March 30, 2024 / National Theater and Concert Hall – Recital Hall

“Silken Strings LXIII” is a special concert featuring works commissioned by the orchestra from Mexican composers. Focused on silk and bamboo chamber music and electronic music, it represents a deep exchange between the contemporary music scenes of Taiwan and Mexico.

The [Silk and Strings] concert series is another type of series program of the Little Giant Silk and Bamboo Orchestra after the [Classic Series Large-Scale Concerts] which mainly features large-scale orchestra ensembles and the [Young Performers Series Concerts] which focuses on solo instrumental music. The spirit of program planning lies in the form of silk and bamboo chamber music, showing the unique timbre beauty of Chinese musical instruments. By performing classic silk and bamboo music of various styles, it is hoped that more mature and profound artistic music will be brought to domestic audiences, and a refined style with local characteristics will be established.

In recent years, the group has continuously received the “Ministry of Culture’s Subsidy for Cultural Exchange and Cooperation between Taiwan and Latin America”. In 2018, it implemented the “Participation in Mexico’s Visiones Sonoras Art Festival and Contemporary Music Tour” plan, and in 2019 it implemented the “Participation in Mexico’s Morelia International Music Festival and Contemporary Music Tour”, establishing a good cooperative relationship with the Mexican music industry.

This concert is a special Mexican/electronic music concert, featuring works by seven Mexican composers and four commissioned works. It not only successfully brings musical elements from Latin America to Taiwan, but also demonstrates the strength of Taiwanese traditional Chinese music to connect with the world.

Performer│Music Director
Conductor: Chan Chi-sing

Pipa／Zhang Peiling

Performance／Little Giant Silk and Bamboo Orchestra

PhD in Microbiology and Biochemistry from National Taiwan University, Master of Conducting from the Department of Music at Fu Jen Catholic University. In 2000, he founded the Little Giant Silk and Bamboo Orchestra and served as its music director. He actively participated in the planning, conducting and promotion of professional performances of Chinese music, and has performed in dozens of countries and regions across the Taiwan Strait. Chen Jun is also active on important stages at home and abroad, covering Chinese music, Western music, orchestra administration and music education. He is often invited by major art schools at home and abroad to give lectures on orchestra operations, band training, etc.

Chen Jun’s conducting style is rational, calm, simple and concise, and his artistic direction focuses on local care and the integration of diverse cultures. The orchestra’s management follows the principle of “traditional culture as the body and scientific logic as the use”, which is pragmatic, stable, efficient and high-performance. Over the years, with the passion and sense of mission of “taking Chinese music as a lifelong career”, he has successfully called on a large number of young Chinese music talents to jointly build a Chinese music vision with a new era vision, and has made outstanding contributions to the inheritance, refinement and internationalization of Chinese music.

Pipa／Zhang Peiling

He graduated from the Department of Chinese Music at the National Taiwan Institute of Arts and the Institute of Art at the Chinese Culture University. He is currently an adjunct assistant professor at the Department of Chinese Music at the National Taiwan University of Arts and the principal of the Little Giant Silk and Bamboo Orchestra. He started learning music at a young age, and studied under teachers Gao Yumei, Shi Deyu, Ji Yongbin, Liu Dehai, Wang Zhengping, Wang Shirong, Chen Yugang, and Yang Wei. He also studied with teachers Lin Shicheng, Yang Jing, Wu Yuxia, and Wang Zijing.

During his studies, he often performed as a soloist and concerto, and he worked diligently all the way, holding more than ten solo recitals. In addition to traditional performance forms, he was invited by the “OPEN MIC Major and Minor” program to record a personal TV album; participated in the Beautiful Island Musicians Union Orchestra’s “Beautiful Encounter of Eastern and Western Instruments Series Concert ~ When Chinese Flute Meets Chilean Flute” cross-border concert performance, “The Two Ends of the Curve – Chinese Flute and Chilean Flute” cross-border music album recording and the National Symphony Orchestra’s “Music Classics” music album recording. In recent years, he has also served as a producer of concert programs; organized a pipa and plucked string ensemble, actively explored the grammar and interest of pipa performance, and also dabbled in documentary filming and video game music recording, which received rave reviews.

His pipa playing skills are delicate and graceful, the timbre is magnificent and moving, the musical style is a combination of ancient and modern, the music is natural and smooth, and he is good at highlighting the rich appearance of the pipa between movement and stillness, hardness and softness.

Organizer: Little Giant Silk and Bamboo Orchestra

Guidance Unit: Ministry of Culture

Sponsors: Taipei City Government Cultural Affairs Bureau, National Cultural and Arts Foundation, Lin Chenying Clothing Company 

2024 TAIWAN TOP Performing Arts Team

Program:

• Emmanuel Ontiveros: La Niña de la Lluvia
• Emma Wilde: Cosmovitral
• Ignacio Baca-Lobera: ExP (Commissioned Work, World Premiere)
• Rodrigo Sigal Sefchovich: Reverberant margin (Commissioned Work, World Premiere)
• Guadalupe Perales: Contemplación (Commissioned Work, World Premiere), Convergencias
• Mario Duarte: Eréndira
• Pablo Rubio Vargas: Aquí-allá (Commissioned Work, World Premiere), Desde Adentro
• Music Director． Conductor: Chan Chi-sing