The Vienna Philharmonic orchestra held its first-ever performance at the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (Weiwuying) on Saturday night, with over 3,000 people watching a live broadcast of the show from the venue’s lawn.
The orchestra, whose planned visit to Taiwan in 2020 was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, is currently on a four-date tour of the country, which kicked off Thursday at Taipei’s National Concert Hall.
In its only show in Kaohsiung on Saturday, the orchestra, led by conductor Franz Welser-Möst, played a program consisting of Johannes Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture and Symphony No. 3 and Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss.
It followed with rousing versions of two shorter pieces — Josef Strauss’ Aquarellen and Frisch heran! (Schnellpolka) by Johann Strauss II — as encores.
In addition to the ticket-holding crowd inside the venue, over 3,000 people set out blankets and lawn chairs on the arts center’s lawn to enjoy a live broadcast of the performance under the stars.
From Kaohsiung, the Vienna Philharmonic will return to Taipei for two final performances at the National Concert Hall on Monday and Tuesday.
Monday’s performance will feature renditions of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal Prelude, Death and Transfiguration by Richard Strauss, and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, while Tuesday’s program will be the same as the one the orchestra performed in Kaohsiung.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel