Date / Venue
16th May
Workshop (University of Vienna, Austria)
16-17th May
Concert (Entrance Hall at the Museum of Ethnology Vienna, Austria)
Organized by Museum of Ethnology Vienna
19th May
Concert (Orff Center Munich, Germany)
Organized by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich & Orff Center Munich
Supported by Consulate-General of Japan in Munich
Co-Operation German-Japanese Society in Bavaria
21st May
Concert (Conservatoire-Cité de la musique et de la danse Strasbourg, France
Designated Events Celebrating the 150th anniversary of friendship between Japan and Alsace)
Organized by Consulate-General of Japan in Strasbourg, European Centre for Japanese Studies in Alsace, City of Strasbourg
23rd May
Concert (Oversea Museum, Bremen, Germany)
Organized by Oversea Museum, Bremen
25th May
Concert (Kishi residence in Casablanca)
Organized by a volunteer group of Japanese expatriates in Casablanca
Guests: President of the Japan-Morocco Friendship Association, former Minister of Energy and Mines, Casablanca Mayor, etc.
26th MAy
National Mohammed V Theatre in Rabat, Morocco
Organized by Ministry of Culture of the Kingdom of Morocco & Embassy of Japan in Morocco
Guest: Mayor of Rabat City, President of Japan-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship League, President of CDG, President of ONP, and many Ambassadors
Program
Kangen "Oshikityo-no-Netori", "Kaiseiraku"
Bugaku "Urayasu-no-Mai", "Ryoo", "Seigaiha"
Supported by Japan Foudation
The Kitanodai Gagaku Ensemble has played twice at this venue in the past. The first performance was held in April, 2009 (Danube Friendship Year) for the opening ceremony of the special exhibition, Made in Japan to commemorate the 140th year of establishing a diplomatic relationship between Japan and Austria. The second performance was held in November of the same year under the title “Japanese Court Music and Dance.”
Before the first night concert, a gagaku workshop was held at the University of Vienna. Dr. Noriko Brandl of East Asian Studies gave a special lecture on the history of gagaku before students at the workshop. Gagaku instruments such as Sho, Hichiriki and Ryuteki were also introduced to the students.
The first evening concert started with the greetings from Dr. Bettina Zorn, chief of the Vienna Museum of Ethnology's East Asian collection, and Ambassador Makoto Taketoshi of the Japanese Embassy in Vienna. About 270 people including the guests came to see the concert.
After the performance, Dr. Noriko Brandl, the host of the concert, congratulated the success of the performance and gave the following words.
“Feeling the extreme sense of tension and excitement created by the oneness of the stage and the audience, it seemed as if we were taken into the heavens. I truly understood the vigorous training that the members of the Kitanodai Gagaku Ensemble has gone through in the past five years.”
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, one of the oldest universities in Germany, was established in 1472 and the Orff Center Munich, a research institute for Carl Orff, a German composer best known for his Cantata Carmina Burana, organized the gagaku concert. In addtion, the Consulate General of Japan in Munich and the Deutsch-Japanischen Gesellschaft in Bayern e.V. (Germany-Japanese Association in Byern) also gave their supports to the concert. About 150 people attended.
The concert began with the greetings from Prof. Dr. Martin Lehnert, Mr. Hidenao Yanagi, and Dr. Thomas Rösch respectively.
The idea of performing a gagaku concert in Munich came from Dr. Barbara Ruch of Colombia University in NY, who introduced Prof. Dr. Lehnert to the Kitanodai Gagaku Ensemble. Prof. Dr. lehnert planned and organized the concert. As a boy, Prof. Dr. Lihnert heard gagaku music at an elementary school. Since then, it has become his dream to have a gagaku concert not at a large venue but at a small cozy place.
The audience was fascinated by the sound and dance from Japan created on the stage.
Strasbourg, the capital of the Alsace region, has a long rich history as a commercial and industrial center due to its location. It holds the largest port in France on the Rhine.
The Strasbourg concert was planned by the Consulate-General of Japan in Strasbourg and the City itself to celebrate the150th anniversary of friendship between Japan and Alsace.
Thanks to the Ambassador Hasegawa, many dignitaries came for the concert including consul generals from the U.S., Lichtenstein, Montenegro, Vatican, Turkey and the president of Dernieéres nouvelles d’Alsace.
The venue, Conservatoire-Cité de la musique et de la danse established in 1855, is a prestigious conservatory famous for high level education. Students across the globe come to Strasbourg to study music here. Many students show their interest in gagaku, and, as a result, all 500 seats in the main concert hall were filled.
The City of Bremen has prospered as a commercial city since the 8th century and joined the Hanseatic League in 1358. It is also famous for the Town Musicians of Bremen.
The concert stage was set in the entrance hall of the museum. The word “Übersee” means a continent beyond the seas.
It was the first gagaku performance in Bremen and about 200 people, more than we anticipated, came to see the performance. It seems that the ancient art objects from all over the world displayed in the museum perfectly matched with the traditional arts from Japan.
Dr. Renate Noda who helped to coordinate the gagaku concert in Vienna in 2009 organized this performance and also served as the host of the concert.
The city of Casablanca, located on the Atlantic Ocean, is Morocco’s chief economic center and well known from the classic film of the same name, Casablanca. The concert was held at the residence of Mr. Kishi, who worked as the president of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. in Casablanca in order to maintain a strong and lasting relationship between Japan and Morocco through economic activities.
The large salon used for the stage was packed with approximately 140 people from the business world, demonstrating Mr. Kishi’s broad connections and friendship with many people in the city.
After the performance, a reception was held to treat the guest with Japanese food and wine. Madams related to the royal family wore Kaftan dresses, a traditional Moroccan garb and enjoyed talking about the similarities between Kaftan dresses and bugaku costumes. Afterwards, they took photos with the performers.
The mayor of Casablanca presented a silver Jewel box as a gift to Ms. Mineko Iguchi, VP of the Ensemble and Mr. Kishi.
The gagaku concerts in Casablanca and Rabat were made possible by former councilor Mr. Sachio Hakkaku and his wife, Hisako, who have made many acquaintances through years of service as a diplomat in Europe and Africa. Mrs. Hakkaku was kind enough to accompany the Ensemble to help coordinate the concert in Morocco.
The concert was performed at National Mohammed V Theatre, named after the current King Mohammed VI’s grandfather. The concert was hosted with full support from the Ministry of Culture, the Embassy of Japan in Morocco. About 800 people attended.
Before the performance, the Moroccan national TV crew came to interview the Ensemble.
This was the second gagaku concert held in Morocco after the one in Fez. The audience was captivated by the sound and dance of gagaku, as shown by their loud applauses and cheers.
The gagaku concerts in Casablanca and Rabat were made possible by former councilor Mr. Yukio Hakkaku and his wife, Hisako, who made many acquaintances through years of service as a diplomat in Europe and Africa. Mrs. Hakkaku was kind enough to accompany the group to help coordinated the concert in Morocco.
