Note: This website was automatically translated, so some terms or nuances may not be completely accurate.
"Tohoku Youth Orchestra Concert" Representative Sakamoto resolved to compose music in 2020.
The Tohoku Youth Orchestra, featuring elementary school through university students from the three prefectures affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake (Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima) as its members, held a concert on March 31 at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in Shinjuku Ward. (Sponsors: JA Kyosai Ren, Fuji Xerox Advanced Technology, Yamada Bee Farm; Cooperation: Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Yamaha Music Japan, Save the Children Japan, Sony Video & Sound Products, Dentsu Inc. Public Relations, and Brilliant Music Store).
Formed following the 2013 "Lucerne Festival ARK NOVA Matsushima 2013" music festival held in Matsushima Town, Miyagi Prefecture, the orchestra is produced by world-renowned musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who serves as its representative and director. Sakamoto is also the founder of the Children's Music Revival Fund, which has supported instrument maintenance and music activities in schools within the disaster-affected areas. Through music, the orchestra has supported the growth of children in Tohoku while aiding the recovery of the disaster-stricken regions.
This concert series, which began in 2016, marks its fourth year this year.
Conducted by Toshio Yanagisawa, who is active primarily in the former Yugoslavia, the orchestra performed in Morioka the day before the Tokyo concert, completing a full cycle of performances in the orchestra's home prefectures.
Taking the stage at the beginning, Sakamoto expressed his enthusiasm: "This is the fourth concert, but we want to continue this forever. We won't be complacent just because we're a youth orchestra from the disaster-affected prefectures; we aim for even higher musical standards."
Mr. Yanagisawa, who has continued coaching the orchestra since last year's concert, remarked, "This past year flew by. I was delighted to see the words 'Pride of Tohoku' in a newspaper article about yesterday's Morioka performance. While some members are graduating today, we want to strive together as one under Director Sakamoto."
The 107 members performed a total of 10 pieces, including encores. The program featured "Blu," with Sakamoto also participating on piano, and "Three TOHOKU Songs," a medley arrangement of folk songs from the Tohoku region. The performance lasted 40 minutes and included Brahms's highly challenging "Symphony No. 2," earning thunderous applause from the audience.
Additionally, for the orchestra's first commissioned work, "Kugui no Sora," composer Aya Nishina took the stage. She explained the concept: "'Kugui' is a dialect word meaning swan, a bird that signals the seasons in Tohoku. Unlike the swans typically featured in classical music, I imagined these swans as the members of this orchestra – greedy and friendly. I also put my wish for Tohoku to be a place where smiles shine brightly into this piece."
Actress Sayuri Yoshinaga recited five poems by Tohoku-born poets, including Takuboku Ishikawa's "Airplane," Kenji Miyazawa's "Work No. 1004," and Mieko Kasai's "Journey." She exchanged a firm handshake with Mr. Sakamoto "I'm so happy to be together like this again. I think Mr. Nagata Hiroshi's poem 'The Big Tree' was written about you," she said with a smile, drawing loud applause from the audience. She also praised the performance, stating, "The orchestra members are steadily progressing. Especially 'Symphony No. 2' is a piece that gives courage to those suffering in Tohoku."
After the performance, Mr. Yanagisawa stated, "This is a tremendous opportunity. We aspire to grow into an orchestra that can be called the pride of Tohoku." Mr. Sakamoto, his eyes glistening, murmured softly, "Hearing that brings tears to my eyes."
Looking ahead to 2020, he declared, "From the very start of this project, I intended to compose an original piece. I feel the pressure that I can't delay it any longer, so I will write a piece for the orchestra."
For the concerts scheduled for March 2020 in Tokyo and Fukushima, in addition to the premiere of Sakamoto's new piece, they plan to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. This choice carries the meaning of connecting the areas affected by natural disasters that have struck Japan since 3.11.
Official website:
http://tohoku-youth-orchestra.org/
Was this article helpful?
Share this article
