Organist Liu Hsin-hung (劉信宏) is to play the biggest pipe organ in Asia on Double Ten National Day at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, the center said on Monday.
The center is to hold an open house event on Wednesday next week, three days before its grand opening, it said.
Visitors would be able to listen to recitals and performances by artists, including Liu, for free, the center added.
Photo: Chen Wen-chan, Taipei Times
Liu is to play Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29 and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, George Shearin’s I Love Thee, My Lord, Antonin Dvorak’s Humoresques, and Teng Yu-hsien’s (鄧雨賢) Variation on the Theme of Spring Wind.
The twin organ with 127 stops and 9,085 pipes was built by the German firm Johannes Klais Orgelbau.
The company called the NT$120 million (US$3.91 million) organ its “magnum opus.”
For optimal acoustic effect, the center’s concert hall utilizes a “vineyard style” layout with terraced seating surrounding the stage and ceiling panels whose height and shape can be adjusted, the center said.
TBLE Brass — Taiwan’s only comedy brass ensemble — is to perform a comical routine entitled All The King’s Men (國王的人馬) featuring classical music and physical comedy at the concert hall.
The center’s theater playhouse is to feature a musical and theatrical introduction to the center by Po You Set (?優座), a troupe that performs traditional Chinese opera and modern theater.
At the recital hall, Nous Chantons is to perform New York ... er, a musical about young Taiwanese living in New York City that is inspired by the episodic format of modern television.
The event is to run from 11am to 9pm, and the performances are to take place from noon to 6:30pm with walk-in admission, the center said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final