The School of Music invited several world-renowned musicians – Lu Shao-chia, Wen-Sinn Yang and Michael Endres – to give lectures and one-on-one instructions to students at TNUA in December.
Lu, music director of Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra (NSO), noted in his lecture that the rendition of music is like a conversation with different parts having a dialogue with one another, rather than a rigid presentation of the musical notes and tempo.
Before presenting a piece of music, a musician must first understand the characteristics of the composer and the message conveyed by the work, and then the performer must not be afraid to show his or her own feelings in the rendition, Lu said.
Lu has studied under the maestro conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky at Accademia Musicale Chigiana.
From 1995 to 1998, he was principal conductor of Komische Oper Berlin, during which he conducted hundreds of performances of 30 operas.
The quartet made a 10-day visit, giving lectures and performing along with TNUA teachers and students in two concerts.
Cellist Wen-Sinn Yang, who holds a chair for violoncello at the Munich University for Music and Performing Arts in Germany and serves as its vice president, made his third visit to TNUA, during which he gave one-on-one instruction to students.
German pianist Micheal Endres is currently a professor at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He has also taught at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Cologne and the Hochschule Hanns Eisler in Berlin. He has performed in solo and chamber music concerts around the world.