Western classical music has evolved over the centuries since it first emerged in Europe. Today, you can listen to classical music performed all around the world on all sorts of occasions, including at the Taiwan presidential inauguration dinner.
On this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out, TaiwanPlus reporter Reece Ayers sits down with Kenneth Kuo, a world-class cellist who was the first to perform at the Mets Stadium in New York. We first zoom in on his personal journey as a musician, then zoom out on the differences between musical training in the U.S. and in Taiwan.
On this episode of Zoom In Zoom Out, TaiwanPlus reporter Reece Ayers sits down with Kenneth Kuo, a world-class cellist who was the first to perform at the Mets Stadium in New York. We first zoom in on his personal journey as a musician, then zoom out on the differences between musical training in the U.S. and in Taiwan.
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00:00Welcome to Zoom In Zoom Out, your global look at news from Taiwan. I'm Rhys Ayres.
00:18Western classical music has over a thousand years of history since its establishment.
00:23But it has since found new audiences and practitioners from cultures and countries across the globe.
00:29So what does it take to become a world-class classical musician? Is it still as celebrated
00:33as it once was? And how accessible is the genre to modern audiences?
00:39To lead us through the world of classical music, I'm joined today by Kenneth Guo, a
00:44world-class Taiwanese-American cellist who's performed for presidents and was the first
00:49cellist to perform in the Mets Stadium in New York City. Welcome to the show, Kenneth.
00:55Thank you for having me. It's good to be here.
00:57So first, let's start right at the beginning. How does a young Taiwanese-American boy get
01:02interested in classical music?
01:04Well, I was about four and a half years old, and I had no idea what a cello is until a
01:11cello teacher actually came to my kindergarten and started teaching a friend of mine. And
01:16so my mother saw that. She's like, you know what? I want my kid to learn how to play the
01:20cello. So I thought cello is one of those things that you put on the ground and strum
01:25with your finger, you know, like a guzheng. But later did I know you have to put it between
01:31your leg and you play. And then next thing you know, I'm a world-class cellist, many
01:35years after.
01:36You make it sound so easy.
01:38It should be, actually.
01:41Well, speaking of which, how much training goes into becoming a world-class cellist?
01:46What differentiates a great cellist from the best?
01:49Well, I think I was very lucky to have the greatest instructors. And I had great teachers
01:57from each part of my cello career, from the beginning to my last teacher. I have five
02:03teachers in total. And they were all perfect for each stages of my life. And having a great
02:10training actually sets you up for being a world-class cellist.
02:16To become a better cellist than that, it takes passion, it takes talent, it takes perseverance.
02:26The world is full of no's, you're not good enough. But music, it speaks to you. And music
02:33opens a lot of doors. And I think I'm one of those opportunists that have taken advantage
02:41of when the door is open, I try to go through it.
02:45And so you've since performed for Taiwan President Lai Ching-de at his inauguration.
02:50You performed in the Met Stadium in New York City. How do you prepare for shows like that?
02:56You know, there's so much that you could prepare musically. And I think that for me, music,
03:05as a professional, it comes more natural than, you know, like a baseball player pitching
03:09that ball down to the catcher and made a strike. For them, it comes natural. And for me, to
03:15be able to play is the natural part. But it's going out there, giving a speech to congratulate
03:20the president, or being able to wave to like 40,000 fans in a stadium. Because, you know,
03:27normal cellists, they play in concert halls, a few hundred people, at most a thousand.
03:31But when you're in the stadium, it's unreal. Or when you're playing, the president's right
03:38there looking at you. But I think the more exciting thing was getting the phone call,
03:43you know, from the organization, you know, from the president's office that says, hey,
03:47the president wants you to play at his inauguration. And what an honor, you know. And also what
03:53an honor it is to play the national anthem, the U.S. national anthem, at the Met Stadium
03:58and being the first cellist ever to do that.
04:00And this particular instrument beside you has a bit of history to it. Could you tell
04:05us a bit more about it?
04:06Yes. This is a Andrea Guarneri from Cremona in 1676. This is 100 years before the U.S.,
04:15you know, independence. And I was able to purchase this instrument in London. And after
04:22it spent 55 years sitting in Tokyo. So this is one of the greatest, greatest makers of
04:29all time, Andrea Guarneri from Cremona, Italy. And so I'm very blessed to be able to take
04:35care of her for hopefully the rest of my life.
04:38And it's safe to say it's insured.
04:39Oh, yes. Yes, very.
04:40Can I ask about your experiences being an Asian performer in what's typically historically
04:58a Western genre of music?
05:00Well, in the past about 20, 30 years, there are more and more Asian classical musicians
05:08starting to show up in many parts of the institutions, you know, in New York, such as Juilliard and
05:16Curtis Institute, Manhattan School of Music. Asian, for some reason, the culture respects
05:23classical music in terms of higher education, higher classes, higher culture. So it has
05:31been embraced so much by the Asian educational system that as an Asian and Taiwanese, I never
05:38really felt that it is a disadvantage being Asian in the world. But of course, you know,
05:45as a Asian musician, you know, your challenges of getting a job and everything is pretty
05:51much the same, you know, because basically, if you're good, you get gigs. But at the same
05:57time, because there's so many Asian musicians these days, it is sometimes it becomes more
06:05competitive among the, you know, the Asian, you know, music field. So I would say that
06:13it is even more difficult to be an Asian musician in Asia than it is being in Western countries.
06:22Well, let's zoom out slightly and talk more generally about classical music, the genre,
06:30and perhaps what the future of the genre might be. First of all, is classical music received
06:36differently in Taiwan, in your experience, versus the States or elsewhere?
