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

►【House Program】CHIEN Wen-pin & Thierry ESCAICH & Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra - Timeless Encounter with French Masters

Charles-Camille SAINT-SAËNS has been described as "the greatest organist in the world." His splendid and magnificent Symphony No. 3 is a musical masterpiece as well as his most famous musical composition. It has even become a classic choice for movie soundtracks. The melody is vibrant and memorable, and the use of the organ is the perfect finishing touch that reveals the composer's outstanding mastery of this musical instrument. The composer Thierry ESCAICH, a renowned organist in his own right, also displays the unique power of this instrument in his Organ Concerto No. 3, Quatre Visages du Temps, in which the notes are layered like rolling waves. (Written by CHIAO Yuan-pu)

  Pre-talk  

2024/10/12(Sat)19:00 Concert Hall Auditorium

  Program  

HUANG Ssu-yu: Heritage of Hakka

Thierry ESCAICH: Organ Concerto No. 3, Quatre Visages du Temps

C. SAINT-SAENS: Symphony No. 3 in c minor, Op. 78, Organ

Encore Pieces:

Thierry ESCAICH：Weiwuying Improvisation-1

Thierry ESCAICH：Weiwuying Improvisation-2

  Article  

►The Organ Can Improv Too! -Thierry ESCAICH

  Creative and Production Team  

Conductor｜CHIEN Wen-pin

Organ｜Thierry ESCAICH

Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra

  Artists Introduction  

Conductor｜CHIEN Wen-pin

CHIEN Wen-pin was born in 1967 in Taipei. He received an undergraduate degree from the National Taiwan Academy of Arts and a Master's degree from the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna. From 1998 to 2004, he was Resident Conductor at Japan's Pacific Music Festival, founded by Leonard BERNSTEIN, and he became Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan in 2001, where he remained until 2007. In 1996, he began his 22-year career as Kapellmeister of Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf Duisburg, Germany). From 2014 to 2016, CHIEN served as artistic advisor to the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. In 2014, he was honored with the National Award for Arts. Currently CHIEN is the Executive and Artistic Director of National Performing Arts Center - National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying).

Organ｜Thierry ESCAICH

Composer, organist and improviser Thierry ESCAICH is a unique figure in contemporary music and one of the most important French composers of his generation. The three elements of ESCAICH's artistry are inseparable, allowing him to express himself as a performer, creator and collaborator in a wide range of settings. Drawing from the French line of composition of RAVEL, MESSIAEN and DUTILLEUX, and imbued with references from contemporary, popular and spiritual music, the distinctive sound-world of ESCAICH's music is anchored by an obsessive rhythmic drive and an overarching sense of architecture.

Thierry ESCAICH's works are performed by leading orchestras in Europe and North America and by musicians such as Lisa BATIASHVILI and François LELEUX, Valery GERGIEV, Paavo JÄRVI, and so on. ESCAICH has been Composer-in-Residence with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National de Lille and the Paris Chamber Orchestra and his music has been honoured by five 'Victoires de la Musique' awards (2003, 2006, 2011, 2017 and 2022).

Thierry ESCAICH's career as a composer is closely linked to his career as an organist – one of the ambassadors of the great French school of improvisation in the wake of Maurice DURUFLÉ, whom he succeeded as organist of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris. He appears in recitals internationally, combining repertoire pieces with his own compositions and improvisations. His passion for cinema has led him to perform 'cine-concerts', improvised accompaniments on both the organ and piano for silent films such as Phantom of the Opera and Metropolis.

Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra (KSO)

Wherever there is music, there is you.

- A young orchestra which advances with determination

It is an asset for a city to have an orchestra of its own. Young and energetic, the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra (KSO) invites world-class conductors and masters for collaboration, and challenges itself by staging performances of diversified styles. The development of the orchestra focuses on both classical and crossover genres; it has not only created increasingly more high quality musical miscellanies for music enthusiasts but also planted numerous seeds for music appreciation and performance, contributing to the innovation of classical music.

The Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1981. It was merged with the Kaohsiung Chinese Orchestra in 2009 as "Kaohsiung Philharmonic Culture and Arts Foundation". Since 2009, the KSO has made considerable contribution in the Kaohsiung Spring Arts Festival, successfully promoting its grassland concerts. In the last decade, the KSO has collaborated with renowned local and international artists and music groups and staged numerous concert series. The end of 2018 marked the grand opening of the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying), where the KSO participated in the center's inauguration. KSO wishes to continue playing an important role in the center's concert hall.

The KSO has been invited to perform on international stages regularly. Reaching beyond city and country borders, the KSO advances steadily with the self-development goal of becoming an internationally acclaimed orchestra.