VC Artist Paul Huang Opens 2022/23 Season at the Taiwan Philharmonic

Huang will perform Bruch's Scottish Fantasy as part of a program of Scottish-themed music

As the featured soloist for the Taiwan Philharmonic, also known as National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) in Taiwan, VC Artist Paul Huang will perform alongside Music Director Jun Märkl. The season-opening programs will be presented in three venues: the National Concert Hall, the Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Concert Hall, and the Taitung Art and Culture Center.

Huang will perform Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy, as part of a Scottish-themed program that also includes Debussy's Marche écossaise sur un thème populaire and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 "Scottish."

"I'm particularly excited about returning to my homeland, Taiwan, to share the stage with the Taiwan Philharmonic and Maestro Jun Markl again, because this will be the opening night of its first post-pandemic season," Paul told The Violin Channel.

"In today’s society where people are living much more closely together, the necessity of understanding each other on a much deeper level has become ever more crucial. Having Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy in this opening night program is particularly meaningful to me.

"German composer Max Bruch never traveled to Scotland prior to writing this concerto, yet through his studies of the Scottish culture, music, and landscape, he was able to portray a most colorful and convincing imagination of Scotland. Having music as a cultural ambassador gives us an opportunity to objectively understand each other’s cultural roots.

"From the beginning E flat minor funeral March, through many soulful, endearing folk melodies, and dance-like rhythms, the concluding E-flat Major “call and response“ sounds even more triumphant. Perhaps it is also a metaphor for what we all had gone through together in the last two years.

"We must believe there is always hope and a brighter future," he concluded.

Huang will also be the featured soloist when the Taiwan Orchestra undertakes its first international tour since the pandemic began. The tour will take place later in 2023.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Huang is a former first prize winner at the ​Tibor Varga International Violin Competition — and was awarded a prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists. He was the First Prize Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.