Theater
Asunder2 (支離破碎), by Crossover Dance Troupe (台北越界舞團), uses dance to investigate the ageless themes of lust, acceptance and forgiveness.
* Experimental Theater, Taipei (國家戲劇院實驗劇場)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm and tomorrow and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$500 and are available through NTCH ticketing outlets
Castle Wall (宮牆) is a Taiwanese musical by Yage Theater (雅歌劇坊) that uses Western string instruments and Taiwanese opera vocals. Neither Western or Eastern but drawing on both traditions, the tale takes place thousands of years ago and tells the story of a tribe of Jews living in Asia facing persecution and a woman who uses her wits and courage to save them from destruction.
* Taipei Family Theater (台北市親子劇場), 2F, 1 Shifu Rd, Taipei (台北市市府路1號2樓)
* Today and tomorrow at 7:30pm
* Tickets are NT$300 to NT$1,000 (Note: NT$500 to NT$1,000 tickets for today's performance have already sold out)
Irma la Douce (巴黎花街) by Godot Theater (果陀劇場) tells the story of a fired cop on the steamy streets of 1960s Paris, who falls in love with a prostitute named Irma la Douce, who he meets at a seedy bar called the Café Moustache. After killing off la Douce's pimp, the ex-cop takes his place and gradually loses all sense of reality as he becomes increasingly jealous of the hooker's Johns. A highlight of the performance is the acting talent of Chin Shih-jie (金士傑), who plays the role of the cafe owner.
* Cultural Affairs Bureau of Hsinchu County (新竹縣文化局演藝廳), 146 Hsiencheng 9th Rd, Chupei City, Hsinchu County (新竹縣竹北市縣政九路146號)
* Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
* Tickets are NT$400 to NT$2,400 and are available through www.artsticket.com.tw
Events
Taipei Salon (台北沙龍) is a series of lectures hosted by the Lung Ying-tai Cultural Foundation (龍應台文化基金會) brings speakers from around the world to focus on issues of democracy and globalization. The scheduled talk by New York Times columnist, Pankaj Mishra on Democracy in India in the age of Globalization has been canceled.
* Taipei Salon (台北沙龍) at .Yue-han Hall (月涵堂), 110 Jinhua St, Taipei (台北市金華街110號)
* Tomorrow beginning at 2pm
* Free, but participants must pre-register at www.civictaipei.org
Classical Music
National Symphony Orchestra and The Poem of Fire Prometheus (國家交響樂團 — 燃燒的七彩鋼琴). Claimed to stretch the limits of tonality, the concert performed by the NSO under director Chien Wen-bin (簡文彬) will feature Russian pianist Mikhail Rudy. The first work of the program tonight will be Beethoven's Prometheus Overture. Op.43, written for the ballet of the same title — Beethoven's only complete ballet score. Also, Scriabin's Prometeus — The Poem of Fire, Op.60, though classified as an orchestral work, is almost a piano concerto due to the prominence of the instrument. Other works in tonight's program include Scriabin's The Poem of Ecstasy, Op.54 and Falla's Ritual Fire Dance from "El amor brujo." There will be a pre-concert talk by Wang Shih-chiang (王世強) in the lobby of the National Concert Hall 30 minutes prior to the concert.
* At the National Concert Hall, Taipei
* Tickets cost from NT$300 to NT$1,500 and are available through NTCH ticketing.
* Tonight at 7:30pm
National Symphony Orchestra Master Chamber Concert Series 3 (國家交響樂團名家室內樂3 — 俄羅斯鋼琴名家). World-renowned Russian pianist Mikhail Rudy will not only join the NSO to play Scriabin's Prometheus — The Poem of Fire, Op.60 tonight (see above), but in tomorrow's performance will collaborate with four NSO principal musicians, namely violinists Wu Ting-yu (吳庭毓) and Chen Yi-ju (陳怡茹), violist Grace Huang (黃瑞儀), cellist Lien Yi-hsien (連亦先), and clarinetist Ju May-lin (朱玫玲), to perform in three classical chamber music pieces, including Mozart's Trio for Piano, Clarinet, and Viola, K.498, Shostakovich's Piano Trio No.2, Op.67, and Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A Major, Op.81.
