The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra: A Cultural Beacon for the City

As the classical music critic Wu Mu once said, “Under Mazer’s baton, the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra acquired a unique character. Its sound is warm and moving, and it engenders a certain compelling tension. Among orchestras it is known for having the ‘Mazer tone.’”

Born in the United States in 1918, Henry Mazer was an exceptional builder of orchestras, helping to establish the Florida Symphony Orchestra and the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. In 1981 he came to Taiwan on multiple occasions to serve as a guest conductor. He was very encouraging about the abilities of Taiwan’s orchestral musicians. Back when classical music hadn’t fully flowered in Taiwan, Mazer, then the associate conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, accepted an invitation to come to Taiwan to set up an orchestra, the Taipei Sinfonietta. He made tremendous contributions as a musical missionary, conveying his artistic spirit and musical ideals. Up until his death in 2002, he remained here, establishing a model for orchestras within the musical environment of Taiwan.

Rave reviews from foreign music critics have helped to establish the TPO’s international reputation. (photo by Andrew Ore)

International recognition

In August of 1991 the orchestra expanded to become the Taipei Sinfonietta & Philharmonic Orchestra, and today it is known as the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra (or TPO) for short. The backgrounds of its members are quite varied. The orchestra includes music professors, as well as members of various large musical ensembles, with the lineup changing based on the needs of particular performances. Lin Tien-chi, a protégé of Mazer’s who has become the orchestra’s resident conductor, points out, “We are a completely private organization. Our members are music professionals, but freelancers for the orchestra, only assembling when the occasion calls for it. The strength of the performers bears witness to the vibrancy of musical life in Greater Taipei—a reflection of the true artistic power of the people.

In the early period after the orchestra’s founding, there weren’t many performance venues in Taiwan. Getting bookings in the few halls that were available often caused the biggest headaches for the orchestra.

With limited resources as an independent orchestra, the TPO had a tough go of it in its early years, recalls executive director Yu Bing-ching: “We frequently couldn’t book venues. Back then, attending classical concerts hadn’t yet become a common part of the cultural fabric, and it was difficult to sell tickets. Then Lee Che-yang, editor-in-chief of The Musical Digest, recommended that the best way for us to establish a solid footing in Taiwan would be to gain some international renown. Even though the nation was experiencing tough diplomatic times, the TPO found its way forward by performing abroad.”

In 1990 the orchestra went overseas for the first time, playing at a music festival in Victoria, Canada, before giving concerts in Vancouver and Chicago. The TPO earned excellent reviews in each city. Local media even used the expression “diamonds of a treasure island” to describe the orchestra, as it greatly raised its profile abroad.

Afterwards, the TPO traveled to Europe, the United States, Russia, mainland China and elsewhere. In 1993 the orchestra played in Vienna at the famous Musikverein—a first for a musical group from Taiwan. The four violinists who played there—Su Shien-ta, Ouyang Hui-kang, Lin Hui-chun, and Lee Juin-ying—had matured from being students of Mazer to becoming TPO principals and music professors. Today they are still leaders in Taiwan’s classical music scene.

Putting a new spin on classical music, the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra has brought its signature style—the “Mazer tone”—to concert halls around the world. (Taiwan Panorama file photo)

Rave reviews, cultural diplomacy

Abroad, the Taipei Philharmonic won repeated praise from foreign critics as it shone on the international stage.

“The first sound of the Taipei Philharmonic in Boston Symphony Hall was electrifying,” wrote Richard Dyer in The Boston Globe on October 10, 1995.

“Superb playing from the Taipei Philharmonic and elegant direction from [Yoel] Levi produced a passionate, thrilling interpretation—beautifully controlled, thunderously alive and memorable in every way,” wrote Stephen Brookes in The Washington Post on July 18, 2006.

TPO president Thomas Lai explains that going abroad wasn’t easy on a tight budget. Fortunately, the orchestra’s performances earned excellent reviews in the foreign press. For the TPO, which wasn’t then receiving much attention in Taiwan, the recognition was highly encouraging.

After giving a performance abroad, members of the orchestra would nervously wait to read the notices the following day. But they could bask in the glowing praise for only a few minutes. Before long they’d have to get their luggage ready to go to the next stop on the tour. It was all very tiring. They would quickly learn and practice music with local appeal, so as to best cater to their audiences. They knew that their performances would be perfect only through hard work and strict attention to every detail.

