Taipei Chinese Orchestra

The Taipei Chinese Orchestra is a joyful discovery, evoking delicate playfulness, high drama, or the tranquility of a misty Chinese valley with equal atmosphere.(CLASSIC FM)

The Taipei Chinese Orchestra articulate with balletic grace, that extraordinarily delicate string tone projecting with determined swank. (Philip Clark, GRAMOPHONE)

The Taipei Chinese Orchestra (TCO) was established in 1979 as Taiwan's first professional Chinese orchestra.The TCO has matured into a professional orchestra under the leadership of former genera丨 directors CHEN Tun-Chu, David CHEN, WANG Cheng-Ping, CHUNG Yiu-Kwong, CHENG Li-Pin and CHEN Cheng-Kang, former music directors WANG Cheng-Ping and SHAO En, as well as former Principal Conductor QU Chunquan and current Principal Conductor CHANG Yu-An, who have all contributed to giving the orchestra its international reputation. With creative crossover programs that expand the definition of Chinese orchestral music, the TCO has successfully established its signature style and artistic voice.

The TCO slogan "Let You Hear the World" indicates that the TCO performs Chinese orchestral music while also collaborating with internationally known musicians. The orchestra has also ventured into multi-disciplinary performances and has developed a new model for Chinese orchestral music in Taiwan, leading to a new outlook for the genre. In this regard, productions from the TCO Theater Series, which began in 2017, are especially ambitious. In recent years, it has commissioned many Taiwanese composers to write original Chinese orchestral works, helping make the TCO the world leader in commissions and premieres of Taiwanese compositions. It is with this particularly Taiwanese brand that the TCO has stepped onto the world stage.

Each year, the TCO performs for more than 100,000 music lovers and holds more than 100 concerts in various forms. The Taipei Traditional Arts Festival, held from March to June every year, is just one example. In addition to touring at schools and music halls around Taiwan, it holds multiple promotion projects, including "As Music As Life," a project in which concerts are held for sixth graders in Taipei City each year, and the "Culture in the Back Alley" series, which consists of community concerts. Across its 7 affiliated orchestras, the TCO boasts a huge community of more than 500 members who rehearse and perform regularly, thus laying a solid foundation for the thriving development of Chinese orchestral music.

The orchestra is also active in international exchange. The TCO has performed at major concert halls around the world, making its presence known in more than 20 countries across Europe, the United States, and Asia, garnering a warm reception from music lovers. In February 2011, a US tour arranged by internationally-renowned management company Opus 3 Artists made the TCO the first Chinese orchestra to be promoted by an international arts management company. Another first came in November 2018, when the TCO became the first professional orchestra from Taiwan to perform at New York City's Carnegie Hall Wherever it has performed, it has delivered impressive performances, all the while winning music lovers around the globe.

To date, the TCO has released nearly 100 recordings, several of which have been recognized by awards and nominations in the Golden Melody Awards for traditional and Art Music. And its outstanding performances have consistently impressed audiences worldwide. Beginning in 2008, the TCO released 6 albums at the invitation of Sweden record label BIS Records, and two of these have won in the Golden Melody Award for Tradition Arts and Music: Whirling Dance won for Best Folk Music Album and Jury Prize in 2010, Ecstatic Drumbeat won for Best Composition in 2013.

The TCO has collaborated with Muse Music on the release of several works, with the aim of bringing Taiwan's creative musical energy and its unique culture to the global stage: Sketches of Taiwan for Chinese Orchestra, Taiwanese Aboriginal Carnival, and The Four Women in Puppet Master LEE Tien-Lu's Life. Several of the orchestra's a丨bums have won in the Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music: Sketches of Taiwan for Chinese Orchestra won for Best Interpretation in 2017, Taiwanese Aboriginal Carnival won Producer of the Year (album) in 2018, The Four Women in Puppet Master LEE Tien-Lu's Life won for Best Lyrics in 2018, Resonances won for Best Traditional Album in 2022, and Formosa Bloom won for Best Audiovisual Album in 2023; and several have been recognized as Excellent Government Publications: My Mom Needs an Education in 2019, Color of the Stages in 2022, and LO Leung-Fai: The Four Seasons in 2023.

From its humble beginnings in 1979, the TCO has progressed steadily but surely on its musical journey over the past 44 years Now, in 2023, it is a world class orchestra that is devoted to forging the path forward to a new era of Chinese orchestral music TCO.