Taiwan Philharmonic Performs San Diego Debut With Stephen Hough Following Triumphant 2016 U.S. Debut

“One of Asia’s best” (Los Angeles Times), the Taiwan Philharmonic performs at Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego on October 31 at 8:00 PM as part of their 2018 North American tour. The orchestra, led by Maestro Shao-Chia Lü, returns two years after their highly acclaimed United States debut in December 2016—this time including star pianist Stephen Hough. Described by The Guardian as possessing “the most perfect piano playing conceivable,” Hough will perform Liszt’s dazzling first piano concerto with the orchestra. The concert name “From Formosa” gives a nod to the historic republic on the island of Taiwan while the music traces Taiwan’s classical music tradition with Taiwanese composer Gordon Chin’s “Dancing Song” from Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra alongside classic works by Debussy (La mer) and Ravel (Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2).

 

Music Director of the Taiwan Philharmonic for the past eight years, Maestro Lü has been hailed as a “fastidious conductor with a huge vocabulary of gestures” by the American Record Guide who also lauded the Taiwan Philharmonic saying, “Many fine groups have demonstrated how classical music is thriving in Asia. The Taiwan Philharmonic demonstrated something even more impressive: excellence, pure and simple.” The Philharmonic launches their highly anticipated North American tour in Costa Mesa on October 30 and continues in Seattle and San Francisco following their San Diego performance.

 

To purchase tickets ($25-200) for the San Diego concert, call the Jacobs Music Center Ticket Office at 619.235.0804 or visit the San Diego Symphony website at https://purchasing.sandiegosymphony.org/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=7134.

 

About the Taiwan Philharmonic

Founded in 1986, the Taiwan Philharmonic, also known as the National Symphony Orchestra at home, is hailed as one of the best orchestras in the Asian Region and became the resident orchestra of the Taipei Theater and Concert Hall, an affiliate of the National Performing Arts Center, in 2005. Led by renowned conductor Shao-Chia Lü as its fifth music director starting August 2010, the Taiwan Philharmonic has increased the country’s cultural richness and music educational strength through Taiwan.

 

The Taiwan Philharmonic, with 99 members, presents a 40-week musical season of approximately 75 concerts/chamber recitals and one opera production each year. It also launches educational programs and outreach projects constantly. Tour performances are regularly offered throughout Taiwan and overseas. It has toured to Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Geneva, Milan, Singapore, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, among other cities. The Taiwan Philharmonic works with internationally acclaimed conductors, such as Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Leonard Slatkin, and soloists including Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Yuja Wang, Gautier Capuçon, Vadim Repin, Hilary Hahn, Ray Chen, Mischa Maisky, Martin Grubinger, Louis Lortie, Stephen Hough, and many others.

 

For more information, please visit http://npac-nso.org/en.

 

About Stephen Hough
One of the most distinctive artists of his generation, Stephen Hough combines a distinguished career as a pianist with those of composer and writer. Named by The Economist as one of Twenty Living Polymaths, Hough was the first classical performer to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year’s Honors. Since taking first prize at the 1983 Naumburg Competition in New York, Hough has performed with the world’s major orchestras and given recitals at the most prestigious concert halls. He is a regular guest at festivals such as Salzburg, Aspen, Blossom, Tanglewood, Edinburgh, La Roque-d'Anthéron and BBC Proms, where he has made more than twenty-five appearances.

 

Hough’s extensive discography of over 60 CDs has garnered international awards including the Diapason d’Or de l’Année, several Grammy nominations, and eight Gramophone Awards including Record of the Year and the Gold Disc. As a composer Hough has been commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Musée du Louvre, London’s National Gallery, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, the Genesis Foundation, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Indianapolis Symphony, the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation, Orquesta Sinfónica de Euskadi and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet. His music is published by Josef Weinberger Ltd.

  

Stephen Hough’s first novel, The Final Retreat, was published by Sylph Editions in March 2018, and he has written for The New York Times, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian and the Evening Standard. He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, a Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, and is on the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York.