Tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Ishibashi Memorial Hall, Ueno, Tokyo International Singers with the L'Esperance Singers will present a concert of French music. The two groups will perform Faure's "Requiem" and Gounod's "St. Cecilia Mass." They will spotlight three soloists, an organist and an electone player.
The electone player is Hiromi Akatsuka, who will conjure from her instrument all the sounds of a full orchestra for the two pieces. She said: "The electone looks like an organ, has three manual keyboards and more than 200 sounds. I think it is great. People usually love it after they have heard it." When she has performed in Europe and America, audiences have given her standing ovations.
Born in Sendai, Akatsuka began at the piano keyboard when she was 5. "My parents loved music," she said. "They belonged to a chorus group, and my father is still an amateur conductor." At 20 she graduated with honors from the Yamaha Music School. "I met my husband in college," she said. "He played the drums. I was already playing many different instruments, and often we performed together." Eventually he made his career in computer engineering, whilst she stayed with music.