Interviews with Chia-Hui Lu

I am a classical pianist by training and have performed in many concerts around the world. As the Chairwoman of the Egret Foundation, I am deeply involved with the cultural and educational aspects of art. I eagerly lead our team in the continual effort to promote music, culture, and art not just in Taiwan, but globally. Through engaging artists from different fields, we are able to open doors to new opportunities to create new art. Today, I continue to multitask as a community leader, performer, designer, composer, and producer.

Over the years, I’ve published two piano albums: “Enchanted” and “Amore”. In the cross arts field, I was the Executive Music Director for “Sayion I” and “Sayion II”, where I composed and arranged music for the interactive new media theater productions. In these two productions, our team incorporated 720-degree VR and 3D motion-capture systems. I curated “Impression of Taiwan” for the Art Taipei Expo.XR Obsession is another production that I debuted at theExpo that combined a live piano performance of music and dance in an extended reality 4DViews volumetric capture new media experience.

For my personal piano recital, “Water on Fire”, we combined Western classical music with Eastern poetry from a Taiwan poet, Goya Lan.As the producer and art director of a classical repertoire, “Amore”, we reinvented paintings by Paul Chiang, transforming it into animated 3D visuals. More recently, I curated the Sacred Garden as a partner of the international Ars Electronica Festival 2021. Recently our short film productions were featured in several international film festivals.

I believe I started listening to music even before I was born, in the belly of my pregnant mother as she prepared and performed a piano concert.In childhood I often played and slept under the piano. The piano is my castle and music has become my religion.Classical Music to me is essential like motherhood and air. I started my classical piano training at the age of five. I later studied in New York City, where I fell deeply in love with opera and had the opportunity to study fashion and Musicals. New York City has changed my life completely.

Growing up was not easy. I had asthma and lived through a period of social unrest where I was separated from my parents and fell under the care of my grandparents. My late grandfather happens to be a renowned painter in Taiwan and a world traveler. His paintings include both western and eastern styles. I used to be his little helper and modeled for him. I grew up with artists and musicians. Art and music is a basic part of my life.

I once interviewed Pianist Gary Graffman and asked him what drives him to continue performing. He told me that music is his core and that he will never stop. But after an injury, he explored other ways to enrich his life. His friend Leon Fleisher on the other hand would go to the ends of the earth to try to heal his injury so that he may perform. I was born with asthma and my tailbone was injured at the age of twelve. Though playing the piano may be at times physically demanding, it always brings me great joy. Music saved me mentally and I will never let go despite my injuries. Inspired by Gary Graffman, I started exploring composing, theater, exhibitions, and film. When one door closes another opens to you. I have become a multi artist.

In general, there are no set rules for my design. I do try my best to make sure the structure, colors, proportions and dynamics are properly balanced. The simplest way to answer the questions is, as long as the design sounds, looks, and feels good.

As to music composition design, I do start the blueprint with main themes. A theme is like the engine in the car, the heart of the body. I may have a primary theme and secondary theme. I develop themes and do all kinds of variations and transformations. I also build transitions and connecting bridges to combine the two themes. Sometimes I will reverse or twist the direction of themes or merge the themes. There are many different ways to play with the themes.

I believe that I am the most creative while asleep. I’m a night dreamer. I can have episodic dreams spanning nights. Most of my ideas and inspiration come from my dreams. I have had this ability since childhood. It’s a blessing and a curse. The negative is that I barely get any rest at night. I would wake up tired and sometimes stressed out so early in the morning. Once I dreamt that a lion pounced and ripped open my chest. The shock awoke me to find myself with heart pain. I have noticed that dreams do affect me physically and mentally. A number of my compositions and themes to my productions and stories have directly come from my dream.

I feel all kinds of emotions. When I design, it is like an extreme emotional roller coaster with constant ups and downs. It can be heaven and hell.

Creating is like having a baby. It may take a long time just to get pregnant. The pregnancy cycle is long and hard. Sometimes you may even experience miscarriage. And you will have start all over again. But when the baby is delivered. The joy of giving birth to a new life is beyond words.

With my classical pianist training. I am very used to long hours of practice to hone in on precision and perfection ahead of a concert. I am very detail oriented and expect the "The devil is in the details”. Many great masters' music were rewritten, revised, rearranged and republished numerous times. Some compositions have taken decades to complete. Some were composed at a young age and revised at a late age. Many were also rearranged into specialized forms for specific instruments. The new revised Amore version is now in production. I want the next generation of Amore to be immortal and hopefully the outcome will be an art in itself. Life is short but art is forever.

As a dreamer, wherever the dream takes me that’s where I will be. As a leader, I have to keep myself grounded. It’s a conflict of interest and a constant battle with myself. Going forward, I will continue to expand my artistry in the global stage, incorporating music, visual art and new technologies.

When I was injured, I had no choice but to set aside my performing career. I thought my life was over. But I tried to stay positive and threw myself into exploring cross art productions. At first I was very frustrated because all my experiments failed. My family and friends told me maybe it’s time for me to step down from the stage and take some time to rethink. But I didn’t listen and just kept on trying until one day, I succeeded. To me, I have learned that “Failure is the mother of success!” When you fail, don’t give up. All you need to do is to keep on trying. I believe when one door closes, another one will be open for you.

Another important realization is that trying to outdo yourself is much harder and lonelier than you ever had imagined. So you must learn to relax from time to time and try to stay positive when you are down.

Always have an open heart and accept new things. Stay hungry, curious and focus! Never stop learning and constantly observe your surroundings which may be the important keys you need to unlock your creative success. Humbly learn everything you can from nature, history, and experts. Be bold and fearless!Embrace your uniqueness and stay true to yourself. Artists will always believe in themselves despite countless obstacles and criticisms thrown at them. Rules are made by people, so don’t be afraid to be different and break a few rules. Stay focused, work hard, play hard and create hard.

Classical music is my wake up call and lullaby. I start my day and end my night with Classical music. I usually do stretches and simple exercise day and night. I sometimes listen to the bible while I exercise. I teach piano and practice piano during the daytime. I do my creative works and compose wherever and whenever it comes to me. There’s no set schedule for creativity. I follow my mood a lot.

I frequent concerts and performances. I love visiting galleries and museums as well. I am surrounded by music and art all the time. But my friends are usually not artists or musicians, which is OK. Because I believe you need friends outside of the artistic world that can keep you grounded in a good way.

Keen observation and constant absorption of new materials is very important. One should never stop learning. I try to visit museums, expos, galleries and participate in all kinds of performances, events and shows as much as I can. I also keep an eye on current trends locally and globally. I believe it is ok to see what others have done, but more importantly one must develop their own personal style to grow as an artist. Many composers, artists, and designer’s styles change and mature over time, so you must improve your style over time.

Though there are standard check boxes to tick off, I also judge a design based on my instincts and feelings. Everything matters, so you have to look at the full picture. Whatever catches my eyes first. Sometimes it is color, sometimes it is the format, sometimes it is the titles, sometimes it is the story behind the work. It really happens every time and is not simple to explain. Sometimes it’s love at first sight. Sometimes it grows on you.

A good design impresses you. As time goes by the impression may fade, but a great design touches your heart and stays with you forever. A great design always stands out, is very unique and perhaps one of a kind.

A great design will also speak to you and will make you contemplate it. It may even touch your soul and solidify a place in your heart.

