A Tribute to Art in the Name of Love: The 2021 International Artist Day Celebration, Part 4 of 5

After a few fascinating performances with traditional Eastern elements, we now turn to the West to get to know the Essential Sound Baroque Ensemble.

“I am Huang Chi-Chih, Head of Essential Sound Baroque Ensemble. It’s our hope to return to the instruments of that time to convey the original creative ideas of the composers as much as possible.” “I’m the Music Director of the Essential Sound Baroque Ensemble and also a flutist, Chien Chih-Hsien. The Baroque flute is basically made of wood. It has a warmer tone and is more ergonomic. It’s easier to control.” “The Baroque period is from 1600 to 1750 AD, which is about 150 years in duration.”

“The ornaments of Baroque music are the most important. The composer may only write a melody of just a few notes on the sheet, but when a musician is playing, he must fill in the space based on his capacity and his understanding of the music. If we give a set of musical notations to different musicians, it will be interpreted differently, even though it is the same sheet of music. So there is more freedom in interpretation with no standard structure.”

“In Taiwan (Formosa), the audiences who appreciate Baroque music, or performers are a minority. So after we founded the ensemble, there have been regular performances every year.”

Essential Sound Baroque first played “Concerto grosso in D major, Opus 6, No. 4” by the Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli for International Artist Day. Now let’s hear “Die Tageszeiten” or “The Times of Day,” composed by German composer Georg Philipp Telemann.

“I am grateful to the initiator (Supreme Master Ching Hai [vegan]), who offers all the artists in the world such a fantastic festival.” “I think it’s always very, very nice to be invited to join a festival, especially one which has the idea of being an International festival of artists. So, it’s very, very exciting.”