UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 15 AUGUST 2023
Taiwanese alumni presented the first RBC Taiwan Alumni Gala Concert in the city of Hualien, on the east coast of Taiwan, on Saturday 5 August.
Alumni who have graduated from RBC since 2000 gathered from around the country and across the globe in Hualien, making music and sharing their individual stories of RBC with each other and the audience.
The programme included solo and chamber music works by Brahms, Schubert, Applebaum, Xiao and more.
The musicians also commissioned and premiered a new work, ‘Theme and Variations on The Torment of a Flower 雨夜花變奏曲’. This was a century-old Taiwanese folksong arranged for an 11-piece ensemble by current Composition student Mason Siu-Wai Ma.
This event was curated by Assistant Course Director of Postgraduate Studies and Director of International Student Support Programme Beetung Goo, who is also an RBC alumna from Taiwan.
Beetung’s work focuses on the learning experience of international students, and she has developed RBC’s International Student Support Programme which provides crucial academic and pastoral support to hundreds of international students at RBC each year.
Beetung said: “It has been a memorable experience to meet and work with these musicians. RBC is what we share in common, and it is wonderful to be able to gather together in this way and to bring RBC into the communities in Taiwan. I am truly grateful for the support RBC has given me and all the help I have received from people in putting this event together.”
The concert featured:
Curator: Beetung Goo 古畢彤
Piano: Chia-An Tung, Ya-Ting Lo
Violin: Yi-Ling Mao, Hsuan Lee, Yung-Hsuan Chuang
Viola: Yung-Yen Tsai
Cello: Pin-Hsien Chung
Percussion: Hsuan Wu
Soprano: Pei-Yu Guo
French horn: Yen-Hsueh Lai, Beetung Goo