A design can go on forever with aesthetics, style, functional, enhancement modifications. It can always be perceptually improved and hence having many versions or iterations of a design makes sense. But at some point, you may have to deliver something. Hence there are some benefits to having deadlines as perfection is a moot point. But with any design project, you give it your all and upon completion, if you feel proud of your work, then you know it is ready.

I am very fond of "Amore". Amore, to me, is an avant-garde production created to elevate the artistry of performing, conceptual, kinetic, digital, video, and abstract art. Paintings by Paul Chiang are 3D animated and catalyzed to life. The metamorphic moving art intertwines and interacts in a marriage with its soul mate, music. Though the focus is love, it also unites human emotions (Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hate, Affection) alongside eastern elements (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) to create a dramatically diverse western classical music performing art. All in order to achieve a mutual interdependence Yin-Yang balance.

I want to highlight that pairing and synching appealing multimedia animations to music and then to debut it together in a live performance is enormously complex. But I am a firm believer in innovative works and in pushing the envelope of artistry to elevate the overall level of performing art.

Though Performing Art is momentary in action, each live performance is never the same, and that is the beauty of it. Through post-production work, Amore was edited, documented, and preserved via fine art archive films.Music to me is like a faith or a religion. Music and art purify your body, mind, and soul. Music and art also inspire, triggering the inner voice of creativity. Through creations, musicians and artists can leave a cultural legacy to inspire future generations. With Amore, I wish all the believers in love, a happy life and may all your dreams come true.

My favorite composers are Debussy and Ravel. They are the fresh air of Classical Music. These French masters established impressionism in music, setting them apart from the traditional German-Austrian Music.

My favorite artist is surrealist Salvador Dali. He is full of ideas and surprises. He is crazily wild inside out. No one creates and thinks like him. He is beyond genius.

My Favorite fashion designers are Alexander McQueen and Jean Paul Gaultier. I love Alexander McQueen because his dresses rock. He isa genius, but he is way too young and talented to be gone with the wind.

My favorite architect is Antoni Gaudi. He is a dream and fantasy builder. His architecture is the Disneyland for adults.

Plato once said Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. Although Plato is neither a musician nor an artist, he certainly understands the power of music. I would like to meet Plato to discuss music and art.

I would like to meet psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He met with the famous composer Gustav Mahler. I would like to find out more about their meeting session. And I would love to discuss with him about all my dreams.

My country, Taiwan, is the soil of my mind and has a great influence on me. Taiwan is an island, abundant with precious resources and has been influenced by early explorers/settlers such as the Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese. Taiwan is the nutrition and DNA of my creations. For example “Butterfly Orchid”, an award winning work, came to me in a dream after I had visited the Tainan Orchid Garden Exposition. Taiwan happens to be both the Kingdom of Butterflies and the Kingdom of Orchids.

Youngsters always want to be away from home. But when you get old, people always want to go back to their homeland. It’s mother nature calling. The homeland will provide people with a strong, powerful foundation. People can be more focused, centered and rooted. The air, the soil, and the people are the direct influences. Each country has its own culture and uniqueness. But in order to broaden one's views, designers should be open in many aspects and should travel and explore more to become a more worldly designer.

I believe I started listening to music even before I was born, in the belly of my pregnant mother as she prepared and performed a piano concert.In childhood I often played and slept under the piano. The piano is my castle and music has become my religion. Classical Music to me is essential like motherhood and air. I started my classical piano training at the age of five. I later studied in New York City, where I fell deeply in love with opera and had the opportunity to study fashion and Musicals. New York City has changed my life completely.

Growing up was not easy. I had asthma and lived through a period of social unrest where I was separated from my parents and fell under the care of my grandparents. My late grandfather happens to be a renowned painter in Taiwan and a world traveler. His paintings include both western and eastern styles. I used to be his little helper and modeled for him. I grew up with artists and musicians.Art and music is a basic part of my life.

This may sound odd to you. I am both a day dreamer and night dreamer. I feel most excited during my sleep because that’s when I get creative. I am doing my dream job during the day time and I dream about my work at night.

Dreamers like me don’t usually plan. Even if I set my own rules, I often end up breaking them. I see myself as an artist and musician. Like all artists, we seek for some kind of immortality in our work and compositions. I believe some opportunities are given by chance with the blessing from god. My challenge is to strive to outdo myself every time. This I found can be a lonely and hard journey.

My team tells me that I am highly demanding when it comes to work and creation. I have worked with many different artists and experts from various fields. I realize that it can be very tough on my team as I pursue perfection. I constantly feel guilty and deeply grateful for all their effort and devotion. As we all know, the talented ones are usually hard to handle. It’s not easy to work with talented people as they are individually unique and very opinionated. As a leader, I often have to learn to compromise and let go. Because each production has its own schedule, deadline, budget and limit. Communicating with people is an art itself, which I am still in the process of learning.

The collaboration with varying artists from different fields is always a challenge.With many projects, the beginning is usually smooth with everyone on the same page. As individual tasks are completed in parallel towards the goal, you realize that each artist's perception of the end goal changes as if we are all from different planets. This is amusing, but a reality. Finding the right way of communication is the key to bringing the team together in order to get them back on the same page and to redirect them towards the goal.

As a dreamer, wherever the dream takes me that’s where I will be. As a leader, I have to keep myself grounded. It’s a conflict of interest that I am constantly battling with myself. This is the price I have to pay for being both an artist and leader.

I believe music and art designs should serve a higher purpose. It can purify your body, mind and soul. It can also inspire, triggering the inner voice of creativity. As we traverse through this dark pandemic episode, music and art designs should provide intangible comfort on the spiritual level, to inspire hope and inner strength. I wish I can continue to elevate music and art to soothe and to induce our inner creativity, imagination, and explosiveness.

Throughout history, people have used music and art to convey their beliefs, inner thoughts and emotions. Sacred music was composed for religious and societal influence. Music proved to be especially powerful in its use in courtship, prayer, worship, sacrifice, divination, and primitive rituals. One can understand how music and art can be extremely robust mediums that can help accomplish goals of significant importance. Nowadays, music and art is omnipresent and in my view, diluted, through mainstream entertainment, commercials, social media, and memes. I believe the role and responsibility of an artist is to refocus the unbounded potential of music and art for a higher purpose. As technology advances, we can imagine even greater possibilities to produce new innovative performing art. And we should embrace technology with a healthy blend of humanity’s warmth and meaning. Otherwise art will fall to the hollowness of AI or the shallowness of pop society. Artists should bring music and art back to its original high value and high importance state, where it may emanate profound influence and appeal.

I certainly learned a great lesson by submitting my work to A’design award and competition. In the process of submission I learned how to convey my ideas and core value of my work in a professional manner. The AI checking and score system certainly trained me to follow the rules in a good way. After winning, the PR package is overwhelming. This is all very new to me. The benefit is greater than I had imagined.

On behalf of the Egret Foundation, we are truly humbled and honored to receive the A’design Awards. The recognition from such a world renowned and prestigious competition fills us with great pride and achievement. Since the win, it has boosted our confidence in our ability to create works with international appeal. The award has undoubtedly fueled our drive to create even more meaningful art pieces in the future.

Amore is an avant-garde production created to elevate the artistry of performing, conceptual, kinetic, digital, video, and abstract art. Paintings by Paul Chiang are 3D animated and catalyzed to life. The metamorphic moving art intertwines and interacts in a marriage with its soul mate, music. Though the focus is love, it also unites human emotions (Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hate, Affection) alongside eastern elements (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) to create a dramatically diverse western classical music performing art. All in, to achieve a mutual interdependence Yin-Yang balance.

