Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

Each year the Taipei traditional Arts Festival, Taiwan’s longest-running festival of traditional arts and music, shines a spotlight on the city's diverse artistic culture. Combining new works, traditional techniques, the latest technology and a contemporary outlook, it provides a fresh and innovative taste of Taipei's cultural heritage. This year's festival includes four main activities. As the first ever major event to celebrate traditional Chinese flutes and other woodwind instruments, the Taipei Woodwind Arts Festival will feature over twenty fine performers playing both traditional pieces and modern arrangements for solo instruments and ensemble. An exhibition of traditional instruments will also be shown in the second floor corridor of Zhongshan Hall. The second event is 'Jam Traditional." It includes the festival's opening concerts on April 1st and 2nd, celebrating thirty years of Campus Folksongs on Taiwan, and the best new ballads in Chinese folk music. Other performances will include nanguan opera, gezi opera, puppetry and more. In addition, the community arts festival "Culture in the Alleys" will feature 25 neighborhood performances by the Taipei Chinese Orchestra. The festival's finale will be "The Beauty of Traditional Opera," in which the Kun Theater of Zhejiang, China will present Taiwan’s first full-length production of the Ming-dynasty classic "The Peony Pavilion." The 18th Annual Taipei Traditional Arts Festival runs from April 1 to June 4 at Zhongshan Hall (close to Ximen MRT Station), and provides a rare and exciting opportunity to enjoy the best of the traditional Chinese performing arts: from hand puppet shows to haunting Chinese wind instrument solos, from authentic ancient Chinese ceremonial music to exciting new compositions for traditional instruments. It's an opportunity not to be missed!