The Taiwan Philharmonic With Violinist Paul Huang Makes Wentz Concert Hall Debut In The Chicago Area

The Taiwan Philharmonic - known as the National Symphony Orchestra in its homeland - returns to the United States for a national tour this spring, led by new Music Director Jun Märkl.

The Taiwan Philharmonic begins their American tour in April 2023 after successful tours to the country in 2016 with violinist Cho-Liang Lin and in 2018 with pianist Stephen Hough and violinist Yu-Chien Tseng.

The 2023 tour features this performance at Wentz Concert Hall in the western Chicago suburb of Naperville (April 23). Recipient of the prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, Taiwanese-American violinist Paul Huang joins the orchestra for concerts on April 19, 21, and 23. Other tour performances take place in New York City with a chamber music concert at Alice Tully Hall (April 14) and David Geffen Hall as presented by the New York Philharmonic (April 21), and in Washington, D.C. at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (April 19).

The wide-ranging repertoire on the April 23 program celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of cultures in Taiwan by including a work by Taiwanese composer Yuan-Chen Li (she/her) - Tao of Meinong - commissioned by Hakka Affairs Council. Yuan-Chen Li's music reflects concepts in ancient Chinese phonology, Taiwanese chamber and aboriginal music, Asian traditional arts, literature, and Buddhism, resulting in a cross-cultural and cross-disciplined approach to music. This work is programmed alongside European classics including Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, a work for violin and orchestra inspired by Scottish folk songs, performed with Paul Huang; Mendelssohn's The Hebrides Overture; and Debussy's La Mer, which highlights one of Maestro Märkl's most celebrated specialties of French classical repertoire.

Under the leadership of Music Director Jun Märkl since January 2022, the Taiwan Philharmonic aspires to resonate throughout the world as the official cultural ambassador of Taiwanese culture and regularly commissions and performs new works by Taiwanese composers.

Tickets are now on sale and available for purchase through Wentz Concert Hall. Refer to the details below.

2023 NAPERVILLE PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Sunday April 23, 2023 | 3 PM CDT
Presented by Friends of Taiwan Foundation
Wentz Concert Hall
171 E Chicago Ave, Naperville, IL 60540

Yuan-Chen Li: Tao of Meinong
Bruch: Scottish Fantasy, Op. 46
Mendelssohn: The Hebrides Overture, Op. 26
Debussy: La Mer

Taiwan Philharmonic
Jun Märkl, conductor
Paul Huang, violin

To purchase tickets ($38-120), call 630-637-7469 or visit North Central College's website here.

Founded in 1986, the Taiwan Philharmonic, also known as the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at home, has been hailed as one of the best orchestras in Asia. It became the resident orchestra of the National Concert Hall, and an artistic affiliate of the National Performing Arts Center in April 2014.

The orchestra has benefited from the leadership of many music directors and principal conductors, including Gerard Akoka, Urs Schneider, Da-Shen Chang, Jahja Ling, Wen-Pin Chien, Shao-Chia Lü and Guther Herbig. Under the leadership of music director Jun Märkl since January 2022, the Taiwan Philharmonic aspires to resonate throughout the world as the cultural ambassador of Taiwan.

During the past thirty years, The Taiwan Philharmonic has worked with many internationally acclaimed conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Rudolf Barshai, Sir Neville Marriner, Leonard Slatkin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Christopher Hogwood, Osmo Vänskä, Long Yu, Nikolay Alexeev, Vassily Sinaisky and Carl St. Clair. In addition to performances in Taiwan, the orchestra regularly receives invitations from overseas and has toured Berlin, Vienna, Paris, Milan, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Los Angeles, and many other cities with critical acclaim.

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

Jun Märkl is a highly respected interpreter of the core German repertoire and has become known for his refined and idiomatic explorations of the French Impressionists. He currently serves as Music Director of the Taiwan Philharmonic, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Residentie Orkest of The Hague. He has also recently been appointed Artistic Advisor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Oregon Symphony in the United States. His long-standing relationships with the state operas of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Semperoper Dresden, and the Metropolitan Opera New York have been complemented by his music directorships of the Orchestre National de Lyon, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Basque National Orchestra. In recognition of his achievements in France, he was honored in 2012 with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Born in Munich, Märkl won the conducting competition of the Deutscher Musikrat in 1986 and studied at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Soon afterwards, he appeared in opera houses throughout Europe, Japan, and U.S. followed by his first music directorships at the Staatstheater Saarbrücken and the Nationaltheater Mannheim.

Recipient of the prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul HUANG is considered to be one of the most distinctive artists of his generation. The Washington Post proclaimed him as "an artist with the goods for a significant career" following his recital debut at the Kennedy Center. Mr. HUANG's recent and forthcoming appearances include Nürnberger Symphoniker with Kahchun Wong, Residentie Orkest Den Haag with Jun Märkl, Rotterdam Philharmonic with Lahav Shani, Dallas Symphony with Fabio Luisi, Mariinsky Orchestra with Gergiev, Houston Symphony with Andres Orozco-Estrada, Seoul Philharmonic with Markus Stenz, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan with Jun Märkl. In addition to his recital debuts at both Lucerne Festival and Aspen Music Festival, Paul also stepped in for Anne-Sophie Mutter at Bravo! Vail Music Festival with Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin performing MOZART Violin Concerto No.4 to critical acclaim. Paul performs on the legendary 1742 Ex-Wieniawski Guarneri del Gesu, on extended loan from the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

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