Two noted US musicians are scheduled to give a concert in an Aboriginal village in Alishan (阿里山) on Friday at the invitation of the Taipei-based Chinese Culture University (CCU), an academic source said yesterday.
Pianist Deborah Nemko and violinist Annegret Klaua will be performing on the campus of a Tsou Tribe elementary school in the mountainous Alishan area of Chiayi County to entertain school children and residents living nearby, said Jessica Su (蘇育代), director of the Musical Education Center operated by the CCU School of Continuing Education.
Nemko and Klaua will arrive from the US on Thursday on their first visit to Taiwan mainly to give lectures at a CCU-sponsored activity called “Music Master Classes and Concerts” from next Monday to May 24.
Su said she was moved by Nemko and Klaua’s decision to stage the concert at the elementary school which does not have an auditorium, a concert piano or a budget to accommodate famous musicians from abroad.
Su said she asked Nemko and Klaua to perform because Aboriginal children have few, if any, chances of attending live performances and have little access to musical education and related resources.
Meanwhile, the concert will allow the US musicians to gain some firsthand knowledge of the nation’s Aboriginal peoples, she said.
Su said both Nemko and Klaua are “thrilled” about the Alishan trip and are looking forward to visiting Taiwan.
NEMKO
Nemko graduated from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and received advanced degrees from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. She has taught music at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, the University of Arizona and Bridgewater State College.
Nemko serves as the president of the US College Music Society, Northeast Chapter, and was a winner of the Bridgewater State College Jordan Fiore Research in World Justice Prize for 2003.
Her performances include recitals in Belgium, the Czech Republic and in various locations throughout the US.
KLAUA
Violinist Annegret Klaua, a native of Hanover, Germany, is an avid chamber musician, soloist and orchestra player who freelances in the Greater Boston area. She performs regularly with the Gardner Chamber Orchestra and has played and recorded with Alea III, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the String Orchestra of New York City.
Klaua received her bachelor and master’s of music from Indiana University, Bloomington, where she studied with Paul Biss and Franco Gulli.
Klaua, who also has a PhD in musicology from Brandeis University, has taught at Indiana University, Brookline and Acton, Massachusetts, and the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.
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