International

Festival hours are set for 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday. The city is encouraging visitors to use public transportation, with the site accessible from Weiwuying Station (衛武營站) on the Orange Line via Exit 6.

According to the airport, AirAsia (亞洲航空) is scheduled to launch a Kuala Lumpur-Kaohsiung-Osaka route on June 15, with seven flights per week. T’way Air (德威航空) began operating a Kaohsiung-Busan route on March 29, also with seven weekly flights. Spring Airlines (春秋航空) is scheduled to open a Kaohsiung-Ningbo route on July 4, with two flights per week.

This year’s lineup will include performers from Taiwan and abroad, including acts from Okinawa and Mongolia, while singer Maggie Chiang (江美琪) is set to appear on July 30. The Aug. 30 program will also feature Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅・瘋), the 2024 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16, as part of a diversity-themed event.

Chen has a backstory that would work well for a film. At 13, he left Taiwan for Vienna. His parents stayed behind as he entered a rigorous training system—the kind few young musicians today would be expected to endure. “My parents basically had no idea what I was doing,” Chen said. “In the first ten years, I only made two phone calls a year. Letters back and forth would take months,” he recalled.