* At the National Recital Hall, Taipei
* Tickets cost from NT$300 to NT$500 and are available through NTCH ticketing outlets
* Tomorrow at 7:30pm
Taiwan Wind Ensemble Spanish Dance Music "Fire of Passion" (台灣管樂團 — 西班牙樂舞風華"迷戀之火"). Joined by dancers of the Cuadro Flamenco Fuego Fantastico (迷火佛拉明哥舞團), Taiwan Wind Ensemble will perform a program of works, including Charier's Espana Rhapsody, Rimsky-Korsakov's Capriccio Espangnol, Op.34, Albeniz's Mas Quiles: Sevilla, Third Movement of the Suite Eapanola, Lara and Morita's Granada, Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, Falla's Jay Bocook: Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo, and Bizet's and Tohru Takahashi's Carmem Suite.
* Tomorrow and Sunday at the Taipei Zhongshan Hall (台北市中山堂), 98 Yenping S Rd, Taipei (台北市延平南路98號)
* As of press time, NT$1,400 tickets are sold out, but tickets from NT$400 to NT$1,200 are still available through NTCH ticketing
* Tomorrow at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2:30pm
Jian Wang Cello Recital (王健大提琴獨奏會). Wang first came to worldwide fame at the age of 10, thanks to Isaac Stern, who was in China making a documentary film From Mao to Mozart. Stern discovered the young prodigy and featured him in the film. Even at that youthful age, Wang played with a beautiful, serious mastery of the instrument. During the decade following Wang studied at Yale and also at Julliard. His chief Western teacher has been Aldo Parisot. During Wang's Taiwan tour in Taipei and Taichung, Wang will perform Bach's Six Cello Suites, BWV 1007-1012 in two concerts.
* Wednesday at the National Concert Hall, Taipei, and March 23 at the Taichung Chungshan Hall (台中市中山堂), 98 Hsuehshi Rd, Taichung City (台中市學士路98號)
* As of press time, NT$300 tickets are sold out for the Taipei concert, but seats are still available from NT$500 to NT$2,000. For the Taichung concert, tickets cost from NT$350 to NT$2,000. All tickets are available through ERA ticketing.
* Wednesday and March 23 at 7:30pm
Orchestra "Plettro" Tokyo — Mandolin Concert in Tainan (東京Plettro曼陀林樂團 — 曼陀林音樂會). Orchestra "Plettro" was established in 2003 to promote the appreciation of mandolin music in Japan, and has since toured Spain, Italy and Germany. The average age of the Orchestra "Plettro" members exceeds 60, but the orchestra is still very active. Under the direction of conductor Hiro Yamaguchi and concertmaster Humiaki Sato, the concert will feature singer Mamiko Tsukube, frist mandolinist Kobiku kawaguchi, second mandolinist Kazumi Hukai, mandola player Kyoryo Gunshi, guitarirst hiroaki Koshibu, and mandoloncello player Tomokazu Nakahato in the Tainan concert. A program of classic and popular mandolin works will be featured, including Johann Strauss II's An der shoenen blauen Donau, Italian songs, Rentarou Taki's Fantasy on the Theme of The Moon on the Ruined Castle, late Taiwanese pop diva Teresa Teng's (鄧麗君) popular Chinese song When Will You Come Back* (何日君再來), Pietro Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and others.
* At the National Tainan University Recital Hall (台南大學雅音樓), 33 Shulin St Sec 2, Tainan City (台南市樹林街二段33號)
* Free admission. For more information, call Chi Mei Culture Foundation at (06) 266-0808 or visit the Web site at www.chimeimuseum.com
* Thursday at 7:30pm
Contemporary
Whisbee-slugging, betel nut-chewing, Long Life-smoking culture is in full effect tonight at The Wall (這牆), with a taike (台客) themed concert featuring hard-hitting bands The Clippers (夾子), Children Sucker (表兒) and The Chairman (董事長). Tomorrow, White Wabbit Records presents The Album Leaf, the post-rock/ambient side project of Jimmy LaValle, whose previous bands include the California ambient piano-rock combo Tristeza and epic-core group Black Heart Procession. A write-up on US record label Sub Pop's Web site states that LaValle's recent work "bubble[s] with moody, contemplative slow builds and Brian Eno-inspired compositional atmospherics." The action continues on Sunday, when Japanese hip-hop/nu-metal and hard-core bands Unslow and Mob take the stage, with support from local bands Thought of an Instant (片刻思維) and Respect (尊敬). On Wendesday, it's Brit-pop-sounding Bitter with The Newsonghead.