Amore is a brew of my worldly experience, emotional ups and down, and multicultural upbringing. It was created after uncontrollable circumstances that resulted in my unfortunate miscarriages. I felt a big part of me was gone. I was devastated and needed a way out badly. I threw myself into this production to forget the pain and sorrow. Love has always been the biggest drive and inspiration of my life. But it also caused me a great deal of suffering. To me, love is heaven and hell. Amore is the amalgamation of my personal emotional roller coaster.

Paul Chiang was one of my favorite painters whose wife is a musician. His artistry is nurtured by music and many of his works are named after music titles. The series of paintings are chosen instinctually. Though music and painting are different professions, both hold a commonality as an art form. The process of selecting the paintings, the arrangements, and the timing of the transitions from one painting to another, entails a deep knowledge of the artwork and a creative feel for the flow. The paintings are rearranged, decomposed, reunited and transformed. The commonalities are established and the differentials are highlighted and expanded upon.

In the program of classical music, there are connections, imitations, mutations, variations, oppositions and expansions between the themes, developments, bridges, sections and keys. We explored hand drawn illustrations, photo simulations, the romantics, the surreal, the contemporary, and varying mediums. The emotional and compositional evolutions are combined, reflected and echoed in the artistic animation to enable a harmonious flow.

I wanted to achieve the perfect marriage of the music and the animated artwork in a very artistic way that would complement a live piano performance and not steal the spotlight of the pianist. Pairing and synching appealing multimedia to the music and then to debut it all in a live performance adds enormous complexity. Each live performance is unique in its speed and dynamics. The challenge is to make sure the animated film merges with the live piano performance smoothly in real time. It took many rehearsals between the engineer and the performer to get to a level of satisfaction. That’s the hard part of performance art.

Performing Art is momentary in action. Each live performance is never the same and that is the beauty of it. Through post-production work, my cross art performances are edited, documented, and preserved via fine art archive films. The animated art film can exist by itself and be played in a theater or museum. I am a firm believer in innovative works and believe in pushing the envelope of artistry to elevate the overall level of performing art.

Music to me is like a faith or a religion. Music and art purify your body, mind, and soul. Music and art also inspire, triggering your inner voice of creativity. Through creations, musicians and artists can leave a cultural legacy to inspire future generations.

A flower blossoms and withers. life, fate, and love each have a beginning and an end. Eastern stories like the “Butterfly Lover” and Western stories like “Romeo and Juliet”, both share insurmountable obstacles in their pursuit of love. Some stories end happily and some tragically. With Amore, I wish all the believers in love, a happy life and may all your dreams come true.

Amore today, are in many forms and have many faces and versions. I am determinedto perfect it and I will continue to perform Amore. Amore can also solely exist as different types of art form without the live performance.

It took roughly 1.5 years of preparation for the premiere. But it will take much longer to perfect and to recreate the work in different versions and formats.

With my classical pianist training. I am veryused to long hours of practice to hone in on precision and perfection ahead of a concert. I am very detail orientedand expect the "The devil is in the details”. Many great masters'music were rewritten, revised, rearranged and republished numeroustimes. Some compositions have takendecades to complete. Some were composed at a young age and revised at a late age. Many were also rearranged into specialized forms for specific instruments. The new revised Amore version is now in production. I want the next generation of Amore to be immortal and hopefully the outcome will be an art initself. Life is short but art is forever.

This was my personal pursuit to leave a legacy. Plato once said music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. I believe music is truly an abstract art. Unlike paintings or sculptures, music can neither be seen nor touched. Although music is invisible. But through sound waves, music can be eye-catching in a way and can be portrayed in many forms. Music travels through space and time. In that sense music is immortal and timeless.

I have been invited to perform and present my cross art works at exposition opening ceremonies, festivals, and performing art centers. I plan to keep all possibilities open. I hope to share my work on the global stage. But of course I will need to proceed with caution.

I am devoted to promoting art and music. Amore is a new piano performing art that combines animation.With the goal to inject a positive new atmosphere to a piano performance, I set out to find the balance of visual experiences that will perfectly complement the music program. Our preparation was challenging, from the animation to the style of the presentation and to the story of the manuscript. Though creativity stretches the imagination, we made sure that the unification of the music and animation are harmoniously married.

Classical music is my wakeup call and lullaby. I started hearing music beforeI was born (My mother is a pianist. She continued performing even when she was pregnant with me). In childhood I often played and slept under the piano. Piano is my castle and music has become my religion. Classical Music to me is essential like motherhood and air. Music is the soil and nutrition to my life. I am first a pianist and then over time, I became a a composer, then a designer and artist. It feels like a natural progression for my life. Unpredictable, yet full of pleasant surprises.

I started my classical piano training at the age of five and later studied in New York for six years. I also studied fashion and learned about musicals, and fell in love with Operas. Growing up in Taiwan was not easy and New York City has changed my life completely. I was born with asthma and was taken care of by my grandparents. My late grandfather is a renowned painter in Taiwan and a world traveler. His paintings include both western and eastern styles. I used to be his little helper and modeled for him. His favorite artist was French painter Paul Cézanne. I used to frequently go through all different types of world famous painting books that he had purchased from the museums he had visited. Though I studied music and not art, I did grow up surrounded with artists and musicians. My cultural background includes classical music, ballets and operas, to picturesque landscapes and vista oil paintings, to the contemporary. European, Asian, and American cultures have had a big part in my development and each continue to be my inspiration.

When you are young. The influence can come from your family and role models. As you mature, the real influence can be mother nature or people from history. Sometimes it’s the wise quote from famous or powerful people. Sometimes it can be one simple sentence from your neighbor. It could be something you had read from a magazine, newspapers, book a or the Internet. When I am confused and have a hard time making up my mind, I would consult my mother. She seems to always know exactly what I need and she certainly influenced me the greatest. Her words of wisdom never cease to amaze me.

I am first a pianist, then a composer,a designer and artist. My target customer varies depending on what I am working on.

My music and my artwork will continue to evolve as I plan to create future versions of it. I believe I have a complex style and my works span various forms. My music and visuals work well both individually and combined. I feel like a transformer that just keeps on enhancing my work into greater work over time. It is akin to variation in music.

Of all the emotions, the most seductive and touching is Love. The fate of Love may be extremely fruitful or prove barren. As there are no set rules, Love cannot be learned nor controlled. Everyone nevertheless must traverse his/her own complex path in anticipation. Without Love, life may seem meaningless. But with love, life may be hot and cold. Love may take you to the point of bliss and unbearableness. How does one find the perfect balance of rational, emotional, and passionate Love? Love is truly one of life’s most difficult emotions. Because of this complexity, literature, art, and music throughout the ages have used Love as inspiration; as Love is the most wonderful sensation of all.

Love has many faces and there are different kinds of love. Love for family, friends, lover, country, animals or human beings. Though the focus is “Amore”, the seven human emotions of Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hate, and Affection are also reflected to create a dramatically diverse program of music and performing art. The Five Eastern Elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth and its mutual productive and destructive interactions, describes the universe's phenomena, as the Circle of fifths (music theory that organizes the 24 chromatic keys as a sequence of perfect fifths) arranges Music. The following are samplings of the interactions of the Five Eastern Elements. Metal collects Water, yet penetrates Wood. Wood fuels Fire, yet separates Earth. Water feeds Wood, yet quenches Fire. Fire forms Earth, yet melts Metal. Earth contains Metal, yet absorbs Water. In Amore, the Circle of Five Eastern Elements in abstract visuals are blended with the Circle of fifths music, all in to have produced a production that has achieved a mutual interdependence Yin- Yang (black/white like the piano keyboard, flat/sharp music keys, evil/good, woman/man, night/day, earth/heaven) balance or a creation that epitomizes the Circle of Life.

