To play a concert in the International Chopin Festival series that only contains six and a half minutes of music by Chopin takes some confidence. But if anyone can bring it off it’s the 23-year-old Beijing-born pianist Wang Yuja (王羽佳).
Wang is the latest classical piano-playing comet to roar out of China. She’s on a par with Lang Lang (郎朗) (with whom she shared a teacher at the elite Curtis Institute in Philadelphia), Yundi Li (李雲迪) and, going back further, Fou Tsong (傅聰). She may not have won the International Chopin Competition, but she’s been taking audiences by storm in the US and Europe. She’s already legendary for the force and brilliance of her playing, and for refusing to build up a charismatic stage persona — until, that is, the moment comes when she first hits the keys.
The program’s one Chopin item is the Waltz in C Sharp Minor, Op. 64 No. 2, a profound work that barely hides its inner melancholy under its surface brilliance. Wang’s preference, however, seems to be for sterner stuff.
Scarlatti’s one-movement sonatas, originally written for harpsichord, have attracted some modern pianists and Wang will play four of them. Much more substantial, however, is a selection of pieces by the late 19th-century mystic and experimentalist Alexander Scriabin that combine Romantic effusion with pre-modern difficulty and abstraction. These works have possibly always been more attractive to pianists than to listeners, but they will certainly be ideal material through which to perceive Wang’s intense and
fiery genius.
Also on the program are three Schubert lieder arranged as pieces for solo piano by Liszt, and the three movements from Stravinsky’s 1911 ballet Petroushka that the composer arranged for solo piano in 1921 for use by Artur Rubinstein.
The program will be played twice, first in Hsinchu on Monday, then in Taipei on Wednesday. These concerts have all the hallmarks of being special occasions. Wang, though already eminent, is still a rising star, and the program she’s chosen is clearly one that both decisively exhibits her talents and suits her highly individualistic nature.
Wang Yuja plays at the Hsinchu Municipal Auditorium (新竹市文化局演藝廳), 17, Dongda Rd Sec 2, Hsinchu City (新竹市東大路二段17號), on Monday at 7:30pm, and at the National Concert Hall, Taipei, at 7:30pm on Wednesday.
Tickets are NT$400 to NT$1,800 (Hsinchu) and NT$800 to NT$2,800 (Taipei), available
from ERA ticket outlets, online at www.ticket.com.tw, or
7-Eleven ibon and FamilyMart
(全家) FamiPort kiosks.
On Jan. 17, Beijing announced that it would allow residents of Shanghai and Fujian Province to visit Taiwan. The two sides are still working out the details. President William Lai (賴清德) has been promoting cross-strait tourism, perhaps to soften the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attitudes, perhaps as a sop to international and local opinion leaders. Likely the latter, since many observers understand that the twin drivers of cross-strait tourism — the belief that Chinese tourists will bring money into Taiwan, and the belief that tourism will create better relations — are both false. CHINESE TOURISM PIPE DREAM Back in July
Taiwan doesn’t have a lot of railways, but its network has plenty of history. The government-owned entity that last year became the Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) has been operating trains since 1891. During the 1895-1945 period of Japanese rule, the colonial government made huge investments in rail infrastructure. The northern port city of Keelung was connected to Kaohsiung in the south. New lines appeared in Pingtung, Yilan and the Hualien-Taitung region. Railway enthusiasts exploring Taiwan will find plenty to amuse themselves. Taipei will soon gain its second rail-themed museum. Elsewhere there’s a number of endearing branch lines and rolling-stock collections, some
Could Taiwan’s democracy be at risk? There is a lot of apocalyptic commentary right now suggesting that this is the case, but it is always a conspiracy by the other guys — our side is firmly on the side of protecting democracy and always has been, unlike them! The situation is nowhere near that bleak — yet. The concern is that the power struggle between the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their now effectively pan-blue allies the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) intensifies to the point where democratic functions start to break down. Both
This was not supposed to be an election year. The local media is billing it as the “2025 great recall era” (2025大罷免時代) or the “2025 great recall wave” (2025大罷免潮), with many now just shortening it to “great recall.” As of this writing the number of campaigns that have submitted the requisite one percent of eligible voters signatures in legislative districts is 51 — 35 targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus lawmakers and 16 targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The pan-green side has more as they started earlier. Many recall campaigns are billing themselves as “Winter Bluebirds” after the “Bluebird Action”
RSS