2015.02.08

Centennial Celebration Concert for the Founding of the Tamashima Shinkin Bank

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Sun 8 Feb 2015 at 4:00PM
Kurashiki Geibunkan Hall, Okayama

Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra
Haochen Zhang, piano

Bach : “Air on the G String”: to commemorate the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake
Beethoven : Concerto for piano No. 5 in E-flat major “Emperor” op.73
Beethoven : Symphony No. 7 in A major op.92

※All the admission fees will be donated for the reconstruction of the disaster-hit areas

【Message】

I was aching to visit Kurashiki with the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, as the city left the strong impressions on me since I performed there about ten years ago the “Soldier's Tale”(with my staging), and I participated in the Kurashiki Music Festival alongside Mr. Tsugio Tokunaga. This time I was amazed by the fact that the concert sponsor Tamashima Shinkin Bank (credit association) had already represented a long while ago the Public Interest Capitalism, a theory that my old friend George Hara has been advocating. As the concert was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the bank’s foundation, the ticket price was, amazingly, only a thousand yen. Furthermore, I was informed that the president of the bank himself would hand all the ticket sales income directly to some March 11 disaster-hit areas selected in a pinpoint manner.

Firstly I was glad to be able to perform thoroughly Beethoven’s 7th symphony with the orchestra’s core members. Also, I felt that from the very first rehearsal to the concert, the young soloist Haochen made remarkable progress as if he matured of ten years. His strength of mind convinced me of his promising future. A witty encore performance he did with a “safe” theme also showed his generous nature.

Unfortunately I missed a chance to walk around the city today, as it’s winter time. I am already looking forward to coming back to here.