The animation software used include Maya, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere, and Adobe After Effects.

Creating art is like a pregnancy through birth. It is a long arduous road, but when it bears fruit, you leave a legacy that may inspire future generations. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then "Amore", a digital contemporary art film blended with dramatic classical music is beyond words.

First, I had to persuade the painter to obtain his authorization to allow us to use his works as the foundation from which we can reinvent it into new forms of art. Luckily I had his trust and permission. Second, I worked with the animation team for over a year synching the music, formalizing the styles, and morphing the paintings. We experimented with many different types of styles from picturesque to surreal. I finalized the style to the abstract and contemporary. Because the animators are not familiar with classical music repertoires and contemporary paintings, I spent a lot of time educating them. Meticulously, step-by-step, I communicated with them in a way that they could understand. I had to break down each composition and painting to the smallest details creating for them map-like blueprints. I also created a complex storyline which tied the entire program together very nicely.

Technology was used, but not very high tech technology. The design was more about creating a new form of art and performance art.

My design was influenced by the great composers and painters from history. I had rigorously researched different periods of music and painting style to create Amore. To this day I continue to research, there is just so much to learn. The production is about transforming my musical fantasy into reality. To me, it's a dream come true.

Challenges include intense side-by-side working schedules with my team. We went through each painting and composition section by section and seconds by seconds.Countless working hours and dedication spent to reach a satisfactory presentation level. Each animator has his/her own style and limitations, which makes simultaneous communication with several animators challenging. In conjunction, I have to make sure the style is cohesive for the entire program. The most difficult part is marrying both the music and the animation artistically that complements the live piano performance and not steal the spotlight of the pianist. Each live performance is at a different speed and dynamics. It’s impossible to perform like a robot. The challenge is to make sure the animation art film merges with the live piano performance smoothly in real time. Needless to say, there were many rehearsals.

Because of the pandemic, live concerts and performances were canceled or put on hold. This freed me from performing and allowed me to refocus on other aspects of creation and marketing. So it was a good time to submit my work to an international design competition.

It’s a process of metamorphosis. I learned a lot about the technical aspects of animation from the team during the whole production. I’m still in the process of learning from different experts in different fields.

On behalf of the Egret Foundation, we are truly humbled and honored to receive the A’design Awards. The recognition from such a world renowned and prestigious competition fills us with great pride and achievement. Since the win, it has boosted our confidence in our ability to create works with international appeal. The award has undoubtedly fueled our drive to create even more meaningful art pieces in the future.

Looks and words can be deceiving. But my artwork is the true reflection of my inner world. I hope to invite everyone to my wonder-dream. May you all have a wonderful journey.

I am a classical pianist by training and have performed in many concerts around the world. As the Chairwoman of the Egret Foundation, I am deeply involved with the cultural and educational aspects of art. I eagerly lead our team in the continual effort to promote music, culture, and art not just in Taiwan, but globally. Through engaging artists from different fields, we are able to open doors to new opportunities to create new art. Today, I continue to multitask as a community leader, performer, designer, composer, and producer.

Over the years, I’ve published two piano albums: “Enchanted” and “Amore”. In the cross arts field, I was the Executive Music Director for “Sayion I” and “Sayion II”, where I composed and arranged music for the interactive new media theater productions. In these two productions, our team incorporated 720-degree VR and 3D motion-capture systems. I curated “Impression of Taiwan” for the Art Taipei Expo. XR Obsession is another production that I debuted at theExpo that combined a live piano performance of music and dance in an extended reality 4DViews volumetric capture new media experience.

For my personal piano recital, “Water on Fire”, we combined Western classical music with Eastern poetry from a Taiwan poet, Goya Lan.As the producer and art director of a classical repertoire, “Amore”, we reinvented paintings by Paul Chiang, transforming it into animated 3D visuals. More recently, I curated the Sacred Garden as a partner of the international Ars Electronica Festival 2021. Recently our short film productions were featured in several international film festivals.

I believe I started listening to music even before I was born, in the belly of my pregnant mother as she prepared and performed a piano concert.In childhood I often played and slept under the piano. The piano is my castle and music has become my religion.Classical Music to me is essential like motherhood and air. I started my classical piano training at the age of five. I later studied in New York City, where I fell deeply in love with opera and had the opportunity to study fashion and Musicals. New York City has changed my life completely.

Growing up was not easy. I had asthma and lived through a period of social unrest where I was separated from my parents and fell under the care of my grandparents. My late grandfather happens to be a renowned painter in Taiwan and a world traveler. His paintings include both western and eastern styles. I used to be his little helper and modeled for him. I grew up with artists and musicians.Art and music is a basic part of my life.

Art has always captured my full attention and creating new works has always been my calling. In my view,Art is a very powerful form of communication that influences our perception, value, and opinion. Once created, it captures the essence of its time, adding to the collective memory of society. I find myself constantly amazed at all the out of the box thinking that leads to avant-garde creations. Through these experiences along with their respective cultural uniqueness, I am inspired.I am never content with the status quo, hence I find myself constantly learning from other artists and experts. And through collaboration, we are able to push the boundaries of art as we know it.

It wasn’t by force upon me. No one can force me to do things I don’t want.It was my choice and over time, with rigorous enjoyable work, I have become a composer and artist.

I design for Performing art. I enjoy and want to compose and design for performances, theater, and films.But really, I don’t want to limit myself. I love to explore, so I will continue to be a cross art artist.

“Failure is the mother of success” When you fail, don’t give up. All you need to do is keep on trying. I believe when one door is closed, another one will be open for you.

Always have an open heart and accept new things. Stay hungry, curious and focused! Never stop learning and constantly observe your surroundings which may be the important keys you need to unlock your creative success. Humbly learn everything you can from nature, history, and experts. Be bold and fearless!Embrace your uniqueness and stay true to yourself. Artists will always believe in themselves despite countless obstacles and criticisms thrown at them. Rules are made by people, so don’t be afraid to be different and do break some rules while you'r e at it. Don’t forget to work hard, play hard, and create hard.

A good design impresses you. As time goes by the impression can fade away. But a great design touches your heart and stays with you forever.

Though there are standard check boxes to tick off, I also judge a design based on my instincts and feelings. Everything matters, so you have to look at the full picture. Whatever catches my eyes first. Sometimes it is color, sometimes it is the format, sometimes it is the titles, sometimes it is the story behind the work. It really happens every time and is not simple to explain. Sometimes it’s love at first sight. Sometimes it grows on you.

A great design will also speak to you and will make you contemplate it. It may even touch your soul and solidify a place in your heart.

A good design is priceless. Investing in good designs is equivalent to supporting talented artists. Good designs should be well recognized and brought to the attention of other designers as well as to the general public. Only through dissemination of good design, can the world learn, adapt, and make progress to higher levels of design.

I once had a passion to become a fashion designer. When I was younger, I did study fashion design once, at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. It was a great experience and perhaps if I had more time, I may consider getting out of my current comfort zone and design some women's fashion wear.

My dream project will be one where I can work with global artists to create a grand work of artistry. A project that will create a strong global brand for all the collaborators. A work of artistry that will be a welcomed addition to the finest museums, collectors galleries, and archives.

