From 2021 to 2023, HAC and the Taiwan Philharmonic have curated the music project A Man Ahead of His Time: Jiang Wen-Ye. The last symphonic concert in the event series took place on October 7, directed by Lü Shao-chia, Taiwan Philharmonic Conductor Emeritus and multiple award-winning conductor of international renown. He led the Taiwan Philharmonic to deliver Jiang Wen-Ye’s works like Formosan Dance, Sinfonietta for String Orchestra, and Drowned in the Miluo River, as well as Fantasia for Orchestra, which received its Taiwan premiere.
The composition Island Rhapsody by Chen Ke-chia echoes the piece Sketches of the Old Capital by Jiang Wen-ye. Taiwan’s beauty and vibrancy are conveyed from various perspectives through five movements of luxuriant orchestral music—akin to five aerial videos of the beautiful island. Resounding The Singing Voice of Mt. Ali by Li Yuan-chen, on the other hand, is based on Jiang Wen-ye’s The Song of Ali Mountain. The piece is inspired on fragments and instrumentation from Jiang’s original, in addition to a main melody and composition techniques based on music of Taiwan’s mountain indigenous peoples. Jiang’s original work is faithfully presented with a more lavish orchestral texture.
Additionally, HAC invited musicians Liu Lin-yu and Shen Diau-long to edit and publish Across East and West: Jiang Wen-Ye Music Anthology. Many musicians were also sought for collaboration to publish Legend & Inheritance—Jiang Wen-Ye Memorial Album, a 2-CD compilation of amazing works by Jiang and young Taiwanese composers. Vocal works, chamber music, and orchestral music are all collected therein, in the hopes of fostering a dialogue across ages and enabling audiences at home and abroad to appreciate Jiang Wen-ye’s oeuvre. The goal is to perpetuate the spirit and ideals embodied in Jiang’s music.