* Entrance tonight and Sunday is NT$400. Tomorrow is NT$1,000. Wednesday is NT$300
* Bands take the stage at 8pm
* B1, 200 Roosevelt Rd Sec 4, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路四段200號B1). Call (02) 2930-0162 or visit www.the-wall.com.tw
Riverside Cafe(河岸留言) presents J.E.G. jazz combo tonight. Tomorrow all-female alt-rock quartet Cherry Boom (櫻桃幫) and indie-pop singer Bibi Chao (趙之璧) take the stage. On Sunday, it's World Music performer Shi Chen-lan (史辰蘭) and singer-songwriter Denise Juan (阮丹青), a former pop singer turned piano teacher, broadcaster and traveler. Monday night is open-jam night, when anyone with a song or an instrument can perform. On Tuesday it's part-funk, part-pseudo nu-metal band Coach (教練), Wednesday features pop-rock acts Joker and Bone (骨頭), and on Thursday it's indie-pop band Lucky Q and pop-rock band Sunny 4.
* The music starts at 9:30pm each night
* Entrance tonight, tomorrow, Sunday and Tuesday is NT$350. On Wednesday and Thursday, entrance is NT$300. On Monday there is a one-drink minimum
* B1, 2, Ln 244, Roosevelt Rd Sec 3, Taipei (台北市羅斯福路三段244巷2號B1). Call (02) 2368-7310, or visit www.riverside.com.tw
The Living Room (小客廳) hosts Rose de Sevilla (塞維亞玫瑰藝術舞坊), an evening of flamenco dance, tonight. Tomorrow it's two expat bands: funk quartet New Hong Kong Hair City and alt-country band Johnny FatStacks. Tuesday features Grandpa Beard's (鬍子爺爺) "country grungie indie alternative rock." Wednesday it's Guts Improv (勇氣即興), where actors create short skits based on "audience suggestions and crazy rules," and on Thursday it's more Grandpa Beard, followed by Just for Fun Theater (小客廳劇場), "interactive personal expressionism" with Nagano Masataka and Cara Speckhals.
* Tonight's flamenco starts at 9pm. Bands take the stage at 10pm tomorrow. Tuesday and Wednesday's performances start at 8pm. Thursday's music starts at 9pm, followed by the theatre at 10:30pm
* Entrance for tonight is NT$200. Tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday is NT$300. Thursday is NT$300 for the band and NT$100 for the theater
* 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
Velvet Underground (地下絲絨) presents all-girl indie five-piece Nekojamband (妮可醬) tonight. Tomorrow it's indie-pop and electronica bands Milang (謎浪), The Leaf, The Riot and La Petite Nurse (小護士). Wednesday it's Pink Stars and Wonder Wave. Thursday it's Final Chapter (終章).
* Tonight's show starts at 11pm. Tomorrow's and Thursday's performances start at 9pm
* Entrance is NT$300 or NT$200 for students
* B1, 50 Zhongxiao W Rd Sec 1, Taipei (台北市忠孝西路一段50號B1). Call (02) 2314-1868 or visit www.velvet-underground.com.tw
Tonight, Underworld (地下社會) features expat band Public Radio, playing instrumental funk, reggae, alt-country, lounge and punk. Tube (地下鐵) opens for post-rock/nu-folk band We Save Strawberries (草莓救星) tomorrow. And DJ Zephec returns for another show with pouty electronica singer Kolette on Wednesday.
* The bar opens at 8pm and bands take the stage at 9pm
* Entrance is NT$300
* B1, 45 Shida Rd, Taipei (台北市師大路45號B1). Call (02) 2369-0103 or visit www.underworld-taipei.blogspot.com for more information
Tonight in Taichung, Grooveyard presents Aboriginal singer Eagle Lin, and Groovecity hosts Spanish rock trio Berri Txarrak — "like the Foo Fighters sung in Spanish," according to the venue's Web site. Tomorrow for St. Patrick's Day, Grooveyard is hosting a Rockin' the Clover Festival with Berri Txarrak, .22 and WinSky on the outdoor stage at Tiger City.
* Friday's performance starts at 9pm. Tomorrow's outdoor concert runs from 2pm until 5pm
* Grooveyard entrance is NT$200 tonight. Groovecity entrance is NT$300 tonight. Admission to the St. Patrick's Day concert is NT$300
* Groovecity is inside Tiger City (台中老虎城旁停車場) at 120 Henan Rd Sec 3, Taichung (台中市河南路三段120號老虎城). Grooveyard is located at 2F, 105 Huamei W Rd, Taichung (台中市華美西街105號2樓). Visit www.grooveyardtaiwan.com or call 0939-574-737
Exhibitions
Sensation of Shape and Color — Ju Ming's Collage in "Living Word Series" (形色的感度 — 朱銘「人間系列」拼貼展). Featuring a selection of Ju Ming's collage works from the "Living World Series" done in 2005 and 2006, the exhibition reintroduces the artist to the public not as an acclaimed sculptor but as a versatile artist who has created equally inspiring works on paper. Influenced by Braque and Picasso's Cubism, Ju uses only charcoal pencils to draw on various color papers to create a playful game of forms and shapes based on the theme of female bodies.
