After nearly a year's search, the management of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has finally announced the appointment of a Music Director Designate. It's the 55-year-old German conductor Martin Fischer-Dieskau.
This is a major coup for the TSO, sometimes perceived these days as the little sister of the bigger National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), even though its budget is said to be the larger.
Ever since Felix Chen Chiu-sen (陳秋盛) resigned after two decades as Music Director in extremely controversial circumstances in 2003, the TSO has often appeared to lack direction, in contrast to the ever-increasing repute of the NSO under Chien Wen-pin (簡文彬). This new appointment, however, could alter things dramatically.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE TSO
It should be remembered that the TSO was once the leading Taiwanese orchestra, mounting twice-yearly opera productions at the National Theater - a role that abruptly ended with Chen's tragic departure.
Martin Fischer-Dieskau, son of the famous baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and cellist Irmgard Poppen, has already announced that his aim is to transform the TSO into a first-tier orchestra that can take its place on the international stage. This will be no easy task, you might think, after its four years in the relative doldrums.
But Fischer-Dieskau has a record of tough decision-making, notably during his tenure as Artistic Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra in Ontario, Canada from 2001 to 2003. There he was engaged in a prolonged dispute with the orchestra's administrators that culminated in the mass resignation of the board of management.
The appointment comes hot on the heels of the NSO's announcement that Gunther Herbig will be its Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor for the 2008 to 2010 seasons.
Both orchestras, it would appear, are testing the waters with caution. But at the same time, both have made strong and courageous decisions, selecting high-profile figures from the international music scene. With the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra having appointed yet another German conductor, Gernot Schmalfuss, as its director, the stage appears to be set for a contest of the Titans, with the Taiwan classical music scene for the time being dominated by German-speaking music directors with, you can be sure, very high musical standards. This can only benefit the already highly accomplished professional music scene here.
Martin Fischer-Dieskau will conduct four concerts and one opera for the TSO this year, and in addition help with future planning. If all goes well he will be appointed Music Director from the beginning of 2009.
Nov. 11 to Nov. 17 People may call Taipei a “living hell for pedestrians,” but back in the 1960s and 1970s, citizens were even discouraged from crossing major roads on foot. And there weren’t crosswalks or pedestrian signals at busy intersections. A 1978 editorial in the China Times (中國時報) reflected the government’s car-centric attitude: “Pedestrians too often risk their lives to compete with vehicles over road use instead of using an overpass. If they get hit by a car, who can they blame?” Taipei’s car traffic was growing exponentially during the 1960s, and along with it the frequency of accidents. The policy
Hourglass-shaped sex toys casually glide along a conveyor belt through an airy new store in Tokyo, the latest attempt by Japanese manufacturer Tenga to sell adult products without the shame that is often attached. At first glance it’s not even obvious that the sleek, colorful products on display are Japan’s favorite sex toys for men, but the store has drawn a stream of couples and tourists since opening this year. “Its openness surprised me,” said customer Masafumi Kawasaki, 45, “and made me a bit embarrassed that I’d had a ‘naughty’ image” of the company. I might have thought this was some kind
What first caught my eye when I entered the 921 Earthquake Museum was a yellow band running at an angle across the floor toward a pile of exposed soil. This marks the line where, in the early morning hours of Sept. 21, 1999, a massive magnitude 7.3 earthquake raised the earth over two meters along one side of the Chelungpu Fault (車籠埔斷層). The museum’s first gallery, named after this fault, takes visitors on a journey along its length, from the spot right in front of them, where the uplift is visible in the exposed soil, all the way to the farthest
The room glows vibrant pink, the floor flooded with hundreds of tiny pink marbles. As I approach the two chairs and a plush baroque sofa of matching fuchsia, what at first appears to be a scene of domestic bliss reveals itself to be anything but as gnarled metal nails and sharp spikes protrude from the cushions. An eerie cutout of a woman recoils into the armrest. This mixed-media installation captures generations of female anguish in Yun Suknam’s native South Korea, reflecting her observations and lived experience of the subjugated and serviceable housewife. The marbles are the mother’s sweat and tears,
RSS