Symphony plays tribute to Ehime Maru
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The Honolulu Symphony Orchestra will present a rare debut of new music, with the composers present at the performance, during its next concert series.
The program will feature the North American premiere of Japanese composer Shigeaki Saegusa's "Cantata Tengai" and the world premiere of local composer Donald Womack's "After" for shakuhachi, koto and orchestra.
The program is in memory of the Ehime Maru tragedy and is an effort to bring members of local government and the military together with Japanese nationals.
One of the world's most famed choirs, the Roppongi Japanese Male Chorus, will join the men of the Honolulu Symphony Chorus. The chorus hosts former Japanese Prime Minister Tsutomu Hata, film director Eiji Okuda, and actor Takuro Tatsumi.
Naoto Otomo has conducted the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra since 1991 and been principal conductor with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra since 1994. In the 2000-2001 season, Otomo appeared with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Since 1992, Otomo and contemporary classical composer Saegusa have teamed up to form the Japan Virtuoso Symphony Orchestra, calling on about 100 members from orchestras in Tokyo and Osaka to perform several times each year in major cities in Japan.
Saegusa is a guest professor at Tokyo College of Music and the composer of original operatic works, music for feature films and television. In 1991, Saegusa was commissioned to complete W.A. Mozart's unfinished work, Sinfonia Concertante in A for violin, viola, violoncello and orchestra by Austria's International Foundation Mozarteum.
Womack, born in 1966, has participated in the Conservatoire Americain in Fontainebleau, France, the June in Buffalo Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival. His works use themes from Hawaiian culture, blues, jazz, bluegrass, and Southern American folk songs, to express a sense of place and purpose, which he has said he believes to be the core value of music.
The Roppongi Male Chorus formed in 1999 for an AIDS charity concert and reformed in 2000 as the Roppongi Male Chorus. The chorus numbers around 300. Saegusa is the choir leader. The choir includes Japanese politicians and celebrities as well as teenagers and singers in their 80s. More than half its members do not read music. However, their voices have been featured in charity events all over Japan. They have appeared in commercial films and released a hit CD.
Correction: The Roppongi Japanese Male Chorus will perform the "Cantata Tengai" at a Honolulu Symphony concert on Jan. 6 and Jan. 8. Also, Kazuo Kobayashi is not the current conductor of the chorus. Information with a previous version of this story was incorrect.