* Juming Museum (朱銘美術館), 2 Hsishihhu, 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 July 31
Loop (圈). The artist village's five current residency artists from Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US put together a joint exhibition on various media including a multimedia installation pieces to connect the viewer with whirling images of the city, video loops of dramatic scenes selected from a Taiwanese soap operas and large-scaled paintings using found objects and material.
* Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村), 7 Peiping E Rd, Taipei (台北市北平東路7號). Open Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 6pm. Call (02) 3393-7377
* Until April 8
Hung Su-chen Solo Exhibition: Meandering (洪素珍個展：綿延). The multiple award-winning Taiwanese artist creates a large-scale site-specific installation piece for the two-floor gallery as a contemplation on time and space. Working with light, space, sound, movement and stillness, the San Francisco-based artist's works are simple, elegant and have a meditative aura.
* IT Park Gallery (伊通公園), 2-3F, 41 Yitong St, Taipei (台北市伊通街41號2/3樓). Open Tuesday to Saturday from 1pm to 10pm. Call (02) 2507-7243
* Until March 31
Gesture and Form (姿•態). A joint exhibition of three contemporary water-ink artists Wang Yi-ran (王怡然), Hsu Wei-ying (許維穎) and Luo Xi-quing (羅錫卿) who combine traditional water-ink skills and glue color and decorative aluminum foil to present both the bodily gestures and mental landscapes of the painted subjects in their portrait paintings.
* AKI Gallery (也趣), 4, Ln 140, Zhongshan N Rd Sec 7, Taipei (台北市中山北路七段140巷4號). Open Tuesday to Sunday from 11am to 7:30pm. Call (02) 2872-5296
* Until April 1
True Love Faking (真情假愛). Artist Chiu Kuo-chun (邱國峻) introduces a fabricated Japanese porn star as the leading lady of a photo book to reflect on the issues of culture of pornography, the manipulation of female bodies and the death of eroticism.
* NTUE Nanhai Gallery (南海藝廊), 3, Ln 19, Chungching S Road Sec 2, Taipei (台北市重慶南路二段19巷3號). Open Wednesday to Sunday from 2pm to 9:30pm. Call (02) 2392-5080
* Until March 29
Jan. 6 to Jan. 12 Perhaps hoping to gain the blessing of the stone-age hunter-gatherers that dwelt along the east coast 30,000 years ago, visitors to the Baxian Caves (八仙洞) during the 1970s would grab a handful of soil to bring home. In January 1969, the nation was captivated by the excavation of pre-ceramic artifacts and other traces of human habitation in several caves atop a sea cliff in Taitung County. The majority of the unearthed objects were single-faced, unpolished flake tools fashioned from natural pebbles collected by the shore. While archaeologists had found plenty of neolithic (7,000 BC to 1,700
Famed Chinese demographer Yi Fuxian (易富賢) recently wrote for The Diplomat on the effects of a cross-strait war on demography. He contended that one way to deter the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is by putting the demographic issue front and center — last year total births in the PRC, he said, receded to levels not seen since 1762. Yi observes that Taiwan’s current fertility rate is already lower than Ukraine’s — a nation at war that is refusing to send its young into battle — and that its “demographic crisis suggests that Taiwan’s technological importance will rapidly decline, and
When the weather is too cold to enjoy the white beaches and blue waters of Pingtung County’s Kenting (墾丁), it’s the perfect time to head up into the hills and enjoy a different part of the national park. In the highlands above the bustling beach resorts, a simple set of trails treats visitors to lush forest, rocky peaks, billowing grassland and a spectacular bird’s-eye view of the coast. The rolling hills beyond Hengchun Township (恆春) in Pingtung County offer a two-hour through-hike of sweeping views from the mighty peak of Dajianshih Mountain (大尖石山) to Eluanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔) on the coast, or
Her greatest fear, dormant for decades, came rushing back in an instant: had she adopted and raised a kidnapped child? Peg Reif’s daughter, adopted from South Korea in the 1980s, had sent her a link to a documentary detailing how the system that made their family was rife with fraud: documents falsified, babies switched, children snatched off the street and sent abroad. Reif wept. She was among more than 120 who contacted The Associated Press this fall, after a series of stories and a documentary made with Frontline exposed how Korea created a baby pipeline, designed to ship children abroad as quickly as
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