National Symphony Youth Orchestra to make first overseas tour

Taipei, July 14 (CNA) The National Symphony Youth Orchestra, a youth group established to nurture young musical talent in Taiwan, will go on its first overseas tour in August.

A total of 90 music students selected in Taiwan, and from Japan, Singapore, Thailand and the United States will gather at the Miaobei Art Center in Miaoli County on July 20 to form the third edition of the youth orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), the group's parent organization, told reporters in Taipei on July 10.

In addition to a tour in Taiwan at the end of a training course and rehearsals in late July, the youth orchestra will perform in Singapore and Thailand, NSO Music Director Jun Märkl said at the news conference.

The overseas tour marks a new chapter for the NSO and allows the young music students to make new friends and learn new things as they bring Taiwan's energy to the world with their music, Märkl said.

Meanwhile, NSO Executive Director Lydia Wen-chen Kuo (郭玟岑) said Märkl picked pieces that highlight instruments with solo performances so that the young students can also gain experience as soloists.

The youth orchestra is one of the educational programs introduced by Märkl since he took over the music director post in January 2022 to offer young musicians real-world experience in working in an orchestra.

First launched in the summer of 2023, the youth orchestra is open to young musicians under the age of 18 who are mainly picked through an audition to take part in the training and performances scheduled during summer and winter school vacations.

Viola player Chou Pie-en Chou (周霈恩), who will begin senior high school after the summer, said at the news conference that she was both nervous and exited about joining the orchestra because it was the first time she was taking part in the program, and the music planned for the tour was not easy.

The orchestra will perform "Concertino Cusqueño" by American composer Gabriela Lena Frank, "Violin Concerto, Op. 14" by American musician Samuel Barber, "Three-Cornered Hat Suite No. 2" by Spanish Manuel de Falla, and "Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34" by Russian Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, during the tour, the NSO said.

Violinist Richard Lin (林品任), the guest musician on the NSO's Japanese tour in May 2023, will play Barber's piece with the youth orchestra on tour.

The "Dreams Ablaze" tour will begin with concerts in Taiwan at the Miaobei Art Center on July 25, the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts on July 26, and the National Concert Hall in Taipei on July 27, according to the NSO.

For the first of two concerts in Singapore at the Conservatory Concert Hall of Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music on Aug. 1, NSO acting concertmaster Teng Hao-tun (鄧皓敦) and principal flutist Anders Norell will be joined by fellow lecturer Ju May-lin (朱玫玲) and select youth orchestra members to perform chamber music.

The orchestra will perform the tour program in the second concert in Singapore on Aug. 2 and at Nakhon Pathom MACM Hall in Salaya, in the western outskirts of Bangkok, on Aug. 4, the NSO said.