The C.F. Koo Foundation was initiated in 1988 by Mr. Koo Chen-Fu (Koo Kung-Liang), Chairman of the Koos Group, jointly funded by CSRC and Taiwan Cement Corporation. Its mission is to promote Taiwanese arts and cultural activities through international (including cross-Strait) exchange programs. In 2023, the Koo Foundation continued to promote cultural preservation through three main areas: "Program Production," "Theater Management," and "Education Advocacy," continuously investing in cultural promotion efforts.
In 2023, as the COVID-19 pandemic gradually subsided, the performing arts ecosystem in Taiwan slowly began to recover to its pre-pandemic scale at a very slow pace. The Koo Foundation also gradually restored its capacity for both physical and online performances, completing two annual productions and continuously updating the content of Taiwan's only online opera channel, Koo Cloud Theater. It maintained its commitment to managing the children's theater, held campus promotion lectures in conjunction with annual productions, and continued its work in cultural preservation.
C.F. Koo Foundation establishment chronology
The Koo Foundation's key productions in 2023 will continue to operate two major brands: "Plays New and Old" and "New Peking Opera." At the beginning of the year, the "Peking Opera Performance" series launched the “Plays New and Old," featuring many popular traditional operas including "Sitting in the Palace," "Stealing the Treasury Silver," and the southern style "Dragon and Phoenix Presenting Auspiciousness." Especially "Dragon and Phoenix Presenting Auspiciousness," a grand opera with a full range of roles, which had not been performed in Taiwan for many years and was well received by traditional opera enthusiasts. Despite being simultaneously broadcast live on the Koo Cloud Theater YouTube channel, it achieved a 95% box office success rate. The year-end "Cheng Gong" New Talent Stage is an annual series launched by the Traditional Arts Center. This year, the Taipei New Theater Company was invited to perform the Three Kingdoms play "Battle of Puyang," led by young actor Lin Ching-Chen in the martial young male role. Under the guidance of Company leader Lee Pao-Chun, Lin Ching-Chen made significant progress in both vocal performance and martial arts movements, earning widespread acclaim and effectively fulfilling the "Cheng Gong" platform's purpose of encouraging new talent.
In 2023, the most special events were the consecutive releases of two New Peking Operas, "In and Out of the Play" and "Granny Liu and Wang Xifeng," in the first and second half of the year. The former is set in the early Republic of China era, while the latter is inspired by the famous classical novel "Dream of the Red Chamber." Both operas combine elements of Western theater technology, from high-tech imaging and stage design to the use of Hollywood movie soundtrack sources in their musical design. The integration of Chinese and Western orchestras presents multi-layered musical lines, and the special invitation of musical theater soprano Lin Tze-Yin adds a vocal performance different from traditional Peking opera singing, providing an astonishing audiovisual experience for audiences who had never been exposed to Peking opera, resulting in sold-out performances. This was especially true of "Granny Liu and Wang Xifeng," which premiered with five sold-out performances in Taipei and Taichung, setting a new record for the Foundation. Lee Pao-Chun, who has been active in the Peking opera stage as a veteran performer in both civil and martial roles, broke through role boundaries this time by playing the most lovable character in "Dream of the Red Chamber," Granny Liu. He sang in his natural voice for veteran roles and used martial arts body movements, blending the characteristics of Peking opera performanc and transforming them into a unique performance style, arousing great curiosity among both new and old opera fans.
In 2023, Koo Cloud Theater encompassed two major content categories. One was live broadcasts and ticketed performances by the Taipei New Theater Company, with one production launched each month. The other was a selection of Peking opera productions from the past 30 years by the Koo Foundation, paired with the "Laughing at Opera: Blooming Flowers of Liyuan in Spring" series co-produced with Fujian Straits TV in 2007. Since its launch, Koo Cloud Theater has accumulated recordings of 63 productions by the Taipei New Theater Company, 22 live broadcasts, and 55 selected mainland Chinese operas from the "Blooming Flowers of Liyuan in Spring" series, with a total of nearly 100 wonderful operas, attracting over a million viewers.
In 2023, Koo Cloud Theater turned three years old. The Taipei New Theater Company will continue to launch live performances, accumulate repertoires, and enhance stage skills. The past three years of operation of Koo Cloud Theater have also evidently brought new audiences to the Foundation's annual performances. Fortunately, this service goodwill cultivated amidst crises has led to a win-win situation for audiences, performers, and organizers!
From the launch of the Koo Cloud Theater channel to December 31, 2023, the channel had 12,494 subscribers. The accumulated viewership in 2023 was 997,615 views. The number of subscribers increased by 2,355 in 2023, a growth of 23% compared to 2022.
From 2015 to 2023, the Foundation undertook the technical and service management of the Taipei City Arts Promotion Office's Parent-Child Theater backstage operations, responsible for venue rental and backstage management services. Over nine years, in collaboration with the supervisory authorities, several projects were completed to improve the theater's hardware and software, stabilizing its development across various dimensions. It has built a strong reputation in the industry and become one of Taipei City's preferred professional theaters, offering a space for audiences to enjoy various performing arts exhibitions.
In 2023, the Parent-Child Theater was available for use for 291 days: rented externally for 210 days, ticketed performances for 110 shows, and non-ticketed performances for 49 shows, totaling 159 events. Among these, there were 67 children's programs, serving a total audience of 91,832 people. Rental applicants included professional theater groups, dance troupes, children's theater groups, orchestras, music classrooms, educational institutions at all levels (kindergarten to university), and various arts and cultural organizations (Japanese dance, traditional opera, etc.). These statistics and the types of performing teams show that the Parent-Child Theater is widely recognized, becoming a professional venue eagerly sought after by all types of arts and cultural teams in Taipei City
The 2023 audience survey statistics indicated that satisfaction levels exceeded 95.28% across categories such as "performance programs," "lighting and sound," "overall service by staff," "air conditioning adjustment," and "environmental cleanliness." This demonstrates that the ParentChild Theater's services are highly rated and well-received by the audience.
The lecture schedule in 2023 primarily focused on the latter half of the year. Due to the year-end performance of the classic play "Granny Liu and Wang Xifeng," which closely follows the theme of the classical masterpiece "Dream of the Red Chamber," it received high praise and recommendations from mentors. Consequently, many schools actively requested special lecture arrangements. Through these lectures, students learned about the performance characteristics of Peking Opera and how to appreciate it, thereby gaining practical theater experience.
In 2023, the lectures held at the following schools are listed in the table on the right. In addition to maintaining long-term friendly relations with schools, this year, it extended to Nanguo Elementary School in Changhua City and the Department of Chinese Literature at Chung Cheng University in Chiayi County, actively cultivating audiences in the central region, and increasing the visibility of the Company on central region campuses. At the same time, exchanges and discussions were conducted with students majoring in Western stage performance systems at the Drama Departments of Taipei National University of the Arts and National Taiwan University, exploring dialogue on script reading, character shaping, and performance methods, kindling different sparks and promoting learning and growth on both sides. In 2023, a total of 15 special lectures and promotional lectures were held, totaling 19 hours, with 1,100 participants.