This may sound ridiculous, but my secret recipe and inspiration comes from my dreams. My mind is very creative in my sleep.I can have episodic dreams spanning nights. Most of my ideas and inspiration come from my dreams. I have had this ability since childhood. It’s a blessing and a curse. The negative is that I barely get any rest at night. I would wake up tired and sometimes stressed out so early in the morning. Once I dreamt that a lion pounced and ripped open my chest. The shock awoke me to find myself with heart pain. I have noticed that dreams do affect me physically and mentally. A number of my compositions and themes to my productions and stories have directly come from my dream.

My favorite composers are Debussy and Ravel. They are the fresh air of Classical Music. These French masters established impressionism in music, setting them apart from the traditional German-Austrian Music.

My favorite artist is surrealist Salvador Dali. He is full of ideas and surprises. He is crazily wild inside out. No one creates and thinks like him. He is beyond genius.

My Favorite fashion designers are Alexander McQueen and Jean Paul Gaultier. I love Alexander McQueen because his dresses rock. He is a genius, but he is way too young and talented to be gone with the wind.

Gabrielle Chanel was a style trend setter. She liberated women from corsets, leading to comfortable, confident and elegant modern fashion. She sponsored composer Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”. She was a close friend of artists Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. With Dali and together they worked on the Bacchanale ballet, designing eccentric elements (red lobsters, teeth) on ordinary clothes. She truly is a role model for the modern women.

My favorite architect is Antoni Gaudi. He is a dream and fantasy builder. His architecture is the Disneyland for adults.

My greatest design is XR Obsession. It is an innovative engaging performing art. A Unique production that combines a live music performance of my music composition with animated artwork and a AR dancer at an XR level. XR Obsession was selected and sponsored by the Taiwan Ministry of culture. We pushed the envelope, debuting an exciting and touching new cross-art performance at the opening ceremony of IMPRESSION OF TAIWAN at the 26th Annual International Art Expo, Art Taipei, with a venue at the World Trade Center in Taipei, Taiwan. It vividly traverses Taiwan history, art, and natural beauty through time and space. The beautiful ancient landscape paintings of my late grandfather Houei-Kuen Chen are brought to life.Dynamic 4D views volumetric capture fuses with 3D animation. Real time capture of the live performance using a 3D depth sensor camera enabled a true XR experience (XR＝AR＋VR＋MR) A live performance blends alternate realms and is projected on a LED wall for all to enjoy a new immersive experience. Through music and art, mystical tales are told and beautiful scenery comes to life.

The beauty of performing art is its dynamic live nature, making each performance unique. The viewers are also the participants, adding a new fun factor. As in "Alice in the wonderland", the journey in curiosity, imagination, and adventure is what we delivered. On top of that, we provided a musical alternate reality experience without the need for AR/VR headsets.

Stay hungry, curious and have an open heart. Never stop learning and constantly observe your surroundings which may be the important keys you need to unlock your creative success. Humbly learn everything you can from nature, history, and experts. Be bold and fearless! Embrace your uniqueness. Stay true to yourself and believe in yourself.

What if or what could I have been? There is no turning back in life. I feel like I am exactly where I want to be.No regrets.

A design should stand out in its aesthetics and uniqueness. It should be one of the kind.

My mom is my teacher and mentor. She is my best adviser, ever. She is also my hero and role model. My husband is my right hand man. He helps me a lot and provides me with very useful insight. He is also my best critic and audience. My sponsor is like a father to me. He believes in me and is an unwavering supporter of my works.

I am humbled and blessed to have created wonderful winning designs and creations. I thank God for all the blessings. Classical Music is deeply rooted in my core. Plato once said Music gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. Music is my fairytale and through music, I can picture all kinds of stories and colors. Music to me is more vibrantly colorful than the rainbow. From my perspective, music in itself is a film, though sound is considered invisible.

I once interviewed Pianist Gary Graffman and asked him what drives him to continue performing. He told me that music is his core and that he will never stop. But after an injury, he explored other ways to enrich his life. His friend Leon Fleisher on the other hand would go to the ends of the earth to try to heal his injury so that he may perform. I was born with asthma and my tailbone was injured at the age of twelve. Though playing the piano may be at times physically demanding, it always brings me great joy. Music saved me mentally and I will never let go despite my injuries. Inspired by Gary Graffman, I started exploring composing, theater, exhibitions, and film. When one door closes another opens to you. I have become a multi artist.

With confidence. Don’t be afraid to be different. Try to keep it short and effective. People these days are too busy and have short attention spans. Don’t make it too long nor too difficult to understand. Overwhelm them with action and works, not words. And don’t get lost in translation.

My new composition is on its way. The visual’s direction is unknown at this point. I need more time to think. Trying to top yourself is harder and much lonelier than I had thought.

To leave a legacy of great designs, compositions, and cross-art productions. Works that will inspire future generations of designers and artists.

With great talent comes great expectation. People always look for newer, greater, and hotter designs. It’s a lot of pressure if you want to live up to high standards.I believe it is best to stay true to yourself and to make sure to let go from time to time.

I believe music and art designs should serve a higher purpose. It can purify your body, mind and soul. It can also inspire, triggering the inner voice of creativity. As we traverse through this dark pandemic episode, music and art designs should provide intangible comfort on the spiritual level, to inspire hope and inner strength. I wish I can continue to elevate music and art to soothe and to induce our inner creativity, imagination, and explosiveness.

Throughout history, people have used music and art to convey their beliefs, inner thoughts and emotions. Sacred music was composed for religious and societal influence. Music proved to be especially powerful in its use in courtship, prayer, worship, sacrifice, divination, and primitive rituals. One can understand how music and art can be extremely robust mediums that can help accomplish goals of significant importance. Nowadays, music and art is omnipresent and in my view, diluted, through mainstream entertainment, commercials, social media, and memes. I believe the role and responsibility of an artist is to refocus the unbounded potential of music and art for a higher purpose. As technology advances, we can imagine even greater possibilities to produce new innovative performing art. And we should embrace technology with a healthy blend of humanity’s warmth and meaning. Otherwise art will fall to the hollowness of AI or the shallowness of pop society. Artists should bring music and art back to its original high value and high importance state, where it may emanate profound influence and appeal.

I am part of a large production called “Nexen.” It will debut at the Taipei Art Performing Center in September. I’m working with a renowned director, a photographer, dancers and visual artists. It’s a cross art collaboration involving multiple complex surrealistic scenes. There is acting, singing, dancing, and a piano performance in a baseball stadium sized performing art center with Audience seating in from the front of the stage through to the back. It’s a challenging endeavor encompassing three linked theaters with performances taking place simultaneously on all stages. It’s like a metaverse drama on stage. I am really looking forward to the final Outcome.

I was invited to exhibit and perform at Art Taipei. As a Chairwoman at the Egret cultural and educational Foundation, our mission is to brand and promote Taiwan art and culture with a parallel goal to inspire. At Art Taipei, I performed XR Obsession to international and local art dealers, artists, collectors, pedestrians, and numerous students on field trips. I used iPads to run one on one AR demos and used a 3D sensor camera to capture and enable an XR experience for the audience. There was also a group masterpiece painting we called ART IS FUN that was a hit with visitors ages 3-90. On a wall sized LED screen, we played past cross art productions in a loop, attracting many visitors to get inspired. Our live XR Obsession on debut day was recorded and added to the films played in a time loop. Watching visitors dancing alongside our production, raising questions about our artwork, and fighting over iPad to take selfies with our AR, I felt that this was more fulfilling than performing on stage. I didn't realize, promoting music, art and culture through new interactive mediums can be so satisfying. Creating innovative interactive art for people to engage with curiosity and enthusiasm makes a lot of sense, especially in this technological era of connectedness we live in today.Through XR Obsession, I have found a new passion. I believe this production has inspired others to dig deep, to find their core values that will take them on their own journey to new discoveries and creations.

