TCO & JPG Join Hands to Bring Taiwanese Orchestral Music to the World

East and West Music Fair -- TCO & JPG Live Streamed Concert

TAIPEI, May 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As COVID-19 swept away global economies, the performing arts activities have been especially hard hit. Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO, Taiwan) set a precedent for home grown professional orchestras when it live streamed two concerts, Longing for the Spring Breeze and Cheer for Taiwan in March and April on YouTube to an audience of over 6000 music lovers, and has since attracted over 100,000 views. The third performance, where TCO will team up with the Ju Percussion Group (JPG), will stream live at 7:30 pm on Saturday, May 16^th from the National Concert Hall. TCO and JPG will together lead the continuous voice to the world during the virus outbreak.

"The pandemic has had a huge impact on the arts world," expressed Mr. Ju Tzong-Ching, the founder and artistic director of the Ju Percussion Group. From the perspective of JPG, numerous performances have had to be cancelled, some of which have included those with the TCO. On invitation from TCO, JPG will join them this time and perform numerous pieces which fuse traditional and modern percussion works. It allows them to find more possibilities when facing the next stage of the development of performing arts.

TCO General Director Cheng Li-Pin notes that both TCO and JPG have well received international attention. TCO has toured over than 20 countries and has performed in numerous world-renowned concert halls. TCO is also the first orchestra from Taiwan performing at New York's Carnegie Hall. JPG with a similar record has likewise toured in 34 countries at over 3000 venues to date. Of particular note was their stunning performance of the hit musical Mulan at the Chekhov International Theater Festival in 2017.

The concert will feature a number of wonderful Chinese and Western percussion pieces, including those such as Percussion - Myna Bathing, that allows one to picture a myna bird preening its wings whilst playing in the water; Drumming No. 4, a piece created by the composer Chung Yiu-kwong; the well-known French composer Emmanuel Séjourné's work, Double Concerto; and Hung Chien-hui, the JPG composer in residence has especially compiled Speed Drum; and lastly, the powerful and heavily laden folk-styled melody, the Flying Dragon and Jumping Tiger. Hung Chien-hui has been specially invited to create a piece which would reflect the battle against this pandemic for the double orchestras to play; Our Island, Our Song through its exquisite melody and rhythm sets out to portray the indomitable spirit of the people of this island nation as they face off this crisis.

The concert will stream free of charge from the TCO Channel on YouTube (https://youtu.be/9JhFfvAYVuU). It is anticipated that musical lovers around the world will enjoy this uplifting music from Taiwan whilst staying at home and maintaining excellent social distancing during this time of fighting the virus outbreak.