Wan Pei Lin/ Taichung
2020 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. To pay tribute to the legendary musician, National Taichung Theater will invite world-renowned Korean pianist, Kun-woo Paik, to perform from December, 16th to 23th.
Kun-woo Paik is a laureate at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. “Mr. Paik coaxes a bejewelled, singing tone from his instrument.” The New York Times said. He will perform Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas, which are known as the “New Testament” for the instrument. The performances at National Taichung Theater will last 8 days.
At the age of 15, Paik premiered Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on A Theme of Paganini” and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” in South Korea. He then travelled to New York and studied in The Juilliard School. He is now settled in Paris, France.
After being an apprentice of many famous pianists and witnessing different schools of music, Paik realized that pianists must be able to seek the meaning of the composer. Then they have to find their own perspective towards the music and finally create their own unique ways of playing piano.
Paik loves the music from Germany and Austria and knows that it is not easy to play. “It needs confidence and life experience to interpret Beethoven’s music so that his spirit of perseverance can be manifested.” Paik once said. He perceives Beethoven’s sonatas as a work and expresses Beethoven’s character through different combinations of repertoires.
The 2020 NTT Fall for Great Souls series will be Paik’s third time to present the complete Beethoven’s 32 sonatas. The performance lasts for 8 consecutive days and he has performed this series twice before. Once in 2007 in China and the second time in 2017 in Korea. Through the ingenious arrangement of the repertoires and the extraordinary sound of his piano, Paik, who claims himself as “The Patroller on the Keyboard” is going to take both seasoned music fans and beginners on a journey traveling back in time to experience the life of Beethoven.
More Information:
The 2020 NTT Fall for Great Souls: Kun-Woo Paik – Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle
2020/12/16(Wednesday)- 2020/12/18(Friday) 19:30
2020/12/19(Saturday)- 2020/12/20(Sunday) 14:30
2020/12/21(Monday)- 2020/12/23(Wednesday) 19:30
Venue: Playhouse
Ticket: Please visit ArtsTicket website.
