"Moving on" – fusion of the contemporary with the traditional
With Taiwan as their home and the world as their stage, the Ju Percussion Group has been committed to a spirit of "moving on," fusing the modern with the traditional, and the East with the West. Thus far, they have put on over 3,000 shows in 34 countries and territories around the world, creating some 240 pieces, and, through their education system, reached out to over 130,000 students.
Founded by Ju Tzong-ching in 1986, the Ju Percussion Group has become a world-class group, with many even ranking them as one of the world's top five percussion groups alongside France's Les Percussions de Strasbourg, Sweden's Kroumata Percussion Ensemble (Kroumata), Hungary's Amadinda Percussion Group, and Canada's Nexus.
To create a multi-faceted style of orchestra, the group uses large-scale performances and new productions each year to showcase its contemporary creativity, a blend of East meets West to keep classics alive. As a result, in addition to being familiar with Western percussion, members of the group have to learn the percussive elements of Peking opera, lion dancing, and beiguan music.
In 2017, the orchestra was invited to Moscow for the third time to be featured at the Chekhov International Theater Festival, performing "Percussion Theater—MuLan." Their performance was extremely well-received and successfully reached across cultural barriers to resonate with the Russian audiences, and at the same time, showcased the "Taiwan Brand."
The Ju Percussion Group has undoubtedly been an important driving force in the development of contemporary Taiwanese percussion music.