Professor David Owen Norris, from South Hampton University-- an internationally renowned pianist and radio host-- will perform the works of several great English composers in a spectacular concert. Audiences in Taiwan rarely have the chance to appreciate the works of Sir Edward William Elgar or Sir William Turner Walton; so, this concert to be held in NTU's Center for the Arts, promises to offer local music lovers a rare treat of English music.

‘The works I play are the works of English composers , or works closely linked to England—such as the British adaptation of Handel, or the British version of Mendelssohn which has not been made public. To most Taiwanese audience these works shall appear to be very fresh, and I am happy to give them an early experience ofsuch important connotations of British culture." said Professor Norris.

Held in National Taiwan University, this concert is part of the activities of the cultural interchange program between National Taiwan University and South Hampton University. In this program, the two universities shall welcome one music student from the other school to engage in learning and exchange for several months. The exchange student from South Hampton University is George Holloway, who has been commissioned to write new songs for Professor Norris'Taiwan concert.

Holloway said: "I very much appreciate the lyricism in Elgar and Walton's music, my new composition entitled [originalmelodie]is an echo to lyricism, and a response to Mendelssohn's [Songs without words]. I tried my best to make a dynamic and sensitive performer like David Owen Norris show his talent."

The concert repertoire will include the "Pomp and Circumstance Marches" by Sir Edward William Elgar, piano sonatas by Constant Lambert, and three waltzes by Walter Lee.

Some of the other works are directly related to the South Hampton area. Professor Norris will perform the adapted version of the prelude to Handel's opera "Rodelinda", which is part of the musical collections of novelist Jane Austin. She wrote many of her works in the village of Chawton of Hamphsire County. Additionally, Walton's prelude and fugue "Spitfire" was written for a representative fighter which was built in the Woolston district of South Hampton, and had its first test flight in South Hampton's international airport.

The University of South Hampton hopes to strengthen its ties with Taiwan through this concert. The historians from its College of Humanities are now planning biennial seminars with NTU colleagues to explore the issues of comparative viewpoints in Western and East Asian societies, and its archaeologists are doing research on the Paiwan aborigine tribe in Southern Taiwan and its ancestral histories.

Event website: www. Southampton.ac.uk/music/Taiwan

University of Southampton website: www.soton.ac.uk

Peter Franklin, Media Relations, University of Southampton
Tel: 023 8059 5457　Email:　p.franklin@soton.ac.uk