The Taipei Symphony Orchestra (台北市立交響樂團, as known as TSO), founded in 1969, is one of the leading orchestras based in Taipei

Taipei

Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

.

In these seasons, TSO works also with European Music directors and conductors, such as Reinhard Goebel

Reinhard Goebel

Reinhard Goebel is a German conductor and violinist specialising in early music on authentic instruments. Goebel received his first violin lessons at the age of twelve...

, Martin Fischer-Dieskau

Martin Fischer-Dieskau

Martin Fischer-Dieskau is a German conductor, currently Music Director-Designate of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. - Early life :...

 or Maurice Steger

Maurice Steger

Maurice Steger, born 1971 in Switzerland, is a musical director and as a recorder player one of the most influential and popular soloists of his generation....

.

Introduction

Under the direction of Felix Chen

Felix Chen

Felix Chiu-sen Chen is a Taiwanese conductor. He was resident conductor and Music Director of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra from 1986 until he resigned in 2003 under "extremely controversial circumstances."...

 from 1986 to 2003, the Orchestra grew in size and strength, the number of orchestra members increased, and the length of the season expanded. He also broadened the Orchestra's repertoire by introducing new and unfamiliar works from all music styles and periods, while maintaining the highest standard of traditional classical music. For the 2004 season, the Taipei City Government

Taipei City Government

Taipei City Government governs the city of Taipei, Republic of China.- Administration :The head is the mayor of Taipei and the vice mayor...

 nominated the well-known bassoonist, Chia-Chu Hsu as the General Director.

Taipei Music Festival

In 1979, Taipei Music Festival, instructed by former Taipei City Mayor Lee Teng-hui

Lee Teng-hui

Lee Teng-hui is a politician of the Republic of China . He was the 7th, 8th, and 9th-term President of the Republic of China and Chairman of the Kuomintang from 1988 to 2000. He presided over major advancements in democratic reforms including his own re-election which marked the first direct...

, was created to promote cultural activity within the island of Taiwan. Over the years, the festival has been recognized worldwide for its successful performances and international roster of artists, such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is the leading symphony orchestra in Israel. It was originally known as the Palestine Orchestra, and in Hebrew as התזמורת הסימפונית הארץ ישראלית The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit...

, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra

St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra

The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra was formed in 1882 and is Russia's oldest symphony orchestra.It was initially known as the "Imperial Music Choir" and performed privately for the court of Alexander III of Russia. By the 1900s it had started to give public performances at the...

, Russian State Philharmonic Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra

The Oslo-Filharmonien is a symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra was founded in 1919, and has since 1977 had its home in the Oslo Concert Hall. The orchestra consists of 69 musicians in the string section, 16 in the woodwinds, 15 in brass, 5 in percussionists, 1 harpist, and 1...

, Bamberger Symphoniker, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...

, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

The Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France is a French radio orchestra providing music for Radio France. It specializes in contemporary music and was founded in 1937.- Names of the orchestra :*Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France...

, and Rundfunk-Sinfonie Orchester Berlin.

The opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 produced by TSO in the festival every year is also an important musical event in the island. TSO has performed La traviata

La traviata

La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...

, Faust

Faust (opera)

Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...

, Carmen

Carmen

Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...

, Turandot

Turandot

Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...

, La bohème

La bohème

La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...

, Aida

Aida

Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...

, Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...

, Cavalleria rusticana

Cavalleria rusticana

Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...

, Pagliacci

Pagliacci

Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...

, Otello

Otello

Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887....

, The Flying Dutchman

The Flying Dutchman (opera)

Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...

, and Salome

Salome (opera)

Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....

.

Music directors and principal conductors

• Teng Chang-kuo (鄧昌國), 1969–1973
• Chen Tun-chu (陳暾初), 1973–1986
• Felix Chen
  Felix Chen
  Felix Chiu-sen Chen is a Taiwanese conductor. He was resident conductor and Music Director of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra from 1986 until he resigned in 2003 under "extremely controversial circumstances."...
  
  , 1986–2003
• András Ligeti
  András Ligeti
  András Ligeti is a Hungarian classical violinist and conductor.- Biography :Ligeti studied violin and conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He won the First Prize at the Leo Weiner Violin Competition and in 1980 at the Bloomington...
  
  , 2005–2007

Current members

As of December 11, 2006.
General director: Hsu Chia-chu
Deputy director: Chen Shu-shi
Concertmasters: Daniel Wei-chung Chiang, Chiang Chih-i