Theater
The Apartment (公寓春光), a new satirical play by the Godot Theater Company (果陀劇場), featuring well-known local comedian Gu Pao-min (顧寶明). Godot is known for its adaptation of many works of contemporary Western drama as well as local dramatic works.
● At the National Theater
● Tickets are NT$500 to NT$2,500 and are available from NTCH ticketing.
● Tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm, tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
Big Love by the Tainaner Ensemble (台南人劇團), a presentation of the 2001 Obie Award winning Broadway play by Charles Mee which itself is a modern take on the classic Greek tragedy The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus. The performance is directed by John Maloney.
● Tickets are NT$400 and are available through NTCH ticketing.
● At the National Experimental Theater, Taipei.
● Tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm
The Hero Does Not Fear Cats (英雄不怕貓) by the Just Apple Children's Theater Troupe (蘋果劇團), a children's play based on the award-winning series of illustrated books by Hau Kuang-tsai (郝廣才).
● At Novel Hall (新舞台), 3-1 Songshou Rd, Taipei (台北市松壽路3-1號).
● Tickets are NT$300 to NT$800 and are available through ERA ticketing.
● Tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm and Sunday at 10:30am and 2:30pm
Auntie Liu (劉姥姥) a new Honan-style Chinese opera from the National Guoguang Chinese Opera Company (國立國光劇團), which draws once again from the classic Chinese novel The Dream of the Red Chamber (紅樓夢).
● At the Guoguang Theater (國光劇場), 5F, 77 Muzha Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市木柵路三段77號5樓).
● Tickets are NT$300 to NT$500 and are selling out fast.
● Tonight at 7:30pm and tomorrow at 2:30pm
Event
Canada Day, or as the organizers would have it Canada D'eh, will be celebrated with a "forest music festival" at Da-an Park. This shift in venue from previous celebrations means that there will be no BBQ, so people are encouraged to pack their own picnics and settle down to enjoy the great music at the park's performance space. There will be bands and comedy acts including Scott Cook, Mister Green, Public Radio, David Chen and the Muddy Basin Ramblers, Chris Garvin and Milk.
● Admission is free.
For those in Taichung, Canadian DJs will be working the decks and playing Canadian tracks for the Swank Canadian Content night to celebrate Canada Day featuring DJs Matty D, Gareth Jones, Declan and Scottyballer.
● At Liquid Lounge, 98 Chungming S. Rd., Taichung.
● Tomorrow from 3:30pm until 9pm in Taipei and 11pm to 4am in Taichung
Classical Music
Forum Music Weekend Piano Duet Concert (十方樂集週末雙鋼琴音樂會) will feature pianists Chen Chieh-ru (陳潔如) and Cheng Ching-min (鄭靜旻). Chen's vast piano repertoire ranges from Baroque to contemporary, and she performs recitals extensively both in the US and abroad. Cheng is a full-scholarship doctoral candidate in the music school at University of Miami and is currently a piano accompanist of the New World Symphony and the New World School of the Arts. The program will include Ravel's Une Barque Sur L'Ocean and Alborada del Gracioso; Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C Major, No.1, Op.32, Prelude in G Major, No.5, Op.32, and Suite No.2, Op.17 for two pianos; Prokofiev's Piano Sonata in A Minor, Op.28, and Lutoslawsky's Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two pianos.
● At the Forum Auditorium (十方樂集音樂劇場演奏廳), 4, Ln. 187, Minzu W Rd, Taipei City (台北市民族西路187巷4號).
● Tickets are NT$250 and are available through NTCH ticketing.
● Tonight at 7:30pm
Chan Chi-chun Mezzo-Soprano Recital (詹[吉吉]君獨唱會) will be held at the National Recital Hall. Chan was the winner of New Voice International Vocal Competition, Asia in 2001 and also won the George Castelle Memorial Award in 2005. Accompanied by Pianist Chen Hui-chuan (陳慧娟), Chan will display her singing talents in the works of Faure, Debussy, Mahler, Barber, Montsalvatge, and her favorite Tyzen Hsiao (蕭泰然). Also she will sing Richard Rodgers' Something Wonderful and The Sound of Music.
● National Recital Hall, Taipei
● Tickets are from NT$300 to NT$500 and are available through NTCH ticketing.
