a solo for the gayageum—a traditional Korean string instrument—commissioned by the renowned player YI Ji-Young; Ode to Eternal Pine for a Western sextet, dedicated to American composer Elliott Carter on his 100th birthday; and the world premiere of Eternal Pine, a work for traditional Chinese instruments. Professor Chou also shared the creative process behind his three latest compositions to mark the international event.

Tribute To CHOU Wen-Chung I – Cultural Convergence

Tribute To CHOU Wen-Chung Series contains two different performances. The first one demonstrates the attitude of converging various cultures by inviting young composers from Europe, Asia and North America to work with Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO), which offered a stage to share compositions with each other. Chou, as the guest composer, led six composers from Taiwan, China, Japan, U.S.A., and Switzerland to create brand new pieces for TCO. Composers are CHAO Ching-Wen and CHEN Jie-Ru from Taiwan, WANG Lu from China, Koji Nakano from Japan, Anthony Cheung from the States and Dominique Schafer from Switzerland. All the young composers in this project are award-winning artists with Ph.D. degrees. What an amazing group!

Tribute To CHOU Wen-Chung II – Three Faces of One Work

For the second concert, Chou demonstrates his attitude in creation by transforming his own work, Eternal Pine, into three versions based on various cultural backgrounds, which is something that has never been done before.

Ode to Eternal Pine is a sextet for western instruments, which is dedicated to composer Elliott Carter for his 100-year birthday. Eternal Pine is a solo Gayageum piece for Korean soloist YI Ji-Young. Ensemble of Eternal Pine is a special version for Taipei Chinese Orchestra as the world debut of the Chinese Orchestra Ensemble version.

Chou uses the character of various instruments from Korea, Europe and China to “Re-create” and “Revive.” Chou attempts to discover the differences from uniformity and the uniformity in differences, which harmonizes his own aesthetic view of combining the East and the West. The beauty of these instruments leads the piece to diverse sensations of musicality. Ensemble of Eternal Pine as the latest version custom-made for Chinese instruments becomes the first composition for Chinese music by Chou in his 70-year career and Taipei Chinese Orchestra was honored to be the first group to present it.

Chou’s vision of music is summed up in his statement: “We are at the border of a new music era, for this time it will neither tilt to the West, nor the East, it shall be a Renaissance of the World. Music from Europe, Asia and other regions will eventually combine together as the mainstream.”

About the Artist

Established in 1979, the Taipei Chinese Orchestra is Taiwan’s first traditional Chinese orchestra. It was gradually evolved into a world-renowned ensemble whose aim is to present and further develop the outstanding tradition of Chinese music, which it has done in more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Since 2007, renowned composer Chung Yiu-Kwong has served as General Director, and the TCO has collaborated with numerous ensembles and international guest artists.

Production Team

Composers: CHOU Wen-chung, CHAO Ching-wen, CHEN Janet Jieru, Koji Nakano, CHEUNG Anthony, WANG Lu and Dominique Schafer.

Performers: Taipei Chinese Orchestra and Forum Music Ensemble, conductor/CHANG Yin-fang, gayegeum/LEE Ji-young（Korea）, Korean Drum/Kim Woongsik（Korea）