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Tips from an Expert for 24 Hours TCHAIKOVSKY
By Pokey Lin
Weiwuying's annual music marathon is just around the corner. This highly creative event for classical music lovers will be entering its fourth year in 2025, leaving the Austro-German tradition of the previous three editions (SCHUBERT, MOZART, and BEETHOVEN) for Russian composer TCHAIKOVSKY.
TCHAIKOVSKY can be said to be an all-around composer. Regardless of the genre, he made stellar pieces that are adored by aficionados and new lovers of classical music alike, so they won't want to miss this 24 Hours series. As in previous years, there will be ticket packages for either part or all of the event, but those with experience know the Combo 24-hour Concert Hall Ticket + Recital Hall Ticket is the best deal!
The event begins at 5:00 p.m. on February 22 and continues undaunted to 5:00 p.m. the next day, during which a total of 27 programs will take place. Also as in years past, the programs will be divided into the categories of Great Orchestral Works, Selected Chamber Music, Solo Works Collection, and Talk & Show, as well as a couple other events from previous years with new twists.
First, among the six Great Orchestral Works programs, we will hear his three most important late works: Symphonies Nos. 4-6, and we definitely won't forget the suites from his three touching ballets, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, all of which will be performed by a relay effort of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra, Counterpoint Ensemble, and Evergreen Symphony Orchestra.
At last year's 24 Hours BEETHOVEN, concertos were grievously overlooked, but this year, two of TCHAIKOVSKY's well-known concertos have made the list, the solo parts being performed by pianist CHEN Shih-wei and violinist William WEI.
Aside from that, there will be four Selected Chamber Music programs, including all of the composer's most important chamber music pieces, such as three string quartet pieces, the piano trio À la mémoire d'un grand artiste, and the string sextet Souvenir de Florence. During the five Solo Works Collection programs, we will hear his famous piano piece The Seasons. If you want to experience TCHAIKOVSKY's music that gently touches the heart, you just have to hear this.
Also not forgetting his vocal compositions, there will be two concerts dedicated to displaying his very best from this genre. On February 21, the day before 24 Hours TCHAIKOVSKY begins, Weiwuying Artistic Director CHIEN Wen-pin will conduct a concert presenting the music of TCHAIKOVSKY's opera Eugene Onegin, which will be the perfect warmup to the festivities the next day.
For those who are night owls, jazz pianist YuYing HSU will put on the Midnight TCHAIKOVSKY & Jazz concert at 1:00 in the morning, and then at 2:30, the 2022 Russian-produced film Tchaikovsky's Wife will be screened. Entered in the Cannes Film Festival's main competition, the film describes the marriage between TCHAIKOVSKY and the aristocratic Antonina MILIUKOVA, who had fallen desperately in love with him, and how such union broke both of them down. After seeing it, you may better understand why so much tragedy can be heard in his music.
Cinderella may have had to leave the ball by midnight, but Weiwuying's 24 Hours TCHAIKOVSKY will have a session of Weiwuying 365+ Dance for those who still have time and energy at that hour to dance to the composer's ballet music. And that's sure to make you hungry, but don't worry, there will be the 24 Hours TCHAIKOVSKY Market Strip at Weiwuying for you to pack in the calories you'll need to keep moving and stay warm!
To boost attendees'sense of participation, there will also be the 24 Hours Bingo stamp collection event with more fun ways to make lines and thus win gifts. But I'll let you in on the fastest way: go to the concert on February 21, which will allow you to make two lines as early as 9:45 p.m. ;On February 22,otherwise, you'll have to wait until at least 4:25 a.m. the next day to get enough stamps for a line.
Don't wait! Buy your tickets now for Taiwan's best and most fun music marathon, because if you miss it, you'll have to wait another whole year for the next one!
Programs
2/21(Fri)19:30
►TCHAIKOVSKY's - Eugene Onegin - Opera in Concert
2/22(Sat)17:00-2/23(Sun)17:00
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