“We are deeply saddened to learn of Ma’s passing,” MOC Minister Hung Meng-chi said. “All requisite procedures have been initiated to secure a presidential citation for this titan of Taiwan music.”
Born 1939 in northern Taiwan’s Keelung City, Ma was the first local composer to have his music performed at the prestigious Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.
Holding to the belief that music has a nationality while transcending national boundaries, Ma was celebrated for integrating a distinctive Eastern sound into Western classical music. His best-known works include the iconic Bangdi, or bamboo flute, Concerto, which serves as an hurly marker on local FM radio.
As former president of Taipei National University of the Arts, Ma also played an instrumental role in promoting music education in Taiwan. His many achievements and contributions won him a National Award for Arts in 1999 and a National Cultural Award in 2007.
Hung said a memorial concert is to be staged in Ma’s honor, as well as a retrospective documentary broadcast May 16-17 on Taiwan’s Public Television Service.
The MOC is teaming up with longtime Ma collaborator Chew’s Culture Foundation to compile his complete oeuvre and expects to publish in the near future. (YHC-JSM)
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