Pop Queen and Two Tenors Grace "Super Concert"

On the early summer evening of May 20 (the anniversary of Lee Teng-hui's inauguration) a light breeze blew across the plaza at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. Under the moonlight of this cool night, tens of thousands of people were held rapt by the "Super Concert of the Century." In the days that followed, Kenny G, Whitney Houston, and various Japanese acts produced by Tetsuyu Komuro also arrived for concert performances. Apart from being a boon for music fans, this series of concerts highlighted Taipei's status as a major international city.

On May 20 Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Diana Ross and the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of David Giminez offered Taiwan music fans a night of music billed as the "Super Concert of the Century." The two tenors have an exalted artistic status, whereas Ross is a pop music queen. The joint performance by this queen and two kings (who had previously played together only in Vienna, Budapest, and Osaka) represented a new milestone for artistic performances in Taiwan.

The three marvelously combined the artistic with the popular. Carreras sang the aria "O, Paradis Sorti de l'Onde" from the opera L'Africaine. Domingo also turned his deeply resonant voice to operatic numbers, such as "O, Souverain, O, Juge, O, P鋨e" from Massenet's Le Cid and "No Puede Ser" from La Taverna del Puerto. Ross, on the other hand, sang standards like "If We Hold On Together" and "You Are Not Alone." After the evening's planned program of music was finished, the audience's unremittent applause brought Carreras and Domingo out for an encore of the Mandarin song "In that Distant Place." Then all three singers gave a spontaneous rendition of "Taipei, Taipei," sung to the tune of "New York, New York," before saying farewell. Nevertheless, many members of the audience lingered in the plaza for a long time before dispersing.

The "Super Concert of the Century" was the largest performance production ever put on in Taiwan. The preparations for it consumed nearly a half-year of effort by many people working for several groups, including the International New Aspect Cultural and Educational Foundation, which has been working to "transport" culture here for years; the Makoto Bank; and the United Daily News. Finally, on the day of the concert itself, there arose, against the background of the CKS Memorial Plaza's great gate, a stage measuring 180 meters across and 60 meters from front to back. Sixty thousand seats were set up in front of it for the audience. Chen Kuo-tzu, the executive director of the National Culture and Art Foundation, notes that all of the necessary hardware and software, the up-front and backstage personnel, the television broadcast, publicity, ticket sales, traffic control, and so forth were all flawlessly coordinated by a staff composed almost entirely of ROC nationals. The power and efficiency of this private undertaking was startling. Chen recalls that in the late 1970s when she had just returned to Taiwan from foreign study and began work as a lawyer, she saw for herself how the people of Taiwan had to pay exorbitant prices and put up with great indignities to obtain technology from abroad. Now she marvels that home-grown personnel can do such an expert job handling a concert of gigantic scale. She reminds people not to ignore the value of this concert for "technology transfer."

On May 22 and 23, after Carreras, Domingo and Ross had left Taiwan and the Super Concert staff were busy disassembling its stage, Kenny G played his saxophone at the Taipei International Convention Center. Yu Kuang, a radio host famous for introducing foreign music, had been trying to get Whitney Houston to perform in Taiwan for over a decade, and she finally came for a concert on the 25th. May 27 and 28, on the other hand, were days for the "New New Youth": Japanese super producer Tetsuyu Komuro brought in Namie Amuro, Globe and TRF for performances at the Chung Shan Stadium.

Late May marked the dawning of a major concert era in Taipei. But an old problem came to the fore once again. Taiwan has always lacked good performance venues. Before large concerts, music fans and concert producers alike must pray for good weather. This time the only regret the Super Concert promoters had was that nearly 20,000 people who saw the concert refused to pay for tickets by reason of the plaza being a public space.

"We need a performance venue that is up to standard." It is a wish not merely of music fans but also of all the nation's people.

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In the "Super Concert of the Century," Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Diana Ross used their musical talents to win over the audience. (courtesy of International New Aspect Cultural and Educational Foundation)