Taipei Chamber Singers Celebrate 20 Years of Boundary-Pushing Choral Art

(Central News Agency reporter Chao Ching-Yu, Taipei, July 15) — Driven by passion and dedication to singing, the Taipei Chamber Singers will celebrate their 35th anniversary next year. Their 'Chorus Without Limits' series, which challenges the boundaries of choral aesthetics, marks its 20th anniversary this year with the upcoming 'Sound and Light Geometry' concert, using choral music to express light and shadow, life, and existence.

Fang Su-Chen,团长 of the Taipei Chamber Singers, told CNA that since its launch in 2006, the 'Chorus Without Limits' platform has commissioned and premiered over 100 works, making it Asia’s most avant-garde and voice-focused commissioning platform. 'Over the years, we’ve invited composers from around the world to create custom pieces for us. Many composers wrote their first choral work specifically for us. Each piece offers a unique sonic landscape, refining our singers’ vocal precision,' she said.

Kao Tuan-Ho, Administrative Manager of the Taipei Chamber Singers, stated, 'Our achievements today are the result of growth gifted to us by composers.'

One of the world premieres at this concert is 'Wind Shadow' by Malaysian composer Chong Keat Aun, inspired by fieldwork at a Kayan longhouse village along the upper reaches of the Baram River in Borneo. Fang Shu-Hsiao,理事长 of the Taipei Chamber Singers Arts and Culture Association, remarked, 'This piece is so difficult that our members joked they wanted to put the composer in a sack and kill him.'

Chong shared that his six-day fieldwork trip captured elders singing in their native language. 'But now everyone speaks Malay, and these languages are vanishing. To me, voice is not just an artistic medium but a vital vessel for preserving a community’s memory.' In the piece, choir members not only sing but also play the Bornean indigenous jaw harp (Bungkau), using sound to evoke natural imagery such as wind, tree shadows, and mountain fires.

Chinese composer Qin Wenchen’s 'Shadow of the Sun X – Sky' is his only choral composition. 'Growing up in the Ordos grasslands of Inner Mongolia, I attended school in the morning and herded sheep in the afternoon. Alone on the vast grassland, I found solace in singing,' he recalled. Sung entirely in pinyin based on Mongolian vocables, the piece weaves ethereal pianissimo textures with dramatic sonorities across long-breathed phrases, evoking a sacred, almost religious chant-like atmosphere.

Other works include Lin Fang-Yi’s 'Dash,' large-scale choral piece 'Ochre' by Pulitzer and Grammy Award-winning American composer Caroline Shaw, and Yu Chung-Yuan’s arrangement of 'The Olive Tree.' The 'Sound and Light Geometry' concert will take place on July 17 at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, conducted by resident conductor Hsu Ling-Hsin of the Taipei Chamber Singers. (Editor: Li Heng-Shan) 1150715

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