An article by Stephan Knies

The banyan tree has great symbolic power in Taiwan. Its broad canopy provides shadow from the subtropical sun, protection against heavy downpours in the afternoon, and space for chess players, or groups having a picnic. In Kaohsiung, third largest city of the country with a population of 2.7 million inhabitants, it also grows on the premises of Weiwuying, formerly a military area not far from downtown.

Francine Houben, the architect, adopted this natural model when she won the contract to convert the decaying site into a cultural complex: Individual building parts are designed like huge round trunks under one overarching roof, the space in-between is a freely accessible forum without steps which can become a venue, or used as spontaneous meeting place. There is an amphitheater descending towards the park on the roof of the self-proclaimed "house without doors" – overlooking the banyan trees. The roof measures mighty 240 meters in length, boasts a width of 140 meters, and turns Weiwuyiung, as emphasized proudly here, into the "largest contiguous cultural building in the world" – listed under the "World's Greatest Places 2019" in the TIME magazine. Inside, no less than four halls separated by construction, acoustics, and arrangement can be found. In ascending order, these are the Recital Hall for chamber music, TV shows, or Jazz, then a narrow and high hall for spoken theater, a concert hall with fantastic acoustics – and the opera house with 2236 seats.

Thereby, it surpassed the largest opera house in Germany, the Bavarian State Opera. The hall and stage technology may elicit a sigh from visitors from Germany, because hardly any German local theater can offer this much up-to-dateness, from lower machinery to acoustic elements under the roof. Only the orchestra pit does not seem to make everybody happy: Its space could become tight for the original members of a huge orchestra required for operas such as "Elektra" by Strauss. But such repertoire should not necessarily be standing in the front row in a country like Taiwan which can play three theaters in total with Western musical theater repertoire – especially since there are no permanent vocal ensembles, opera orchestras, or opera choirs on the island with 24 million inhabitants.

However, this does not discourage Wen-Pin Chien who was appointed artistic director of the entire complex already in 2015, thus three years prior to inauguration. The native Taiwanese and former music director of the German Opera on the Rhine is quoted with the slogan "I dream big" on the homepage of the ministry of culture, and tirelessly pushes the development of Weiwuying forward. Doing so, he keeps all levels in sight, from promoting young talents and attracting an audience to the production of ambitious titles, and work as a director. Carefully curated rentals are an enormously important component; with 70 percent of events, they represent the lion's share of the range of services for the audience, and they secure the financial means for in-house formats which account for the artistic essence of the cultural center.

This is quite a broad range of signature events specifically produced and named as such for Weiwuying. They set various priorities for various target groups: For example, the "24 Hours Composer Series" plays music of one single composer (it will be Bach this coming March) once a year around the clock, following the example of the French festival "La Folle journée"; the Weiwuying Organ Festival highlights the concert hall's Klais organ, with more than 9000 pipes it is the largest organ in entire Asia; there are a range of orchestras and solo recitals in the same hall; in addition to that, there are circus, children and dance festivals.

Much of this also takes place in the opera house explicitly not only intended for Western musical theater, although name, looks, and facilities may suggest this. After all, the term "opera" is representative here for all performing arts. Thus, the stage is arranged in a versatile manner – below stage, there are even large water containers which can serve as weights for trapezes, high wires, and other statically sophisticated circus equipment. And yet: Grand opera productions are the highlight of performance time in this hall; by nature, they artistically, logistically, and financially pose the biggest challenges for the opera house. In each half-year program, a work from the classics is presented from Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, or Puccini as (semi) concert and as fully stage production in turns. It makes sense that Wen-Pin Chien is seeking international cooperation for these events: The first opera, Puccini's "Turandot", was produced by the German Opera on the Rhine (together with a Taiwanese creative team) in 2019. Now, Wagner's "Lohengrin" from Düsseldorf was performed this autumn.

Change of location: The Wan theater is centrally located in Taipei, the capital, is adequately air-conditioned and not really a theater, but a large hall serving well as rehearsal stage. The chairs on the narrow grandstand are fully occupied by members of the Taipei Philharmonic Chorus, an amateur choir boosted by young professionals. The singers are excellently prepared and highly motivated. The rehearsal is conducted by the director Sabine Hartmannshenn herself; she is restaging her production of 2014 here. She is assisted by Julia Langeder, formerly assistant director at the German Opera on the Rhine, and who has herself been working as director for a long time. Both ladies have their hands full, because two soloist casts have to be attended to, besides the choir: the cast from Düsseldorf, including guests, and a Taiwanese cast. And this is remarkable, because there is no permanent opera company on the island where voices could be gently introduced to Wagner. Li Keng, the soprano singer, stands out, because she plays Elsa intensely clear as bell. The newcomers are not only supported by Chien, the conductor, but also by experienced colleagues: Brenden Gunnell already sung Lohengrin at the Bolshoi Theater, Andreas Bauer Kanabas has just finished his debut as King Henry in Bayreuth. After five weeks of rehearsal in Taipei, they are heading to Kaohsiung for four acclaimed performances in the opera house there. The Taiwanese premiere of "Lohengrin" is of international standard, and is well received in Weiwuyiung, the building inspired by banyan trees. And Wen-Pin Chien does not stop dreaming – therefore, it is quite possible that even "Elektra" will be part of the program one day. Then they will most certainly also be able to handle the problem with space in the orchestra pit in Kaohsiung.