Past Programs (2019, 2023, 2025)
Perform Chamber Music in Taiwan in May-June 2026!*
When classically trained musicians perform together they share a common musical language and a common skill set. It is rare, however, for young performers to have the opportunity to acquire musical styles and access to composers’ works from distant continents such as Asia, where language, attitudes and the ways in which the necessities of daily life are handled can be radically different. The concept of Chinese language, culture and music is often surrounded by a mystique that makes it seem out of reach. This course proposes to bring five to nine young musicians from the East Carolina University School of Music into direct contact with top Taiwanese composers, teachers and performers through the University of Taipei, and to introduce them to Mandarin Chinese language and Taiwanese culture through a three-week immersion music performance and language course.
ECU Applied Chamber Music will bring together students and faculty performers from East Carolina University and the University of Taipei. Students will be assisted by faculty to form chamber groups made up of skilled music students of both universities who will engage intensively in selecting music of American and Taiwanese composers for rehearsals and coaching, with private lessons as well. Students will be encouraged to practice their Chinese in language classes, rehearsal settings and cultural excursions. Rehearsals and coaching will culminate in an international performances in concert halls in Taipei and Taichung before a live audiences. This kind of deep engagement with music and performers of another country and culture and with young people in their age group from a completely different world view, who nevertheless hold the same musical values, will endow our students with a lifelong gift of enduring musical and personal relationships that will broaden their sense of what it means to be fully engaged in our modern world. The ultimate intent of this program is to encourage our students to keep traveling, exploring and bringing music with them to engage and communicate with people everywhere they go.
The program overall and MUSC 4509/4508/6905/6908 Special Topics in Music and MUSC 1815/6815 Small Ensemble (Applied Chamber Music) for a total of six credit hours, will be led by Dr. Christine Gustafson, Professor of Music/Flute, who was a Fulbright grantee to Taiwan for the academic year 2001-2002. As a Fulbright Scholar, she performed a US State Department-sponsored recital and maintained an office in the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Concert Hall complex, a cultural icon. She later served for three years as a Fulbright Reviewer in Music. Dr. Gustafson has long-term relationships with prominent Taiwanese artists that reach back to her days as a flute student in Vienna, Austria, and many connections with the Taiwan cultural scene. Dr. Gustafson is deeply familiar with the cities of Taipei and Taichung the Taiwan travel system.
Assistant/Co-Leader onsite in Taiwan is Professor Sabina Chu-Chun Chiang, Professor of Flute and Dean of International Affairs at the University of Taipei, who will assist with coaching and performance and will recruit UT students and faculty to participate in preparing for performance as appropriate. Professor Chiang is a well-known flutist, musician and teacher who performs and teaches internationally and has appeared both as chamber musician and leading Taiwanese students at the National Flute Association Annual Conventions. She trained with William Bennet at the Royal College Conservatory in London, England. Her husband, Swedish flutist Anders Norell, is Principal Flute of the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra (and an additional musical resource).
The language component of the course will be taught by Professor Chuan Yu-Shin of the UT Department of Chinese Language and Literature. She will present materials and offer unique online teaching techniques for writing characters and learning pronunciation to help students understand their new environment and interface with their Taiwanese classmates as they explore Taipei. Taiwan offers a unique opportunity to students and scholars alike, in that Taiwan has preserved the use of ancient traditional writing of Chinese characters. China now uses simplified characters, so much of the artistic component and the deeper meaning of the characters is lost. In Taiwan traditional characters are still used in daily life, including every street sign and restaurant menu. Writing Chinese is still regarded and practiced as a highly developed art form in Taiwan. It is the best place in the world to study Chinese.
Upon their return home, students may participate in a final project, an online blog describing their impressions of Taiwan and their musical experiences, and they will be encouraged to upload short videos or photos. Pre-departure meetings will be held to prepare students for travel. The Office of International Affairs is actively engaged in promoting this program and has offered logistical assistance with housing and cultural excursions.
For further information see: https://global-affairs.ecu.edu/study-abroad/
* Students from other universities can apply for this program. There is a $75 application fee for non-ECU students.
