JU Percussion Group

JU Percussion Group, founded in 1986, is a major and renowned modern percussion group which, among a few groups in the world, could blend the West and East in percussion performing genre. Also, it is the first professional group that develops percussion performance with education, research and promotion holistically.

The distinctive fusion style, where the tradition meets the modern and the import meets the local, enables the group to perform with tradition and innovation. In addition to its vibrant and enthusiastic performances, JU Percussion Group has won international recognition in the world of percussion music. It has toured 25 countries in 4 continents, and completed over 2300 performances.

JU Percussion Group is skilled in employing varied percussion instruments and different tone colors with ingenuity, to create the unpredictable and surprising performance. It also presents new and diverse contents regularly in the format of classical concerts, musical theatres, family concerts, children concerts, etc.

In November 2012, Ju Percussion Group organized a university tour in the Mainland China under the theme of “From the Heartbeat Sound.” Their performances in the prestigious universities in Beijing and Shanghai showcased the charms of percussion music and provided a precious opportunity to promote the cultural exchange between the Mainland China and Taiwan.

JU, TZONG - CHING / Founder & Artistic Director

Ju, Tzong-Ching has played a significant role in enhancing the wide interest in percussion music in Taiwan over the last two decades, and the popularity of percussion music in Taiwan owes a great deal to Ju for his pioneering efforts in music education. Upon graduating from the National Taiwan Academy of the Arts, Ju continued his percussion studies at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna with Walter Veigl and Richard Hochrainer, former principal percussionist of the Wiener Philharmoniker.

Upon returning to Taiwan, Ju served as the principal percussionist of the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. He founded Taiwan's first percussion ensemble, the Ju Percussion Group (JPG), in January 1986. In 1992, Ju established the JuPercussion Music School, the first domestically-developed percussion education system and the fastest channel to promote the percussive arts in Taiwan.

Ju, Tzong-Ching received a Youth Medal in 1983, and in 1988, he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Taiwan. In 2000, he was honored with the National Award for Arts of the National Culture and Arts Foundation, R.O.C. In 2009, the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) has awarded Ju the 2009 Lifetime Achievement in Education Award.

Program: MuLan