Around this time last year, music students at six universities were asked to consider what projects would best suit Suntory concert hall's 2010 "Rainbow 21" educational program. Each year only three projects survive a fierce selection process. This year's winners are Toho Gakuen School of Music with "The World of Erik Satie," Kunitachi College of Music with "Mozart × Opera = Variety of Love" and Tokyo College of Music with "Samuel Barber — His Creed and Beloved Songs." These concerts will be performed at Suntory Hall on June 4, 8 and 11, respectively.
"Rainbow 21 teaches young musicians a lot about how concerts are organized and held," says Suntory Hall Programming Director Kazumi Minoguchi. Students collaborate with Suntory Hall, performers and universities to create fliers and programs, sell tickets and make stage arrangements.
"Toho Gakuen School of Music and Kunitachi College of Music will present concerts under a single person's leadership, while Tokyo College of Music's project is based on task distribution among students," says Minoguchi. "Real-world concert management, too, generally falls into these two types."
Each of this year's programs will focus on a specific composer, though each project has a very different flavor: Toho Gakuen School of Music students will use a video screen during their concert to express Satie's world; Tokyo College of Music will commemorate the 100th anniversary of American composer Samuel Barber's birth instead of a more renowned composer; and Kunitachi College of Music's performances of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's operas "Cosi fan tutte" and "The Magic Flute" (featuring Mozart's favorite woodwind ensemble) will explore various types of love.
Each concert from "Rainbow 21" costs ¥2,000. For further information, visit www.suntory.co.jp/suntoryhall/