06:42I'm still trying to find out that, you know, because Taiwan has a very deep rooted culture
06:51in the Taiwanese folk music, or even pop music. Classical music mostly is instrumental music,
07:01piano, violin, cello, or opera. So in that case, it's almost like going to a Western
07:09restaurant in Taiwan. It is definitely not as popular as Taiwanese traditional music
07:16or pop music. But again, you know, because of the cultural eliteness of being able to
07:24play an instrument or educate your child to be able to perform on stage, I believe is
07:31still a education status symbol quite a bit. You know, a lot of people tell me, oh, only
07:37the rich can become classical musicians, you know, here in Taiwan. But also, this is
07:44something that I and many of my colleagues are trying to close the gap. Music is music.
07:50You know, when you put classical music, jazz, pop, and rap, and, you know, electric, all
07:55these things, you're just, you're trying to differentiate the music type. But you forgot,
08:00music is music. It speaks to people in many different ways. I listen to pop music, I listen
08:06to rap. You know, I like it. You know, when I'm working out, I want something upbeat.
08:10I don't want some beautiful classical music. When I'm working out, I'll fall asleep, you
08:14know. So beautiful music is beautiful music.
08:18I want to dig more into the class element of it, because historically, it was a genre
08:38for the higher classes. So how can modern audiences feel like it's more within reach
08:45to them? How are you tackling that?
08:48I think we need to break the barrier that not only the rich can go to the concert hall.
08:54You don't have to wear a suit and tie in order to participate in a cello recital. And when
09:00you go to a cello recital, it's not that you pretend that you are of a certain class in
09:08order to be there. And I think we just need to be very honest to ourselves. Do you like
09:12it? And if you do, share with your friends. Tell them why you like it and tell the musicians
09:18why you like it. You know, a very famous conductor, Walter Mueller, back at Juilliard, told me
09:26once that people might not know what's bad, but when they hear something good, they know
09:32it.
09:32When you're performing, whether it's in the States or elsewhere, and you look out into
09:36the audience, what kinds of faces are you seeing? Is it cross-generational? Who's listening
09:41to classical music?
09:42Well, the majority, you know, in the U.S., they call it the white hair group, you know,
09:50the senior citizens. Well, first of all, they have more time, you know, to go to the concert.
09:55And it's closer to them, their generation. But you start to see that many people, like
10:01I said, if you pick the right repertoire, and if you're able to engage with your audience
10:07the certain way, you're going to attract any kind of, you know, this time I'm playing
10:12concert in Taiwan, half of them are kids coming, you know, to the concert, and I can't wait
10:18to, you know, to play for them.
10:20So being born in Taiwan and then mostly educated in the States, do you notice any differences
10:27between the education systems there, particularly when it comes to learning music?
10:31Absolutely. You know, when I studied here in Taiwan, it is very much about discipline,
10:37accuracy, and it is about basically doing the work, the, you know, doing exactly what
10:45your teacher tell you to do, and then you just go with that. You practice, you practice,
10:50you practice, and you practice.
10:52I remember the first time that I hear applauses in New York is when I was playing in, when
10:58I was 12 years old, and I played the cello recital in Manhattan School of Music. So when
11:03I hear the applause of genuine people that came to listen to me, I finally found the
11:06joy of it. So the word playing music in the English dictionary, we use the word playing,
11:17and that's what music should be. It should be fun, it should be playing and having a
11:21good time. Versus in Chinese, we, you know, we said pull the cello because we're pulling
11:29the bow, or we fling the piano because we're actually putting our fingers down on the key.
11:35So it's more of an action rather than the actual fun part of it. So I think the U.S.
11:41education basically made me realize that music should be fun. The process of education, definitely
11:49you do need to have the discipline, you do need to have the dedication, but at the same
11:54time, most importantly, you have to have fun. And just like baseball or any sports and things
11:58like that, kids are not going to be able to, you know, to stick to something unless it
12:03is fun. And I actually, I own a school. I own the Connecticut School of Music. When
12:07I first started, the school is really about having fun and, you know, seeing kids coming.
12:13I love to work with little kids because it really intrigued me of why are they here?
12:20Because they don't need to be here. But they're here because they want to have fun. And that
12:25really invigorates me as a musician to say, hey, what do you do for a living? You're having
12:30fun. You know, if it's not fun, don't do it.
12:34Keep that as my mantra. I guess, finally then, let's talk about the future of classical music.
12:40It obviously has staying power because it's been around for over 1,000 years. But can
12:46classical music continue to survive given the changes that are happening in the music
12:51industry and changing tastes?
12:52Well, that's a great question. But, you know, don't forget, classical music also evolved,
13:00you know, from Gregorian chants in monasteries all the way to secular music playing a lute,
13:10you know, and vocal music. And until the 19th century when the opera started to arrive,
13:17you know, mixing vocal and theatrical and instrumental music into today, you know, many
13:24of the pop music actually came from classical music. So the word classical music needs to
13:31evolve. So like we talked about before, music will always be part of human history. How
13:41you determine its value and sustainability is really depending on how you preserve it.
13:50You know, so I made about six recordings already. And I hope that that lives on for many, many
13:57generations to come. But I have to say, you know, being able to play the cello as a profession,
14:03I wish that there are more people in the world that can have the same kind of joy that I
14:09have in music as well as in life.
14:13Well, thank you very much, Kenneth. And thank you for sharing your passion with us.
14:18Wonderful.
14:19Great to be here.
14:21This has been Zoom In Zoom Out for more stories from Taiwan and around the world. You can
14:25find us on social media. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next time.