I believe music is the behind the scene hero. Music can exist alone in its most abstract art form. Movies, ballets, modern dances, and shows require music in the background to be complete. From John William's (American film composer) interviews, he emphasized that people don't really notice the power that music delivers to support other art forms. Many old movies are classics today because of the music that underscores them. In all of my creations, my starting point is an inspiration that leads to my music composition, from which it is transformed using other cross-art mediums. Music is invisible. It is easy to carry on from generation to generation. I believe it is the greatest form of art. But music is understated and under valued in the market. In the future, there should be a revolutionary trend that will take new music design to higher level of worth.

There will be more computer aided design and interactive design. AI will play a bigger part in generating new designs and the human will select from the millions of design samples. Design may become less human in time.

It varies. It also depends on what kind of production and how complex the design is. There’s no set pattern and the design may evolve over time. My multimedia works have gone through several versions and generations. If you haven't noticed, allow me to point out that even great classical compositions in the past have gone through various versions. They may have been adapted, rearranged, and or recomposed for different instruments and combinations.

As to music composition design, I do start the blueprint with main themes. A theme is like the engine in the car, the heart of the body. I may have a primary theme and secondary theme. I develop themes and do all kinds of variations and transformations. I also build transitions and connecting bridges to combine the two themes. Sometimes I will reverse or twist the direction of themes or merge the themes. There are many different ways to play with the themes.

Seize the music and find your rhythm

It works both ways. Sometimes trend setters are the rule breakers. Be bold and wild. Think outside of the box.

We expect advancements in design to continue at a speedy pace as we all live in digital time. Artificial intelligence will become a very important part of our life. But we must try to better understand the limitations of technologies and from there we can do our best to work with it to create new innovative designs. I believe technology brings great possibilities to innovate new art and design. But technology should be blended with warmth, humanity and meaning. Otherwise we are no different than AI.

Most of our projects are live performances on a piano or with an orchestra.

On multimedia and animation, our team incorporate 720-degree VR and 3D motion-capture systems to capture live dancers and actors that will later be infused and portrayed in VR, AR, XR platforms.

We have also developed augmented reality software to be used on smartphones and iPads. Our development environment includes: Unity, Blender3d, and AI Image Quality on 2xAzure Kinect. We also use high performance computer for real time rendering among other computation.

They are as important as the fabric you use for apparel design. Or the freshness required of seafood gourmet. The right key for music. The color, material and ambient in design are the basic ingredients and thus very important part of a design. It’s vital.

I want people to be inspired by my works. Viewers should have their own opinions which should be personal and subjective. Whatever questions they have about my design shows curiosity and are most welcomed.

What’s the product for? Any specific purpose or function? Is it for collecting purposes? Great design can be both functional and artistic. But sometimes too artistic a design may not be very functional. It all depends on your priority at the moment.

I am a soloist, but I also work collaboratively with other designers and artists in cross-art productions. Working on designs can spark many ideas, but working chemistry is very important.

Life is a constant learning process and the more people you meet the better chance you have in getting new inspiration. In the past, my music professors have influenced me greatly. As I move to the field of cross-art production, industry experts of all fields have made a big impact.

A translated book about Greek Mythology given to me by my father. I was shocked after reading that Greek Gods and goddesses are so similar to human beings. They all desire, hate, fight one another, and are full of jealousy. Another book is “Interpretation of Dreams," by Sigmund Freud. It is also given to me by my father. My episodic dreams can be both interesting and scary. It’s good to know that there are people out there that have crazy dreams like me.

Nonstop practicing and learning. Have the experimental spirit of a scientist. Consistency and curiosity are very important.

Plato once said Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. Although Plato is neither a musician nor an artist, he certainly understands the power of music. I would like to meet Plato to discuss music and art.

I would like to meet psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He met with the famous composer Gustav Mahler. I would like to find out more about their meeting session. And I would love to discuss with him about all my dreams.

On behalf of the Egret Foundation, we are truly humbled and honored to receive the A’design Awards. The recognition from such a world renowned and prestigious competition fills us with great pride and achievement. Since the win, it has boosted our confidence in our ability to create works with international appeal. The award has undoubtedly fueled our drive to create even more meaningful art pieces in the future.

My favorite colors are purple and green. Purple is mysterious. Green is the color of nature. My favorite place is Venice. I had the sweetest memory there. The fact that the city is built on top of the water is amazingly dreamy. My favorite food happens to be Taiwanese fruits. Taiwan is known as the kingdom of fruits as it consists of a wide variety of tasty fruit. My favorite season is spring because it is full of vitality.

After a long arduous road we had completed our cross art production “Amore”. My team asked me how I felt after the premier? I told them that I finally realized why Romeo and Juliet both died in the end. No one can survive such an extreme kind of emotional roller coaster of Love. Afterwards, one of my production team members became worried that I may be on the verge of committing suicide. He totally misunderstood my joke.

I wake up to do my dream work. And I go to bed to dream about my work.

I admit that I was a bit eccentric, and stood out like a unicorn. I had a hard time blending in.

Humans will be more united as interplanetary travelers and a different way of life will commence.

Looks and words can be deceiving. But my art is the true reflection of my inner world. I hope to invite everyone to be inspired. May you all have a wonderful journey.

I am a classical pianist by training and have performed in many concerts around the world. As the Chairwoman of the Egret Foundation, I am deeply involved with the cultural and educational aspects of art. I eagerly lead our team in the continual effort to promote music, culture, and art not just in Taiwan, but globally. Through engaging artists from different fields, we are able to open doors to new opportunities to create new art. Today, I continue to multitask as a community leader, performer, designer, composer, and producer.

Over the years, I’ve published two piano albums: “Enchanted” and “Amore”. In the cross arts field, I was the Executive Music Director for “Sayion I” and “Sayion II”, where I composed and arranged music for the interactive new media theater productions. In these two productions, our team incorporated 720-degree VR and 3D motion-capture systems. I curated “Impression of Taiwan” for the Art Taipei Expo. XR Obsession is another production that I debuted at the Expo that combined a live piano performance of music and dance in an extended reality 4DViews volumetric capture new media experience.

For my personal piano recital, “Water on Fire”, we combined Western classical music with Eastern poetry from a Taiwan poet, Goya Lan.As the producer and art director of a classical repertoire, “Amore”, we reinvented paintings by Paul Chiang, transforming it into animated 3D visuals. More recently, I curated the Sacred Garden as a partner of the international Ars Electronica Festival 2021. Recently our short film productions were featured in several international film festivals.

I believe I started listening to music even before I was born, in the belly of my pregnant mother as she prepared and performed a piano concert. In childhood I often played and slept under the piano. The piano is my castle and music has become my religion. Classical Music to me is essential like motherhood and air. I started my classical piano training at the age of five. I later studied in New York City, where I fell deeply in love with the opera and had the opportunity to study fashion and Musicals. New York City has changed my life completely.