When classically trained musicians perform together they share a common musical language and a common skill set. It is rare, however, for young performers to have the opportunity to acquire musical styles and access to composers’ works from distant continents such as Asia, where language, attitudes and the ways in which the necessities of daily life are handled can be radically different. The concept of Chinese language, culture and music is often surrounded by a mystique that makes it seem out of reach. This course proposes to bring five to nine young musicians from the East Carolina University School of Music into direct contact with top Taiwanese composers, teachers and performers through the University of Taipei, and to introduce them to Mandarin Chinese language and Taiwanese culture through a three-week immersion music performance and language course.
ECU Applied Chamber Music will bring together students and faculty performers from East Carolina University and the University of Taipei. Students will be assisted by faculty to form chamber groups made up of skilled music students of both universities who will engage intensively in selecting music of American and Taiwanese composers for rehearsals and coaching, with private lessons as well. Students will be encouraged to practice their Chinese in language classes, rehearsal settings and cultural excursions. Rehearsals and coaching will culminate in an international performances in concert halls in Taipei and Taichung before a live audiences. This kind of deep engagement with music and performers of another country and culture and with young people in their age group from a completely different world view, who nevertheless hold the same musical values, will endow our students with a lifelong gift of enduring musical and personal relationships that will broaden their sense of what it means to be fully engaged in our modern world. The ultimate intent of this program is to encourage our students to keep traveling, exploring and bringing music with them to engage and communicate with people everywhere they go.
The program overall and MUSC 4509/4508/6905/6908 Special Topics in Music and MUSC 1815/6815 Small Ensemble (Applied Chamber Music) for a total of six credit hours, will be led by Dr. Christine Gustafson, Professor of Music/Flute, who was a Fulbright grantee to Taiwan for the academic year 2001-2002. As a Fulbright Scholar, she performed a US State Department-sponsored recital and maintained an office in the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Concert Hall complex, a cultural icon. She later served for three years as a Fulbright Reviewer in Music. Dr. Gustafson has long-term relationships with prominent Taiwanese artists that reach back to her days as a flute student in Vienna, Austria, and many connections with the Taiwan cultural scene. Dr. Gustafson is deeply familiar with the cities of Taipei and Taichung the Taiwan travel system.
Assistant/Co-Leader onsite in Taiwan is Professor Sabina Chu-Chun Chiang, Professor of Flute and Dean of International Affairs at the University of Taipei, who will assist with coaching and performance and will recruit UT students and faculty to participate in preparing for performance as appropriate. Professor Chiang is a well-known flutist, musician and teacher who performs and teaches internationally and has appeared both as chamber musician and leading Taiwanese students at the National Flute Association Annual Conventions. She trained with William Bennet at the Royal College Conservatory in London, England. Her husband, Swedish flutist Anders Norell, is Principal Flute of the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra (and an additional musical resource).
The language component of the course will be taught by Professor Chuan Yu-Shin of the UT Department of Chinese Language and Literature. She will present materials and offer unique online teaching techniques for writing characters and learning pronunciation to help students understand their new environment and interface with their Taiwanese classmates as they explore Taipei. Taiwan offers a unique opportunity to students and scholars alike, in that Taiwan has preserved the use of ancient traditional writing of Chinese characters. China now uses simplified characters, so much of the artistic component and the deeper meaning of the characters is lost. In Taiwan traditional characters are still used in daily life, including every street sign and restaurant menu. Writing Chinese is still regarded and practiced as a highly developed art form in Taiwan. It is the best place in the world to study Chinese.
Upon their return home, students may participate in a final project, an online blog describing their impressions of Taiwan and their musical experiences, and they will be encouraged to upload short videos or photos. Pre-departure meetings will be held to prepare students for travel. The Office of International Affairs is actively engaged in promoting this program and has offered logistical assistance with housing and cultural excursions.
For further information see: https://global-affairs.ecu.edu/study-abroad/
* Students from other universities can apply for this program. There is a $75 application fee for non-ECU students.