The National Taichung Theater, central Taiwan’s newest architectural landmark, was officially inaugurated Sept. 30 at a ceremony attended by Vice President Chen Chien-jen, who expressed his hope that the facility will serve as a major talent cultivation center for the performing arts.
“This theater will help inspire an art renaissance in central Taiwan,” the vice president said, adding it provides an impressive platform for presenting the nation’s pluralistic culture and diverse artistic environment to international audiences.
Designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the striking NTT building has a unique curved wall structure that produces a free-flowing interior space. Ito, who won the renowned Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2013, has created other landmark buildings in Taiwan including the National Stadium in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City, the main venue of the 2009 World Games.
According to Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun, NTT will further strengthen public interest in the performing arts and foster connections between local artists and their counterparts overseas. “Through the launch of this theater, the Ministry of Culture is working to provide specialized facilities, cultivate talent and broaden public access to art,” she said at the opening ceremony.
The opening show at NTT was “Das Rheingold,” the first of four epic music dramas that comprise German composer Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (The Ring of the Nibelung). It was performed by Spanish theater troupe La Fura dels Baus and the Taipei-based National Symphony Orchestra.
Construction on NTT was launched in 2009. The theater operates under the MOC’s National Performing Arts Center, which also consists of the National Symphony Orchestra, National Theater and Concert Hall in Taipei City, as well as the under-construction National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, scheduled to open in 2017. (KTJ-E)
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