Taipei City Government

To listen to the music of the best talent from around the world, whether it's an aural and visual extravaganza of the senses you seek or something a little cooler, quieter, and calmer under blue or night skies before an alfresco stage, you'd best get to know some personal things about the city's finest music-performance venues.

Taipei Arena will be the main sporting venue for the 2009 Taipei Deaflympics, and thus the main showcase venue for some of the world's finest athletes to show off their world-beating skills.

The facility has two levels underground and five above. The main hall can seat over 15,000 spectators, and the stage can be arranged in three configurations to accommodate different needs – in essence, a long, medium, and up-close-and-intimate small version. Since the arena's opening in 2005, the venue has been used for large-scale concerts, performances, exhibitions, and various other events. The floor of the main hall has been designed so that it's temperature can be lowered over a 4-5 day period and with water spread on the surface, it transforms into a sheet of ice for ice hockey. On the second level, there is a flat concourse that is obstaclefree and fully accessible to the physically impaired and their companions. The spectator stands for the Annex ice-skating facility has a capacity of 800 people, and the skating surface is able to handle 400 skaters. The arena has precision temperature and humidity controls, ensuring comfort for both athletes and onlookers.

Many of local and international showbiz and music stars have to date strutted their stuff on the Taipei Arena stage, including big-time names such as Taiwan songstress A-mei, Hong Kong star Andy Lau, England's crossover soprano Sarah Brightman and so on.

National Concert Hall – Classical Pedigree, International Caliber

If you talk about the classic“music palace”of Taiwan, you cannot but think of the elegant National Concert Hall. Gracing the expansive grounds of the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in the city's central area with its classical Chinese palace-style twin, the National Theater, the two form the bedrock foundation of the performing arts in Taiwan.

The seating at the concert hall is arranged in three stepped tiers, with 2,070 plush seats. The large stage can accommodate 150 to 200 players. The magnificent pipe organ, a hand-crafted masterpiece, was brought in from Holland. At the time of the inauguration for the twin palaces, this was the largest pipe organ in all Asia; it is such a complex instrument that it took two full years to manufacture and install it.

The concert hall also has a smaller performance facility, the Recital Hall, appropriate for gatherings such as recitals and chamber music, on the first belowground level. The space is also frequently used for music symposiums, info meetings, and other events that allow aficionados personal contact with their favorite players. This hall has a sterling reputation with these players, beloved for its superior acoustics; on one occasion when the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra was in town, four of its marquee players gave a special free performance here just so they could enjoy the facility. The grand plaza that separates the National Concert Hall and Theater often becomes the venue for outdoor concerts or broadcasts, a citizen favorite. On one notable occasion, over 60,000 music lovers came for a festivallike broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic, still one of the highlights of the city's history of musical experiences.

The quality of the National Concert Hall has made it an attractive venue for the great talents of the musical world, through the years drawing such creative genius as the Three Tenors, Yo-Yo Ma, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Munich Symphony Orchestra, and the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic. The National Theater and Concert Hall have, appropriately, been called“the eyes of Taiwan,”a portal of the spirit projecting the soul and culture of the nation onto the world stage, encouraging creativity internally and representing Taiwan internationally.

Let the Notes of Vibrant Musicality Dance through the Outdoors – The Daan Park Amphitheater and Huashan1914.Creative Park

If swaying to the music out in the fresh air while being swished by gentle breezes, two city spots notably meet your highest expectations – the Daan Park Amphitheater and Huashan1914.Creative Park.

Daan Park was formally opened to the public in 1994. The carefully selected plants and trees have since grown to maturity, creating a luxuriant forest and garden oasis in the middle of the busy urban environment. The amphitheater unobtrusively blends right in to the secret-garden ambiance. Its tapered roof is covered in attractive metallic tubing, naturally sloping in such a way that there is no sense of visual framing of the stage. The field of vision is wide open, the overall effect sleek, natural, and ultra-modern in feel. Over 900 can be accommodated in a venue surrounded with soothing, tension-dissipating flowers and plants. You'll feel that the rhythms of the music have been synchronized with the pulses of nature.

A number of structures are located on the site of Huashan1914.Creative Park, a heritage site that once served as a brewery site for the old Taiwan Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau. To broaden the park's cultural and artistic range, the original brickbuilt workspaces, tower, administrative building, and four adjoining buildings have been seamlessly blended into the creative cultural industries showcase with flexible indoor spaces. The ambience of the place evokes that of Avignon, that justly famed French locale for refined, avant-garde performances.

There are a number of outdoor facilities, including the Huashan Theater , Forest Theater, and ebulliently named“Thousand Layer Wild Stage”, allowing for wide-ranging choice that meets most every need. The park was host to the 2009 Urban Simple Life Festival this spring, with events staged at 16 locations around the facility, including four dedicated music stages, an area for music-related symposiums, and a carnival of temporary shops and stalls selling nifty commercial items. Lovers of the musical arts thrilled at the manysplendored stimulations this festival event brought.