Building cultural bridges
In late September 2021 there was long-awaited good news: NSO artistic advisor Jun Märkl signed a contract to take over as music director in 2022. Kuo says in a bantering tone: “After a selection process lasting 1016 days and with enormous efforts put in by a great many people, Ju Tzong-ching, chair of the National Performing Arts Center’s board of directors, finally signed a contract to hire a new a musical director, and now even the administrators and accountants at the NSO are all enthusiastically studying English!”
Märkl is a highly accomplished musician who has led five orchestras in Europe and recorded more than 50 albums with over ten European, American, and Asian orchestras. He has even been named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Of mixed German and Japanese parentage, his unique background has led him to work all his life building bridges between cultures. During the pandemic he has come to Taiwan numerous times to work with the NSO, and he hopes to find inspiration here to break down the barriers between traditional culture and classical music.
Märkl, who was musical director of France’s Orchestre National de Lyon for several years, hopes to bring the characteristics of French music to Taiwan, aiming to introduce the light and color of French music into the clear-cut, systematic structure of German and Austrian works.
Entering a completely new season, the NSO has gotten an injection of new artistic elements, and we can expect its musical style to become even broader and its technique more solid. It will discover a whole new orientation, even as it continues to express Taiwan’s warm and resolute voice to the world.
Jun Märkl (second from left) has headed up five European orchestras. As he is very familiar with French classical music, he wants to introduce its light and color into the NSO’s style. Music lovers can hardly wait! (photo by Kent Chuang)
NSO executive director Lydia Kuo is busy with the new concert season, which coincides with artistic advisor Jun Märkl taking up his new post as music director. She hopes his leadership will inject fresh vitality into the orchestra. (photo by Kent Chuang)