TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (萊比錫布商大廈管弦樂團), one of the world's oldest orchestras at nearly 300 years old, announced performances in Taiwan on Friday (May 23) at the National Concert Hall in Taipei and Saturday (May 24) at the Cultural Center in Tainan. The German orchestra, founded by nobility and citizens, takes its name from the cloth merchants' trading hall where it originated, and will bring works by Wagner and Mendelssohn to Taiwanese audiences.
The orchestra, featuring more than 180 professional musicians, regularly performs at the Gewandhaus (布商大廈音樂廳), Leipzig Opera (萊比錫歌劇院), and St. Thomas Church (聖湯瑪斯大教堂) in Germany. Music Director Andris Nelsons (尼爾森斯) will conduct the Taiwan concerts, presenting works by Felix Mendelssohn (孟德爾頌) and Richard Wagner (華格納), including the first act of Wagner's opera "Die Walküre" (女武神).
The Taipei program will feature Sergei Rachmaninoff's (拉赫曼尼諾夫) Piano Concerto No. 2, with pianist Yulianna Avdeeva (阿芙蒂耶娃) as soloist. The Tainan concert will showcase Robert Schumann's (舒曼) Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major alongside Wagner's "Die Walküre," featuring singers Klaus Florian Vogt (沃格特), Sarah Wegener (韋格娜), and Vitalij Kowaljow (科瓦廖夫) in the operatic performance.
Marco Eckertz (艾克茲), the orchestra's manager, said the program represents the ensemble's core repertoire with deep connections to composers who shaped its history. The late music director Kurt Masur (庫特‧馬索) played a pivotal role in promoting Dmitri Shostakovich's (蕭斯塔科維契) music in the West and German-speaking regions. Shostakovich once served as a judge at the Leipzig Bach Festival, strengthening the orchestra's ties to the Russian composer.