Up and running (sweltering). After the reception at a fantastic club in downtown Taipei, Quintessence hit the road with two community center performances on the northern side of Taipei. The audience ages ranged from 0.1- 100 +, one Taiwanaese old man took me by suprise when he walked up to me and started talking in perfect English about being stranded in Liverpool on a Chinese ship in 1942, due to the Japanese warships at large! Suprise is what Taiwan is all about.
Yesterday found the quintet travelling down the beautiful Pacific East Coast of the island (by train) to Hualien. A concert was given to a sell out student audience in the evening at the Budhist University, mixing Duddel with Hosokowa and Ligeti with Davies. CD's were sold like hot (noodles).
As I write, we are now back in Taipei prior to an evening concert. On the way back from Hualien the quintet visited a junior school in the mountains outside of Keelung. The children joined in quickly with the musical games on offer, recognising the animals depicted by Peter & the wolf. A frantic but rewarding pace is being kept up- just. Back with Blogger soon. Cheers, Chris
posted by Chris at 8:49 AM 
