When the Evergreen Group established the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation in 1985, its mission was the promotion of culture and the arts, as well as providing grants-in-aid to the underprivileged with pressing medical and educational needs. Between 1986 and 1997, the Evergreen Group sponsored 28 of Taiwan’s finest music students to study at major music academies in the United States. Evergreen’s aim was to cultivate a new generation of outstanding musical talent.
In April 2001, the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation invited Chinese musicians and well-known international arts consultants to help launch the 20-person Evergreen Orchestra, the precursor of the 70-person Evergreen Symphony Orchestra (ESO) that was formed a year later.
World-renowned Chinese violin virtuoso and conductor Kek-Tjiang Lim was appointed the first ever music director and chief conductor of the new orchestra.
In July 2004, Ms. Ya-Hui Wang, whose musical studies were sponsored by the Evergreen Group, was appointed the ESO’s second music director and principal conductor. January 2007 marks yet another chapter for the ESO as Gernot Schmalfuss takes over the role. Schmalfuss has previously served as the conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra and as guest conductor of the Munich Philharmonic and Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestras.
The orchestra’s goal is to cultivate a wide variety of local musical talent, from composers and arrangers to conductors and instrumentalists. It brings together local an international talent in a group that is renowned for its energy, team spirit and enthusiasm.
The ESO staged its first concert in 2002 and over the years has gained renown for its fresh interpretations of classical music and Taiwanese folk songs. In September 2004, the group made its first public appearance overseas, at the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore.
This was followed by the feted performance at the "Days of Enthusiasm" Music Festival playing Tokyo from 2005 to 2007 playing Beethoven, Mozart and Nationalist music, moreover, a series of highly successful tour of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen in China.

In March 2005, the ESO flew renowned violinist/pedagogue Zakhar Bron to Taiwan to share his skills with local students through a series of master classes. It was an excellent example of the ESO’s devotion to music education and commitment to progress in the field of classical music.
Over the years, the ESO has worked with many world-famous musicians, including conductors Michiyoshi Inoue and Naoto Otomo; tenors Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Russell Watson; soprano Renee Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu; violinists Cho-liang Lin and Si-qing Lu; and master flutist Peter-Lukas Graf.
All ESO concerts are recorded and released on CD and DVD, with proceeds from the sales go to the Chang Yung-Fa Foundation’s scholarship program for underprivileged students. Two CDs from the series, titled The Butterfly Lovers and Zakar Bron and the ESO, were nominated at the 16th and 17th Golden Melody Award (2005 and 2006) for the categories “Best Classical Album” and “Best Performance by a Classical Orchestra” respectively. These achievements show that the ESO’s unwavering commitment toward developing local musical talent is starting to reap rewards.

In August 2007, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra was invited by GARD in Norway to hold two concerts there, and afterward gave a performance in London upon request by British shipping journal Lloyd’s List. This was the ESO’s first ever performances in Europe and demonstrates that the group has international appeal. An increasingly busy tour schedule has resulted in considerable growth for the ensemble. The ESO will continue to reach out to the world through the Evergreen Group’s transportation business to introduce Taiwan’s arts and culture to every corner of the world.

back