Dear Friend:

Please order your 20% off group ticket rate ($25 and $15 for $20 and $12) from Patsy Chen T. 718-834-8904, e-mail me at patsychen@aol.com.

The news release as the following is provided by Taipei Cultural Center in New York City.

Sincerely,

Patsy Chen

Contact:

Emmy Tu, 212.697.6188 ext. 105, emmy@tpecc.org

For Immediate Release

TAIPEI CULTURAL CENTER PRESENTS

TAIWAN ELITES: Chiao-Ying Chang in her New York Recital Debut

The Winner of the First Taiwan International Piano Competition will

make her New York Debut in a special presentation along with fellow Taiwanese musicians, all winners of prestigious international competitions.

Chiao-Ying Chang, Piano, Ming-Feng Hsin, Violin,

Che-Hung Chen, Viola and Sophie Shao, Cello

Sunday, October 24th, at 3:00 p.m., Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall

NEW YORK – Tuesday, October 5, 2004 – The Taipei Cultural Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York is proud to present Taiwan Elites, a concert featuring four Taiwanese musicians who have won prestigious international competitions. They will gather together in a special presentation at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall.  Chiao-Ying Chang will make her New York recital debut.  She will be joined by violinist Ming-Feng Hsin, winner of the Montreal International Violin Competition, violist Che-Hung Chen, first-prize winner at the seventh Banff International String Quartet Competition (as a member of the Daedalus Quartet), and cellist Sophie Shao, winner of top prizes at the Rostropovich Competition and the Tchaikovsky Competition.

The concert begins at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 24th at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall (57^th Street & 7^th Avenue). Tickets are $25 and $15 and are available by calling the box office at (212) 247-7800.

Hoping to promote and develop the arts, the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) has recently begun to cultivate programs aimed at nurturing talent. Through close collaboration with the National Endowment for Culture and Arts (NECA), young and talented musicians from Taiwan have been selected to become elite members of the “Treasury of Young Musicians.â€� This program aims to expand the musicians’ artistic skills and experiences, thereby allowing them to gain access to international events.  As such, it establishes a viable forum through which these promising musicians can present their artistry on a global stage. After much success organizing such international events, the CCA proudly presented the first Taiwan International Piano Competition in 2003. The winner of this event was 23 year-old Taiwanese pianist Chiao-Ying Chang. 

MEET THE ARTISTS

All participating musicians have Taiwanese roots--three were born in Taiwan, while one was born in the United States to Taiwanese parents. All received musical training in the United States and Europe and have won top awards in international competitions such as the Tschaikovsky International competition, the Montreal International Competition, and the Banff International String Quartet Competition, among others.

The musicians:

l          Pianist Chiao-Ying Chang graduated from the Britain’s Royal Academy of Music in 2003.  She was a winner at the Leeds, ARD Munich, AXA Dublin and Ettlingen International Competitions. She has become an accomplished artist, performing recitals at major festivals in the UK, Italy, Germany, and Japan. In addition, Ms. Chang has been a featured soloist with the Collegium Musicum Orchestra in Basel, the National Irish Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Regensburg Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

l          The career of violinist Ming-Feng Hsin includes a remarkable recovery from a hand injury before going on to win the first violin position at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 1994.  Mr. Hsin has maintained active side careers as both violin soloist and conductor and is an avid chamber musician.  Along with his colleagues from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, he performs regularly in the New York area.

l          Violist Che-Hung Chen joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in spring 2001.  He is the first-ever Taiwanese citizen to become a member of the Orchestra. Mr. Chen was the first prizewinner at the Banff International String Quartet Competition (as a member of the Daedalus Quartet). In addition, he has been awarded the Pièce de concert prize for the best performance of a commissioned work and the Székely Prize for the best performance of a Beethoven quartet.

l          Cellist Sophie Shao has won top prizes at the 2001 Rostropovich Competition and the XII Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002. Strad Magazine has praised her "superior sense of style," while the World News hailed her "sensitive, stylistic playing, with

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great finesse, emotion, and gorgeous tone."  Recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant at the age of nineteen, Ms. Shao can be heard on EMI Classics and Bridge Records.

About the Taipei Cultural Center

The Taipei Cultural Center of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York is one of two overseas offices of the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) of Taiwan, Republic of China. Its primary mission is to promote better understanding between Taiwan and the United States through cultural exchanges that include academic programs, personnel exchanges, and performing arts/visual arts exchanges.

For more information about the Taipei Cultural Center, please call 212.697.6188 or visit http://www.tpecc.org/.

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