Growing up was not easy. I had asthma and lived through a period of social unrest where I was separated from my parents and fell under the care of my grandparents. My late grandfather happens to be a renowned painter in Taiwan and a world traveler. His paintings include both western and eastern styles. I used to be his little helper and modeled for him. I grew up with artists and musicians. Art and music is a basic part of my life.

For over twenty eight years, the Egret Foundation has been and continues to be devoted to promoting and branding Taiwan! The foundation has collaborated and fostered solid relationships with numerous artists of all ages. Those at the top of their fields often come together to collectively innovate. The foundation has commissioned new compositions, new media productions, creative works, research publications, dictionaries, documentaries and in-depth cultural tourism itineraries. The foundation has also participated in the identification of Taiwan’s colors and the development of art-inspired, creative and cultural commercial products. With Taiwan’s DNA as its base, the foundation integrates varying arts, performances and technologies to pursue diversity in creative works with the goal of refining Taiwan into a precious diamond!

My concept of “design” is the innovative process that takes place from the beginning of some inspirational moment that leads to the extraction of the traditional to create something aspiringly new.

As a musician, most of my designs are for the Performing arts. I relish composing music for performances, theater, and films. I also enjoy music design for all kinds of visuals.

Plato once said Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. To me music is even more colorful than a rainbow. I am able to visually picture all kinds of stories and colors through Music.

I am very fond of "Amore". Amore, to me, is an avant-garde production created to elevate the artistry of performing, conceptual, kinetic, digital, video, and abstract art. Paintings by Paul Chiang are 3D animated and catalyzed to life. The metamorphic moving art intertwines and interacts in a marriage with its soul mate, music. Though the focus is love, it also unites human emotions (Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hate, Affection) alongside eastern elements (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth) to create a dramatically diverse western classical music performing art. All in order to achieve a mutual interdependence Yin-Yang balance.

I want to highlight that pairing and synching appealing multimedia animations to music and then to debut it together in a live performance is enormously complex. But I am a firm believer in innovative works and in pushing the envelope of artistry to elevate the overall level of performing art.

Though Performing Art is momentary in action, each live performance is never the same, and that is the beauty of it. Through post-production work, Amore was edited, documented, and preserved via fine art archive films. Music to me is like a faith or a religion. Music and art purify your body, mind, and soul. Music and art also inspire, triggering the inner voice of creativity. Through creations, musicians and artists can leave a cultural legacy to inspire future generations. With Amore, I wish all the believers in love, a happy life and may all your dreams come true.

As a classical pianist, I have performed many programs from Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt to name a few. My first design or a better way to put it, my first composition was a rework of the Tango. Stepping out of my comfort zone of performing classical music on stage to composing my own work to be performed at a concert was an eye opener. That was the first step of many that eventually led to award winning works.

My favorite material is paper. It’s easy to be molded. I can play with it all day long. I’m still in the process of searching for new types of apps and software for music and visuals. I’m old school. I do most of my work with color pens and paper.

Performing art is distant to the majority of the population and I want to come up with ideas to better engage individuals at the event. Creating innovative interactive art for people to engage with curiosity and enthusiasm makes a lot of sense. I have found incorporating technology to artwork to be great attention grabbers. I have in the past used 4DViews volumetric capture, 3D animation, and VR/AR/XR props with great success. And I look forward to incorporating new technological platforms in the future.

I believe that I am the most creative while asleep. I’m a night dreamer. I can have episodic dreams spanning nights. Most of my ideas and inspiration come from my dreams. I have had this ability since childhood. It’s a blessing and a curse. The negative is that I barely get any rest at night. I would wake up tired and sometimes stressed out so early in the morning. Once I dreamt that a lion pounced and ripped open my chest. The shock awoke me to find myself with heart pain. I have noticed that dreams do affect me physically and mentally. A number of my compositions and themes to my productions and stories have directly come from my dream.

I focus on all aspects. There’s no preference. It’s a matter of ordering and I change my order around all the time. I don’t play by the rules, but I do struggle in making choices among multiple ideas. It’s a trial and error process to see what really stands out.

It has something to do with my classical pianist training. Long hours of practice for precision and perfection. I am very detail oriented. Detail polishing is very time consuming especially for perfection. “The devil is in the details”.

I feel all kinds of emotions. When I design, it is like an extreme emotional roller coaster with constant ups and downs. It can be heaven and hell.

The process of creation is like growing plants or raising a child. It starts as a seed. You have to water it and give it sunlight and nutrition. No matter how much expectation you have, you have no control over its life and nature. Life has its own course. All you can do is treat it with love and patience. When it finally grows up, you have a great feeling of accomplishment and relief. But you are not done as you begin to focus on future enhancements or derivatives of the design. It is a never ending process.

A good design impresses you. As time goes by the impression may fade, but a great design touches your heart and stays with you forever. A great design always stands out, is very unique and perhaps one of a kind.

A great design will also speak to you and will make you contemplate it. It may even touch your soul and solidify a place in your heart.

Though there are standard check boxes to tick off, I also judge a design based on my instincts and feelings. Everything matters, so you have to look at the full picture. Whatever catches my eyes first. Sometimes it is color, sometimes it is the format, sometimes it is the titles, sometimes it is the story behind the work. It really happens every time and is not simple to explain. Sometimes it’s love at first sight. Sometimes it grows on you.

I believe music and art designs should serve a higher purpose. It can purify your body, mind and soul. It can also inspire, triggering the inner voice of creativity. As we traverse through this dark pandemic episode, music and art designs should provide intangible comfort on the spiritual level, to inspire hope and inner strength. I wish I can continue to elevate music and art to soothe and to induce our inner creativity, imagination, and explosiveness.

Throughout history, people have used music and art to convey their beliefs, inner thoughts and emotions. Sacred music was composed for religious and societal influence. Music proved to be especially powerful in its use in courtship, prayer, worship, sacrifice, divination, and primitive rituals. One can understand how music and art can be extremely robust mediums that can help accomplish goals of significant importance. Nowadays, music and art is omnipresent and in my view, diluted, through mainstream entertainment, commercials, social media, and memes. I believe the role and responsibility of an artist is to refocus the unbounded potential of music and art for a higher purpose. As technology advances, we can imagine even greater possibilities to produce new innovative performing art. And we should embrace technology with a healthy blend of humanity’s warmth and meaning. Otherwise art will fall to the hollowness of AI or the shallowness of pop society. Artists should bring music and art back to its original high value and high importance state, where it may emanate profound influence and appeal.

We expect advancements in design to continue at a speedy pace as we all live in the digital age. Artificial intelligence will become a very important part of our life. But we must try to better understand the limitations of technologies and from there we can do our best to work with it to create new innovative designs. I believe technology brings great possibilities to innovate new art and design. But technology should be blended with warmth, humanity and meaning. Otherwise we are no different than AI.

I curated “Impression of Taiwan” in 2019, for the Art Taipei exposition. It is a collaborative effort led by the Egret Cultural and Educational Foundation. It features numerous artist works from ceramics, creative and cultural products, publications, new media interactive theater presentations, and music/visual performances. I also debuted XR “Obsession”, anew media experience. I also curated the Sacred Garden as a partner of the international Ars Electronica Festival 2021. Performing Art is the centerpiece of our garden.

I am involved in a new production that will debut in 2022. Perhaps another exhibition may be possible in 2023.

Classical music is the core of my inspiration. My nightly dreams are the main sources of my inspiration. However, anything from news, books, stories, paintings, to the people you meet can all be potential forms of indirect inspiration as well.

