TAIPEI SINFONIETTA & PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

● BOSTON Globe
’’The first sound of the Taipei Philharmonic in Boston Symphony Hall was electrifying’’
Richard Dyer. October 10, 19

● WIEN Kurier: VIENNA Kurier newspaper
’’The ensemble plays with precision and unity the Taipei Philharmonic is of considerable quality. This conductor (Henry Mazer) made Schubert come alive and touch our hearts again.’’
Franz Endler June 18, 1993

● VANCOUVER Sun
’’Mazer and his musicians are totally committed, Mazer deserves special credit for his ensembles wonderful sound; a rich, romantic singing that was intensified by the acoustic of UBCs hall.’’
Michael Scott July 21,1990

● HELSINKI Sanomat Newspaper
'There is power in the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra.''
Annmari Salmela, 17.8.2003

● TALLINN Postimees Newspaper – Estonia
'The fluent interplay of orchestra and perfect cooperation between the members of the Taipei Philharmonic was very impressive..''
Evi Arujarvi, 16.8.2003

● WARSAW Dziennik Polski Newspaper
''Performing exact rhythm...playing with outstanding technic..perfect interaction with the soloist. Honestly speaking, this orchestra deserves the highest recommendation..''
Adam Walacinski, 25.9.2004


The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra has from the very beginning of its establishment been determined to make and deliver music at the highest artistic level.

A regular guest to European Music Festival's and Concert Halls. The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra returns to Europe in June and July 2006 for a concert tour to Spain, France, Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria, to perform three concerts with an array of international soloists at the SULLY INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL (France), a concert in Paris, VARNA SUMMER INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL (Bulgaria), UBEDA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL (Spain), and at the BELGRADE CELLO FESTIVAL (Serbia), with SONY CLASSICAL recording artist, DANJULO ISHIZAKA (cello), and JENNIFER KOH (violin).

The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra will also undertake a tour of the United States in July 2006 with Maestro YOEL LEVI, with performances at the KENNEDY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER in Washington, DC, and at STANFORD UNIVERSITY in SAN FRANCISCO .


The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra's first European concert tour was in the early 1990s, with concerts in France, Brussels and in Vienna at the prestigious "Grosser Musikvereinsaal," one of the World's Top 5 concert halls, where the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra's fine interpretation of Schubert won high praise of Franz Endler, one of Vienna's leading music critics.

Mr. Franz Endler wrote in the Vienna Kurier Newspaper: "The ensemble plays with precision and unity... the Sinfonietta is of considerable quality... This conductor (Henry Mazer) made Schubert come alive and touch our hearts again."

The Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra has subsequently undertaken five European concert tours.

The orchestra's most recent past tours have been to France in June 2005 for a sold out concert in PARIS, and at the AUVERS INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL along with pianist Jean- Frederic Neuburger, Fazil Say and Evgeni Kissin.

The orchestra toured Russia in June 2004, performing at the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall for the White Nights Festival, followed by a performance in Moscow at the newly opened Moscow Performing Arts Center, with internationally acclaimed Russian violoncellist, Alexander Rudin.

In September 2004 an extensive concert tour of Central European followed, commencing the tour with the opening concert of the Warsaw Autumn Contemporary Music Festival with the internationally acclaimed Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam, where the orchestra performed the world premiere of Leif Segerstam's 101 Symphony, dedicated to the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra and broadcast throughout Poland by Polish Radio. Further concerts followed at the Wratislavia Music Festival in Wroclaw [Poland], Music Festival Sacrum-Profanum in Krakow [Poland] at the Karol Szymanowski Philharmonic Concert Hall, at the Smetana Hall in Prague during the Prague Spirit Music Festival, at the Budapest Music Festival at the Liszt Concert Hall, and a number of other concerts throughout Hungary and Poland. In total 8 concerts, performing for 6,500 people.

In the summer of 1990, the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra also undertook its first overseas concert tour of North America, with performances in the United States and Canada. In October 1995, the Taipei Philharmonic embarked on yet another tour to the United States for the discerning ears in Boston and New York.

One of the performances was given at one of the United States leading concert halls, the "Boston Symphony Hall." The audience was elevated and impressed. The orchestra received a standing ovation, an utmost recognition rarely bestowed on foreign ensembles.

The New York and Boston media showered the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra with positive reviews, among them, Richard Dyer, the editor of the Music Page of the Boston Globe, who wrote: "The first sound of the Taipei Philharmonic in Boston Symphony Hall was electrifying. The way the orchestra plays is a real tribute to Mazers musicianship. Mazer has a rare understanding of how Verklarte Nacht is constructed, how it should sound and the wallop it should pack. They play with glowing sound, precision of intonation, absolute unanimity of impulse and rare commitment."

In September 2001, led by the Asian conductor Paul Tien-Chi Lin, the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra embarked on a concert tour of Scandinavia to give two concerts in Stockholm (Sweden) at the Berwald Concert Hall, and Helsinki (Finland) at the Finlandia Concert Hall. This event was the first time that an orchestra from Taiwan had been invited to perform in Scandinavia.

In May of 2002 the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra undertook another tour to Germany and the Czech Republic, as a guest performer at a sold out concert at Dvorak Concert Hall in Prague during the Prague Spring International Music Festival with Czech pianist Martin Kasik, followed by concerts at the Braunschweig Classix Festival in Germany, and the Janacek International Music Festival in Ostrava (Czech Republic).

In August 2003, the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra returned to Europe for their Third European tour for critically acclaimed concerts in Estonia at the Tallinn Concert Hall, and at the Estonian Music Festival Glasperlenspiel in Parnu, followed by yet another Sold Out concert in Helsinki, Finland (this begin the orchestras second appearance in Helsinki, and the first time in the history of musical life in the Finnish capital Helsinki that a foreign orchestra has appeared for concerts twice within a two year interval).

The Taipei Philharmonic has won the hearts of music lovers and the support of corporate patrons and grown to be the most well-organized and best recognized run orchestra in Taiwan.

The Taipei Philharmonic has come a long way under the baton of the late American conductor Maestro Henry Mazer. Mazer's selfless dedication, disciplinary technique, and an intricate understanding of the music, inspired the orchestra to produce sounds which were homogeneous in conception and interconnected at all times. Maestro Henry Mazer moulded the orchestra with daunting masterpiece by Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler.