Throughout this season the NSO will be presenting no fewer than four compositionswritten by contemporary Taiwanese composers, all inspired by Hakka culture. The first of these is by Ming-Hsiu Yen, Her work is entitled Nu Wa (Mending the Sky),Inspired by the Hakka festival Tian-Chuan Day, it incorporates traditional folk songs. The solo violin role will be taken by the NSO’s former co-concertmaster I-Ching Li. Also on the program are works by two of the most prominent composers from Eastern Europe. Kodály’s Dances of Galánta likewise incorporates folksongs,these of Hungarian gypsy origin. (Galánta is a small town in Hungary.) Dvořák’s most popular symphony (No.9), and a great favorite of NSO audiences, was written in the New World(America), but it sings eloquently of the composer’s Bohemian homeland in Europe. There are no traditional folk songs in this work, but the themes

are steeped in Slavonic soil and landscapes.