Pianist Ivan Lin (林聰敏) will embark on a world tour in March, which is part of his prize for winning a major international piano competition in Oslo, Norway, last year, the Council for Cultural Affairs said yesterday.
Lin, 23, will give recitals in Europe and the US this year, the council said.
The young musician, who is a piano major at Germany’s University of Music, Drama and Media Hanover, won first prize in the piano solo category in the 11th Grieg International Piano Competition in September.
PHOTO: CNA
He was also awarded a special prize for best interpretation of a romantic composer.
“The win was an encouragement for me, especially in a spiritual sense,” he said at a press conference held by the council in his honor. “I hope it will lead me on a path to more opportunities and greater confidence.”
At the competition, more than 60 contestants, aged 17 to 35, were required to perform in three rounds over four days and the three finalists had to play live with an orchestra on the fourth day, he said.
The young pianist said that he usually drinks several cups of coffee before a performance to help overcome his stage fright, but this time, he was calm and did not need caffeine in the final round of the contest.
His first prize award gives him the chance to perform in major cities around the world such as Oslo, Moscow, New York and Hanover, starting in March.
He will also give a recital in Paris at the invitation of UNESCO later this year.
Lin began learning the piano when he was 12 years old and quickly became a child star in Taiwan. He was the first-prize winner of the 13th International Piano Competition Citta di Barletta in Italy in 2003.
Lin said he first heard the music of the 19th century Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg when he was 13, and instantly fell in love with the style that featured the German romantic tradition with strong national overtones.
His musical career so far has been a long road, he said, adding he could not have made it without the support of his family and friends.
Lin’s mother, Lee Miao-hua (李妙華), said he will graduate from the German university this summer and would like to study in the US, but funding is a problem.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant