Taiwan National Choir

In order to help the young vocalists developing their careers, and provide elaborate programs for the audience all over Taiwan, Taiwan National Choir was established under the supervision of the Ministry of Education in 1985. Over four hundred concerts were performed in the past twenty years. Professor Kuo-En Chang, who is also the president of National Taiwan Normal University, is the director currently. Since 2007, professor Agnes Grossmann, who is invited to be the music director of chorus.

The Taiwan National Choir has visited Korea, Singapore (where the Chorus was highly praised by the United Morning News as “the first-rate Chorus today”), Malaysia, France, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Spain, and Hawaii etc.…in recent years. It has been invited to collaborate with Domingo, Carreras, and Diana Ross in their joint concert “The Sounds across the Century” in 1997. It was the guest chorus in Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, which was with Staatskapelle Dresden (cond. Giuseppe Sinopoli) and New York Philharmonic (cond. Kurt Masur) in 2000 and 2002 respectively. It has been invited to join José Carreras in his concert “José Carreras Tenor Concert” in 2003. Then it has the honor to be the representative of Taiwan to perform in the annual conference for music education of UNESCO held in Spain in 2004. Besides, the Taiwan National Choir has performed in Die Zauberflöte, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, Don Giovanni, Tristan und Isolde, Norma, The Great Wall, Snow in August, and the Inauguration of the 9th & 10th & 11th President and Vice-President of Republic of China, Ceremony of Presidential Cultural Awards, Chieh Shou Hall Concert in the Presidential Building, End-of-the-Year Concert in the Presidential Building, and the Starlight Concert for Double Tens Day 2002.

The repertoire of Taiwan National Choir is extensive, ranging from folk songs from various countries, lieder to motets, masses, cantatas, and oratorios. Its members are primarily students of vocal music plus a number of accomplished singers who have graduated from the music schools overseas. Practices are held twice a week at least. It is the most proficient and welcomed chorus funded by the government. Hopefully it will reach the requirement for a full-time professional chorus in the near future.