The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (TSO) opens its 2017/18 season on April 22 at Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall, but the performance will be lacking one crucial element during the opening piece: the orchestra. Instead, the 48 members of the Tokyo Symphony Chorus (TSC) will take the ...
Not many musicians are able to say that they've taken the stage at both New York City's Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall, two of the most prestigious venues in rock and classical music, respectively. Drummer, pianist and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi, however, is stepping ...
The term "contemporary classical music" may sound straightforward, but it isn't. That is why one of Japan's most influential composers has made it his mission to guide people through what is essentially a sonic labyrinth. Although the term can refer to any classical music made ...
Japan Times Community article rekindled Tokyo academic's thwarted 70-year ambition to craft a thing of beauty.
Rumors are that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri were archenemies. But a recently discovered piece shows they could work together. The Czech Museum of Music presented on Tuesday a rare piece of music composed in three parts by Mozart, Salieri and an unknown composer, ...
These days the road to fame often starts with a viral video on YouTube, but Korean pianist Seong-jin Cho took the classic route — he won a music competition. The 21-year-old winner of the international Frederic Chopin piano competition, told the press at the Polish ...
Whether their lives were long or short, the classic composers tended to cement their legacies in their final days, perhaps the point in their lives when they were at their most philosophical. Pianist Etsuko Tazaki is fascinated by the legacies these artists leave, and is ...
Train delays due to jinshin jiko, which euphemistically translates to "human accident" — often a suicide on the tracks — are far from an infrequent occurrence in Tokyo. Reaction to such suicides — of people you never knew — depends on the individual, whose response ...
Dutch conductor Hubert Soudant will make his final appearances with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra this month, before his contract with the organization officially expires in August. The 68-year-old Soudant stepped down from his position as music director at the TSO in March, but will come ...
The first Japanese to visit Mexico is said to have been samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga. En route to Europe on a diplomatic mission, he arrived in Acapulco in January 1614. The country was under Spanish rule at the time and didn't achieve independence until 1821. When ...
The cherry trees of Ueno Park are inspirational in full bloom. Come early spring and Tokyoites head to the area early to snag spots beneath the pink blossoms, which inspire romance, revelry and perhaps more than a few visionary ideas. More than a decade ago, ...
There's nothing like a comeback story. This summer, Japan saw a return to the stage by Seiji Ozawa, one of the country's most celebrated musicians. On Aug. 23, the 78-year-old maestro took up his baton at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto, the event he founded ...