● Saturday at 7:30pm
Classic Youth String Orchestra 2006 Spring and Summer Concert (古典青少年絃樂團2006春夏音樂會) will feature a group of Taichung-based young musicians. Chung An-ni (鍾安妮), who will be conducting, has been a resident conductor of the Classic Orchestra since 1999. The concert will present a program of classic string works, including Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 3, Mozart's Divertimento in F Major, K138, and Sibelius's Romanze. It will also showcase Elgar's Salut d'Amour and Dvorak's Humoresques.
● At the NSO Recital Hall in Taichung (國立台灣交響樂團演奏廳), 738-2 Chungshan Rd, Wufeng Township, Taichung County (台中縣霧峰鄉中正路738-2號).
● Tickets are NT$500 and are available through ERA ticketing.
● Saturday at 4:00pm
Hsiao Ching-wen Piano Recital (蕭晴文鋼琴獨奏會) will be held at the National Recital Hall. A student of the doctorate program at the Julliard School of Music, Hsiao has collaborated with the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra and Youth Symphony Orchestra of New York. The first place contestant at the Gina Backhauer Piano Competition in 2000, Hsiao was chosen as the Young Star of the NTCH, 2005. The audience will be taken on an adventure through works of C.P.E. Bach's 12 variations on the theme of La Folia, Medtner's Sonata in G Minor, Op.22, Dutilleux's piano sonata, Granados's Los Requiebros, and Chopin's Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op.35.
● At the National Recital Hall, Taipei
● As of press time, NT$300 and NT$500 tickets are sold out, but NT$400 seats are still available through NTCH ticketing.
● Sunday at 7:30pm
Dmitri Hvorostovsky Baritone Recital (世紀男中音霍洛斯托夫斯基演唱會) originally scheduled for Thursday has been canceled after the singer fell ill while on tour in Japan. He has been rushed back to Moscow for treatment. Ticket refunds will be available through NTCH ticketing. Refund enquiries should be directed to (02) 3393-9888 before July 13.
Contemporary
Hip-hop legend DJ Kool is hitting Room 18 with his feel good rap. A veteran of DC's go-go circuit who worked as a warm-up DJ for Rare Essence during the early to mid-1980s, Kool began recording in 1988 and early on in his career tried to inform the studio art of hip hop with a live feel in keeping with his experience.
● Tonight at 10pm
● Location: B1, 22 Songshou Rd, Taipei (台北市松壽路22號 B1). Call (02) 2345-2778 or visit www.room18.com.tw
Milk, Taiwan's "Funk Rock Commandos" will be descending upon the The Living Room (小客廳). Enjoy some funky madness and let yourself loose for a good time.
● Entrance: There is minimum charge of NT$300 plus a donation of NT$200
● Tomorrow at 8pm
● Location: 3F, 8, Nanjing E Rd, Sec 5, Taipei (台北市南京東路五段8號3樓). Call (02) 8787-4154 or visit www.livingroomtaipei.com
The Tonic, (主音) and Wild Children (野孩子) will play at Nuno's Live House.
● Tomorrow from 8pm until 12am
● Location: B1, Alley 3, Jhonggang Rd, 2 Dongyuan Lane, Longjiang Township,Taichung County (台中縣龍井鄉台中港路東園巷3弄2號B1). Call (04) 2652-9768 or visit www.nuno.idv.tw
Kaoru, Wayne909, and Digihai will play breaks, electro at an all-you-can-drink Sunglasses @ Night party at The Wall (這牆).
● Tomorrow from 11pm
● Tickets are NT$500
● Location: B1, 200, Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路4段200號B1). Call (02) 2930-0162 or visit www.the-wall.com.tw
Exhibition
Songs of Chance－Chen-wen Ting Solo Exhibition (際遇之歌 -- 丁昶文個展), featuring three installation projects that invite visitors to feel the multimedia works through touch. Titled Irreversible Process, a giant wooden slide installed with audio apparatus requires visitor's participation to complete the creative process. In another work titled The Slope of Smoke, visitors are encouraged to decipher hidden numbers in a hazy space.
● Juming Museum (朱銘美術館), 2 Sheshihu Rd, Chinshan Township, Taipei County (台北縣金山鄉西勢湖2號).
● Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Call (02) 2498-9940.
● Until August 20
Slow Tech (慢Slow Tech展覽), curated by acclaimed artists and curator Yuan Gong-ming (袁廣鳴), showcases sculpture, photography, audio-visual, optical kinetics and interactive installation works by 16 world-class artists to shed new light on the aesthetics of speed shaped by the digital technology and speak to the aesthetics of slowness.
● Museum of Contemporary Art (台北當代藝術館), 39 Changan W Rd, Taipei (台北市長安西路39號).
● Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Call (02) 2552-3721.
● Until Sept. 3
The Spiritual 2: David Ho's Digital World (靈慾2: 何維正的數位世界), the last part of the artist's contemplation series and the starting point of his Candice the Ghost series, the digital photo exhibition features surrealistic images that reveal the artist's meditation on religion and his inner universe as a ghost named Candice takes on the role of a narrator behind the visual stories.
● Taiwan International Visual Arts Center (台灣國際視覺藝術中心), Ln 45, 29 Liaoning St, Taipei (台北市遼寧街45巷29號).
● Open Tuesday to Friday from 11am to 7pm; Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Call (02) 2773-3347.
● Until July 19
Wuyung Hsu: A Retrospective (許武勇回顧展), featuring more than 100 paintings representative of the artist's creative career spanning over 60 years from 1942 to 2006. Influenced by Cubism in his formative period, Hsu now focuses on Taiwan's rural landscapes, folklores and religious figures, spiced up with a surrealist punch.
● Taipei Fine Arts Museum (台北市立美術館), 181 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市中山北路三段181號).
● Open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30am to 5:30pm. Call (02) 2595-7656.
● Until Sept. 3
Generational Collapsing -- Bbrother No. 14 Graffiti Exhibition (解世代 -- Bbrother No. 14塗鴉展), a cultural guerilla fighter in the name of anti-commercialism and anti-capitalism, Bbrother sets out to attack the advertising corporate network in his latest graffiti installation project and challenge the rigid hierarchical relation between so-called art works and gallery-goers.
● Same Gallery (Same藝廊), B1, 14, Ln 177, Dunhua S Rd, Sec 1, Taipei (台北市敦化南路一段177巷14號B1).
● Open Monday to Sunday from 12pm to 9pm. Call (02) 8773-9766.
● Until July 20
The entire saga involving the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and its Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) continues to produce plot twists at such a rapid pace that fiction publishers would throw it out for being ridiculously improbable. This past week was particularly bizarre, but surprisingly the press has almost entirely ignored a big story that could have serious national security implications and instead focused on a series of salacious bombshell allegations. Ko is currently being held incommunicado by prosecutors while several criminal investigations are ongoing on allegations of bribery and stealing campaign funds. This last week for reasons unknown Ko completely shaved
Gabriel Gatehouse only got back from Florida a few minutes ago. His wheeled suitcase is still in the hallway of his London home. He was out there covering the US election for Channel 4 News and has had very little sleep, he says, but you’d never guess it from his twinkle-eyed sprightliness. His original plan was to try to get into Donald Trump’s election party at Mar-a-Lago, he tells me as he makes us each an espresso, but his contact told him to forget it; it was full, “and you don’t blag your way in when the guy’s survived two
The self-destructive protest vote in January that put the pro-People’s Republic of China (PRC) side in control of the legislature continues to be a gift that just keeps on giving to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Last week legislation was introduced by KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-lin (翁曉玲) that would amend Article 9-3 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to permit retired and serving (!) military personnel to participate in “united front” (統戰) activities. Since the purpose of those activities is to promote annexation of Taiwan to the PRC, legislators
Nov. 18 to Nov. 24 Led by a headman named Dika, 16 indigenous Siraya from Sinkan Village, in what is today’s Tainan, traveled to Japan and met with the shogun in the summer of 1627. They reportedly offered sovereignty to the emperor. This greatly alarmed the Dutch, who were allies of the village. They had set up headquarters on land purchased from the Sinkan two years earlier and protected the community from aggressive actions by their more powerful rivals from Mattau Village. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) had been embroiled in a bitter trade dispute with Japan, and they believed
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