衛武營國家藝術文化中心 National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying)

After RAVEL completed the solo piano suite, Le Tombeau de Couperin, in 1917, he selected four of the movements and arranged them for the orchestra in 1919, refreshing their audience appeal. As a superb orchestration magician, RAVEL utilized the diverse sounds of woodwinds, plus the perfectly matched strings, to create a splendid but quaint tone painting that echoes the musical aesthetics of COUPERIN, whose name is embedded in the title of the work.

Also featuring the woodwinds, Anders HILLBORG's Peacock Tales showcases the clarinet's multi-voice range, efficient large interval jumping, and portamento. This piece was originally tailored for the famous clarinetist Martin FRÖST, and later in 2004, the composer revised and refined it into a millennium version. The soloist will still perform with body movements such as dancing and walking, completing an unforgettable "Gesamtkunstwerk"(universal artwork).  The second half of the program will be Jean SIBELIUS's Violin Concerto. Although strings are the protagonist in this work, the composer puts deep thought into the rest of the orchestration. Just like his masterpiece Symphony No. 2, SIBELIUS's style had gradually shed the Russian influence by this time; instead, the music is imbued with a Finnish flavor: it evokes the natural scenery of forest and lake, forming the unique sound of SIBELIUS.

  Pre-talk  

2023/4/23(Sun)14:00 Concert Hall Auditorium

  Program  

M. RAVEL：Le Tombeau de Couperin

Anders HILLBORG: Peacock Tales for Clarinet and Orchestra (Millennium version)

J. SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in d minor, Op. 47

  Creative and Production Team  

Conductor｜CHIEN Wen-pin

Clarinet｜Magnus HOLMANDER

Violin｜William WEI

Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra

  Artists Introduction  

Conductor｜CHIEN Wen-pin

CHIEN Wen-pin, General and Artistic Director of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), was born in 1967, graduated from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts and awarded a Master's degree at the National University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna. CHIEN joined the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf/Duisburg, Germany) in 1996 and served as "Kapellmeister" for 22 years. 1998-2004 he was Resident Conductor of the Pacific Music Festival (Sapporo, Japan). 2001-2007 he was Music Director of National Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan Philharmonic); during his tenure the orchestra has achieved several milestones such as creating Subscription series, commissioning Taiwanese composers, introducing an opera series which coroneted with the first production of the complete "Der Ring des Nibelungen" by Richard Wagner in Chinese speaking areas, upon orchestra's 20th anniversary in 2006. 2014-2016 CHIEN was Artistic Advisor of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. In addition, CHIEN was winner of the "National Award for Arts" in 2014.

Clarinet｜Magnus HOLMANDER

He is the musician who can make a music stand levitate and a clarinet to literally vanish right in front of your eyes. Magnus has, through his unique combination of music and magic, created his very own niche in the world of classical music. His career took off when Swedish superstar Martin Fröst, 2013, invited Magnus to participate as a clarinetist, dancer and magician in the show Dollhouse, which was performed at a number of concert halls around the Nordic region.

Magnus Holmander's experimental curiosity, both as a musician, artist and magician, has inspired many Swedish composers to write music dedicated to him, including Andrea Tarrodi, Jacob Mülhrad, Benjamin Staern, Molly Kien, Klara Stirner and Ylva Fred. Magnus has also collaborated with many composers such as Rolf Martinsson and Anders Hillborg. Magnus Holmander has already performed in several of the largest concert halls in Europe such as Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Musikverein Vienna, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Royal Festival Hall London, Cité de la Musique Paris, Kölner Philharmonie Cologne, Palau de la Musica Barcelona, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, BOZAR Brussels, Auditorium Milano and Müpa Budapest to name but a few. In 2019 he was honoured with a Rising Star 2019-2020 Award by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO) and the same year he was mentioned in the magazine Opus as one of the 20 most influential musicians in Sweden.

Magnus did his bachelor and master studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm studying for Hermann Stefánsson and Emil Jonason.

Violin｜William WEI

Born in Taiwan, William began his violin studies at the age of five. He is a proud recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Scholarship at the Juilliard School, where he earned his Bachelor's degree under Hyo KANG. He is currently pursuing his Master's degree at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns EISLER in Berlin under Kolja BLACHER, former concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. William's recent highlights have included concert series, stepping in for violinist Shlomo MINTZ in Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major with Eliahu INBAL. NSO with HU Nai-yuan and Ray CHEN, and Baden-Baden Philharmonic with Pavel BALEFF. William plays on a 1761 Tomasso BALESTRIERI loaned from the Chimei Foundation in Taiwan.

Partner: Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival

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