My style is unique, complex, diverse, and dramatic. Full of hidden meanings and stories. My favorite style of design is abstract because with abstract, there are neither rules nor limits. Everyone can have a different point of view. I notice my style has changed over time. But one thing that has never changed is my focus and courage to move out of my comfort zone to challenge myself to create something completely different from what I have done in the past. I find myself to be very well rounded and unpredictable.

My style varies each time. It also depends on what kind of production and how complex the design is. There’s no set pattern and the design may evolve over time. My multimedia works have gone through several versions and generations. If you haven't noticed, allow me to point out that even great classical compositions in the past have gone through various versions. They may have been adapted, rearranged, and or recomposed for different instruments and combinations.

My country, Taiwan, is the soil of my mind and has a great influence on me. Taiwan is an island, abundant with precious resources and has been influenced by early explorers/settlers such as the Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese. Taiwan is the nutrition and DNA of my creations. For example “Butterfly Orchid”, an award winning work, came to me in a dream after I had visited the Tainan Orchid Garden Exposition. Taiwan happens to be both the Kingdom of Butterflies and the Kingdom of Orchids.

Youngsters always want to be away from home. But when you get old, people always want to go back to their homeland. It’s mother nature calling. The homeland will provide people with a strong, powerful foundation. People can be more focused, centered and rooted. The air, the soil, and the people are the direct influences. Each country has its own culture and uniqueness. But in order to broaden one's views, designers should be open in many aspect sand should become more worldly.

Collaboration with varying artists from different fields is always a challenge. With many projects, the beginning is smooth with everyone on the same page. As individual tasks are completed in parallel towards the goal, you realize that each artist's perception of the end goal changes. As if we are all from different planets. This is amusing, but a reality. Knowing how to communicate with each artist is an art form in itself. Finding the right way of communication is the key to bringing the team together in order to get them on the same page and to keep them targeted in the right direction.

I can be very demanding when it comes to work and creation. It’s very tough on my team because of my endless pursuit for perfection. I would sometimes feel guilty, but I am always deeply grateful for all their effort and devotion. As we all know, the talented ones are usually hard to handle. It’s not easy to work with talented people. Because they are individually unique and opinionated. As a leader, I often have to learn to compromise and let go. Because each production has its own schedule, deadline, budget and limit. Communicating with people is an art itself and in that area, I find myself constantly learning.

As a dreamer, wherever the dream takes me that’s where I will be. As a leader, I have to keep myself grounded. It’s a conflict of interest. A constant battle with myself. This is the price I have to pay for being both an artist and leader.

I usually follow my gut instincts and know that it can be hit or miss with no guarantee. Understanding the right state of the designer’s mind can be difficult. The real creative designers can be eccentric and prove difficult to communicate with. You have to learn how to bring out the best in them with their language not yours. Keen observation is the key.

The inspiration of most of my works come from my dreams. These dreams become the muse that enables me to compose my music. Music is created first and through the expressive music, I begin to visualize what the music is communicating to me. The next step in my process is to amass the visuals that best explains what my music expresses. After which, the invisible sound becomes visible. Obviously, there are no set rules in my design process order. At times where I need to create music for a production theme, my work process is in reverse. But in all my works, I have found that all I need to do is to follow my heart and my instincts. That has always worked out for me.

My grandfather’s paintings, my father’s calligraphy, my mom’s manuscript, my brother’s hand drawing cartoon, and my fashion designer friend’s leather jacket.

Classical music is my wake up call and lullaby. I start my day and end my night with Classical music. I usually do stretches and simple exercise day and night. I sometimes listen to the bible while I exercise. I teach piano and practice piano during the daytime. I do my creative works and compose wherever and whenever it comes to me. There’s no set schedule for creativity. I follow my mood a lot.

Trying to outdo yourself is much harder and lonelier than you can ever imagine. So you must learn to relax from time to time and try to stay positive when you are down.

Failure is the mother of success. So when you fail, don’t give up. All you need to do is keep on trying. I believe when one door closes, another one will be open for you.

The positives are craving for new ideas. Like a child, always curious about everything and wanting to explore new territories. The negatives are constantly thinking and nonstop working. In a way it keeps you going and stimulated. Sometimes too much brainstorming can be exhausting.

In general, there are no set rules for my design. I do try my best to make sure the structure, colors, proportions and dynamics are properly balanced. The simplest way to answer the questions is, as long as the design sounds, looks, and feels good.

As to music composition design, I do start the blueprint with main themes. A theme is like the engine in the car, the heart of the body. I may have a primary theme and secondary theme. I develop themes and do all kinds of variations and transformations. I also build transitions and connecting bridges to combine the two themes. Sometimes I will reverse or twist the direction of themes or merge the themes. There are many different ways to play with the themes.

Always have an open heart and accept new things. Stay hungry, curious and focus! Never stop learning and constantly observe your surroundings which may be the important keys you need to unlock your creative success. Humbly learn everything you can from nature, history, and experts. Be bold and fearless! Embrace your uniqueness and stay true to yourself. Artists will always believe in themselves despite countless obstacles and criticisms thrown at them. Rules are made by people, so don’t be afraid to be different and break a few rules. Stay focused, work hard, play hard and create hard.

Classical music, my Steinway piano, music scores, bible, color pencils, ipad and a MacBook Pro.

I am poor at time management. I follow my mood a lot. It’s not very healthy. I tried to have a work schedule planned out. But I always end up changing my own schedule. When ideas hit me, I just work like crazy, like there’s no tomorrow. When I am out of juice, I begin to fade and will need to energize. I am always able to divert my attention to something else to recharge. For instance, singing, dancing, going to concerts, museums, hanging out with friends or traveling.

Creating is like having a baby. It may take a long time just to get pregnant. The pregnancy cycle is long and hard. Sometimes you may even experience miscarriage. And you will have start all over again. But when the baby is delivered. The joy of giving birth to a new life is beyond words.

Creating art is like a pregnancy and birth. It is a long arduous road, but when it bears fruit, you leave a legacy that may inspire future generations.

What’s drives you to become a designer?

What’s your key to success?

Where did you get all your ideas from?

Working with numerous experts from different fields at the theater. It opened my eyes to the process of executing and developing ideas. The experts’ words and wisdom are very inspiring and educational. Hands-on working experiences are definitely priceless.

Concert halls, theaters, museums, film and publication companies.

I enjoy composing new music and new cross-art works. I enjoy creating something that is avant-garde, something that pushes the artistic design boundaries.

I will continue to pursue new collaborative works on the global stage. I am both day dreamer and night dreamer. So wherever the dream takes me that’s where I will be.

It depends on the project. If it's the music composition and music design I usually do it myself. If the work requires other experts, I will collaborate with a team of experts.

I am part of a large production called “Nexen.” It will debut at the Taipei Art Performing Center in September. I’m working with a renowned director, a photographer, dancers , and visual artists. It’s a cross art collaboration involving multiple complex surrealistic scenes. There is acting, singing, dancing, and a piano performance in a baseball stadium sized performing art center with Audience seating in from the front of the stage through to the back. It’s a challenging endeavor encompassing three linked theaters with performances taking place simultaneously on all stages. It’s like a metaverse drama on stage. I am really looking forward to the final Outcome.

Through email, facebook, Instagram or website.

On behalf of the Egret Foundation, we are truly humbled and honored to receive the A’design Awards. The recognition from such a world renowned and prestigious competition fills us with great pride and achievement. Since the win, it has boosted our confidence in our ability to create works with international appeal. The award has undoubtedly fueled our drive to create even more meaningful art pieces in the future.