The pan pipes come calling to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival

Taiwan’s “Pan Flute Prince” Eric Chang will stage a relaxing concert at the Shanghai Concert Hall on October 4 to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Adaptations of movie scores, Disney cartoon suites and pop music have been carefully selected for the concert, as well as several from pieces from the Argentinean artist Astor Piazzolla.

“Most of the melodies will sound familiar to the audience, which I hope will help them know more about the pan flute,” says Chang, who will be joined on stage by young Taiwanese cellist Liang Yen Liu.

Chang started leaning the Chinese bamboo flute at 11 years old, Western flute at 15 and accidentally fell in love with the pan flute after hearing the beautiful score from the movie “Once Upon a Time” in college. 

Realizing it is a very niche instrument in Taiwan, Chang found a way to improving his skills in Europe. He says the pan flute is not very difficult to start with but requires much practice to completely master it. 

“It is not an easy job to always blow at the precise place and at the precise time,” Chang says. “Intuition is often what a pan flute player relies on to ensure intonation. It is like riding a wild horse. But actually, that intuition usually came from repeated practice.”

Chang even studied pan flute making in Europe in 2006. Most of the pan flutes he played were from his own hand. To popularize the instrument, Chang started adapting popular Western pop songs into pan flute pieces. He has so far released 16 albums with a wide coverage of pop, Latin, classic music and movie scores.

“Frankly speaking, I personally adore classical and movie scores better. But I think it is a musician’s responsibility to diversify repertoires and presentation so as to guide more audiences to appreciate what we love,” says Chang.

Performance details

Date: October 4, 7:30pm

Tickets: 80-480 yuan

Tel: 400-891-8182

Venue: Shanghai Concert Hall

Address: 523 Yan’an Rd E.