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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as