Award-winning and globe-trotting French pianist Richard Clayderman is returning to Taiwan where he will kick off a three-day tour of the island tonight at the Chihshan Hall (至善廳) in Kaohsiung. His repertoire will include music from blockbuster movies such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Harry Potter. And no Clayderman program would be complete without the song that started his solo career, Ballade pour Adeline.
Dubbed “the prince of romance” by Nancy Regan, Clayderman was born Philippe Pages in Paris in 1953. The son of a music teacher, it is said that by the age of six the young Pages could read music better than he could his school textbooks.
Clayderman, who arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, began his music career at age 12, when he was accepted into the prestigious Conservatoire of Music in Paris. When at 16 he took the school's prestigious first prize it became apparent that he was destined to become a brilliant pianist.
But to the surprise of his teachers, he cast aside classical music in favor of pursuing a career in rock music. However, contemporary music proved a difficult nut for the young musician to crack.
With a sick father and a rock career going nowhere, Clayderman decided to find work as an accompanist, where his talents landed him work with well-known French rock acts such as Michel Sardou and Johnny Halliday.
His star continued to rise when in 1976 a famous French music producer signed him on as a pianist to record a gentle piano ballad for his daughter called Ballade pour Adeline.
Still deep in the days of disco, his producers told him they'd be satisfied if they sold 10,000 copies. To everyone's surprise, the single sold a phenomenal 22 million copies in 38 countries, catapulting Clayderman to international fame.
The Guinness Book of World Records hails him as “the most successful pianist in the world,” having sold over 70 million records. He has recorded over 1,000 tunes and performed over 1,200 concerts worldwide. He also has a staggering 267 Gold and 70 Platinum discs to his credit.
Clayderman attributes his incredible success to the “New Romantic” style that he is credited with creating.
“The new romantic style gets its inspiration from classical music,” says Clayderman, “and then I add my own elements to it.”
Clayderman's sold out concert last year is what has brought him back. “I love Taiwan. I love performing for people who have such a deep response to my music,” he said.
Clayderman's grueling performance and recording schedule — he's been know to perform 200 concerts a year — would leave most other musicians breathless, but the youthful-looking pianist attributes his rigorous schedule to his love of music.
When asked why Clayderman is so popular in Taiwan, a young promoter named Cathy Shi said, “people in Taiwan don't have a long tradition of listening to [Western] classical music. Most of us prefer to listen to easy-listening or love songs, which is why Richard is so popular here.”
Popular indeed. The concerts in Kaohsiung and Taipei are almost sold out and there is only a hand full of tickets left for the Taichung performance. And with a charming and relaxed stage persona combined with his natural good looks, there is sure to be a few concertgoers swooning at his feet.
Performance Notes:
Who: Richard Clayderman
Where: At Chihshan Hall, Kaohsiung (高雄至善廳) tonight; tomorrow at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Taipei (台北國父紀念館); Sunday at Huisun Auditorium of the National Chung Hsing University (台中中興大學惠蓀堂)
When: Tonight at 8pm, tomorrow at 2:30pm and 7:30pm, and Sunday at 7:30pm
Tickets: NT$800 to NT$2,400 for Kaohsuing; NT$800 to NT$2,500 for Taipei; NT$700 to NT$2,500 for Taichung
In the March 9 edition of the Taipei Times a piece by Ninon Godefroy ran with the headine “The quiet, gentle rhythm of Taiwan.” It started with the line “Taiwan is a small, humble place. There is no Eiffel Tower, no pyramids — no singular attraction that draws the world’s attention.” I laughed out loud at that. This was out of no disrespect for the author or the piece, which made some interesting analogies and good points about how both Din Tai Fung’s and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) meticulous attention to detail and quality are not quite up to
It is one of the more remarkable facts of Taiwan history that it was never occupied or claimed by any of the numerous kingdoms of southern China — Han or otherwise — that lay just across the water from it. None of their brilliant ministers ever discovered that Taiwan was a “core interest” of the state whose annexation was “inevitable.” As Paul Kua notes in an excellent monograph laying out how the Portuguese gave Taiwan the name “Formosa,” the first Europeans to express an interest in occupying Taiwan were the Spanish. Tonio Andrade in his seminal work, How Taiwan Became Chinese,
April 21 to April 27 Hsieh Er’s (謝娥) political fortunes were rising fast after she got out of jail and joined the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in December 1945. Not only did she hold key positions in various committees, she was elected the only woman on the Taipei City Council and headed to Nanjing in 1946 as the sole Taiwanese female representative to the National Constituent Assembly. With the support of first lady Soong May-ling (宋美齡), she started the Taipei Women’s Association and Taiwan Provincial Women’s Association, where she
Mongolian influencer Anudari Daarya looks effortlessly glamorous and carefree in her social media posts — but the classically trained pianist’s road to acceptance as a transgender artist has been anything but easy. She is one of a growing number of Mongolian LGBTQ youth challenging stereotypes and fighting for acceptance through media representation in the socially conservative country. LGBTQ Mongolians often hide their identities from their employers and colleagues for fear of discrimination, with a survey by the non-profit LGBT Centre Mongolia showing that only 20 percent of people felt comfortable coming out at work. Daarya, 25, said she has faced discrimination since she
RSS