On September 14, 2001, just a few days after the terrorist attacks on the United States, the TPO gave a performance in Helsinki, Finland. To express a sense of mourning after September 11, they played The Last Spring by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, which is an interpretation of sadness. It received lengthy notices in the local press. Wu Ming-yen, then head of the Taipei Representative Office in Finland, provided assistance to make the trip and performance possible. After the concert, the US embassy there wrote a letter of thanks, and the performance opened an opportunity for the TPO to take a Scandinavian tour in 2007. Yu Bing-ching says that the TPO, drawing strength from the people of Taiwan, has an impressive record of cultural diplomacy.

The TPO has always highlighted its strong ties to its homeland, bringing works representative of Taiwan to international concert halls. (photo by Andrew Ore)

Performing Taiwanese works abroad

The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra has provided long-term support for Taiwanese composers, performing their works both in Taiwan and internationally.

Hsiao Tai-jan’s Piano Concerto,” Ma Shui-lung’s Three Movements for Strings and Capriccio of Kuandu, Gordon Chin’s Formosa Seasons and Vision Valley… all are works that feature a creative sound unique to Taiwan, and all were brought to international stages by the TPO.

What’s more, the TPO is working hard to cross over into new genres and cultural realms. In 2007, it held concerts featuring music from the Japanese television drama Nodame Cantabile. These sold out, so the TPO had to schedule additional concerts. In 2008 the orchestra gave a “video games live” (VGL) concert, enabling audiences to experience music of different genres. In 2008 it also participated in the first YouTube Symphony Orchestra program as the designated musical group for Google in Taiwan, performing in the world’s first online musical summit.

In 2015, for the “Bravo! Taiwan” charity concert at the National Concert Hall, the TPO worked with traditional hand puppeteers to break down barriers between cultural disciplines. Renewing their previous collaboration with the famous composer Chung Yiu-kwong and the Hua-Zhou Yuan Glove Puppet Theater, they enabled more than 10,000 audience members inside and outside the hall to enjoy two classical performance arts at the same time by playing a classical accompaniment to Hua-Zhou Yuan’s Monkey King.

The performance was a hit both at the box office and with critics, and will be given again next April in Japan. Yu explains: “TPO has continued to make connections to Taiwan with its performances. Because we’re a private, independent orchestra, we have relatively few restrictions on what we perform. We’re shapeshifters: We always want to put new spins on classical music.”

The TPO has always highlighted its strong ties to its homeland, bringing works representative of Taiwan to international concert halls. (photo by Andrew Ore)

The seeds of musical appreciation

Lai, the TPO president, specially mentions another focus for the orchestra in recent years: social engagement.

Under the Sistema Taiwan program, which puts its focus on social concerns, the TPO began providing music education to 700 children in orphanages and juvenile homes in 2012. The music lessons help the children to gain spiritual sustenance and a sense of self-worth.

“Via music education, children are spiritually enriched and given positive direction in their lives,” says Lai. “These activities also allow musicians to do something for society.”

In terms of the orchestra’s social engagement, as early as 2009, after the August 8 floods brought by Typhoon Morakot, the TPO mobilized itself to soothe the traumatized spirits of children, funding musical education for 448 youngsters in badly hit Taoyuan Township of Kaohsiung County, thus opening a window of hope in their lives. 

Most world-famous cities have representative orchestras, and the TPO is that orchestra for Taipei. Thirty years since its founding, the TPO has survived its early struggles to become a cultural beacon for the city. Audience applause provides the musicians with all the motivation they need. The TPO will continue to provide beautiful musical performances, allowing growing numbers of music lovers to share in their joy.               

Taiwan, the TPO has actively worked to promote music education and an appreciation for classical music. (photo by Andrew Ore)

Working to advance culture and education, the TPO has participated in a Sistema Taiwan program to promote music education for disadvantaged children so as to help them realize their musical dreams.

For a Sistema Taiwan 2016 charity concert, children from a juvenile home in Pingtung came up north, wowing audiences with their percussion performance.

In 2013 the TPO worked with the Hua-Zhou Yuan Glove Puppet Theater, playing a score by the composer Chung Yiu-kwong to accompany the puppeteers’ performance of Nezha Conquers the Dragon King.

Audience applause is TPO’s greatest motivator.