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Continuous exchanges
Department of Music has long-standing agreement with Taiwanese university.
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For three weeks in late January and early February, Shan-Hua Chien, chairman
of the music department at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU),
will be on the Iowa State campus as an artist in residence.
During his stay, Chien will present a lecture (Feb. 11) and will be in
concert with faculty members in Iowa State’s Department of Music
(Feb. 4). Both events will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Martha-Ellen Tye
Recital Hall.
The composer will work with Iowa State composition and music history students,
as well as choral and instrumental ensembles.
"Our students will benefit from what he has to say," said Don
Simonson, associate professor of music. "This is a great opportunity
for them."
Chien's appearance on campus is just the latest in a series of exchanges
the two music departments have held over the years.
Numerous faculty from NTNU have spent residencies at Iowa State.
"Each one has performed a recital and master classes while here,"
Simonson said. "Plus our students get the opportunity to work one-on-one
with the (Taiwanese) faculty."
The program has worked both ways, actually beginning in the late '70s
when Lawrence Burkhalter, professor emeritus of music and a founding member
of the Ames Piano Quartet, first visited NTNU. A few years later, David
Stuart, associate professor of music, spent a year in Taipei as part of
the exchange.
Stuart has returned on more than one occasion and William David, professor
of music, participated in 2001. David and the rest of the Ames Piano Quartet
went on a two-week tour of the island in the 1990s, which was sponsored
by NTNU.
Several years ago two Iowa State music majors even attended NTNU as part
of the exchange agreement.
Simonson has also visited NTNU four different times. In addition to working
with faculty and students at NTNU, the vocalist has performed with the
Taipei Opera Company and in 2000 sang the "Messiah." The exchange
also provided him a chance to sing a Mozart role that he had only dreamed
of doing.
"This exchange has given me wonderful performance opportunities on
a world stage," Simonson said.
The exchange is more than just performing though, Simonson said.
"My time in Taipei has allowed me to expose my students to a diverse
culture," he said. "The department there has a great appreciation
of Western style operatic singing, but they also are experts in Chinese
art and folk music.
"I have also had the opportunity to present master classes at nine
or ten other colleges and universities throughout the country," he
continued.
NTNU is primarily a teacher-training institution with over 12,000 students.
However the music department at NTNU is the most prestigious on the island
of Taiwan where virtually all the music faculty have graduate music degrees
from major European or American universities.
Simonson said he expects the exchange program to continue and hopes to
travel back to Taipei.
"It's such a comfortable environment and every time I go back I feel
at home more each time," he said. "The exchange has given me
a chance to grow and develop skills that I bring back to Iowa State and
pass on to our students.
"The relationship that we as a department have with the faculty is
so rich," he continued. "Every time I have walked into their
department in Taipei I feel like I'm walking into my own department here
in Ames."
Around LAS
January 12-25,. 2004
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