The world-renowned Taiwanese opera group Ming Hwa Yuan gave its Canadian debut at Canada’s historical city Cambridge, Ontario on October 7, captivating the audience from the Tri-Cities (Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo) Area. The event was organized by Renison University College (RUC) at the University of Waterloo with the assistance of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Toronto (Toronto TECO) and the Taiwan community in the Tri-Cities Area. The event, hosted by RUC’s Principle Dr. Wendy Fletcher, was attended by about 400 persons, including Ken Seiling, Chair of Region of Waterloo, Councilor Paul Singh from City of Kitchener, Taiwan’s “2015 National Day Goodwill Mission” leader Mr. Wu Yingyi, Director General of Toronto TECO Rong-chuan Wu, and leaders of local communities. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Cambridge Memorial Hospital (CMH).
Playing the major role in Taiwan’s “2015 National Day Goodwill Mission,” Ming Hwa Yuan was assigned by Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) to tour Canada and the United States. This is the first time that the OCAC delegates the mission to such a large and world-class cultural group. To promote Taiwan’s culture, Toronto TECO, in collaboration with RUC, arranged Ming Hwa Yuan’s performances in the Greater Toronto Area. In her welcoming remarks, Dr. Flether told the audience that Ming Hwa Yuan’s performance displayed a unique combination of tradition and modernity, which, she believes, is embedded in Taiwan’s contemporary culture. She thanked Toronto TECO for providing RUC with such a wonderful opportunity to build further connections with the Taiwanese community and support diversity in the Tri-Cities Area through bringing this internationally known operatic group to perform at Cambridge’s Dunfield Theatre.
Before two performances, the leading actress Madame Sun Tsui-Feng and the group’s rising star, Mr. Chen Chao-hsien, gave a short introduction to this special opera form in Taiwanese culture and invited Principle Flentcher and other 7 guests from the audience for interaction, showing them how the major characters in the opera pose and sing. The interesting demonstration of gestures and body languages and humorous talks led to laughter and applauses from the audience, with many of them saying that they could really feel the passionate and optimistic energy that were part and parcel of Ming Hwa Yuan’s stunning performances.
The event was made possible by the generous contribution made by Mr. Andrew Wu, Mrs. Wendy Wu, Mr. Frank Su and KW Taiwanese Canadian Association in covering the lease expense of the theatre.
