Two acclaimed Japanese musicians will join the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka at its annual Premieres Concert, on Friday, October 9 at the Ladies College Hall at 7.30 p.m. premiering three works- R. Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony, R.Strauss’ Fanfare for the City of Vienna for Brass and Timpani and Mendelssohn’s Overture to "Ruy Blas".
This year’s premieres concert will have another unusual touch in that three of the four works performed are in E flat major, and the fourth, the Mendelssohn overture, is in the relative key of C minor.
Celebrated lady conductor Keiko Kobayashi will take the baton for the second time with SOSL.
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| Conductor Keiko
Kobayashi |
Atsushi Kimura |
Tokyo-born Keiko Kobayashi, needs no introduction to Colombo audiences, who heard her compelling conducting of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Mozart’s Flute & Harp Concerto at last year’s Premieres concert. A pupil of Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Kenichiro Kobayashi, Yuji Yuasa, Douglas Bostock and the legendary Seiji Ozawa, her most recent achievement was the First Prize at the Boswil International Conducting Masterclass in Switzerland. She conducted the Aargau Symphony Orchestra earlier this year.
Since her debut, she has conducted the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (TPO), the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (TKWO) and the Siena Wind Orchestra and in 2006, she was repetiteur and assistant conductor at the Hallwyl Opera Festival in Switzerland.
She is a conductor at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, and the Soai Orchestra in Japan.The pick of the works to be performed is perhaps Schumann’s finest orchestral work, the Rhenish Symphony in E flat, for which ‘the nobility and spirit’ of the Rhine river and its people had been his inspiration. The piece is a truly monumental romantic five-movement symphony, which will receive its first performance in Sri Lanka.
The fourth movement is a luxuriously orchestrated contrapuntal masterpiece, a challenge for any conductor. R. Strauss’ rousing Fanfare was written for the Trompeterchor (Brass Band) of the City of Vienna in 1943. Its two minutes features some brass playing of great brilliance.
Renowned Japanese horn player Atsushi Kimura is guest soloist for Mozart’s Third Horn Concerto, also to be premiered at the concert. Born in 1958 in Kanazawa, Japan, Atushi Kimura began playing the horn at the age of 12. A member of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 1986, he has been a member of Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra since 1986. From 1986 to 1996, he played in the Saito Kinen Orchestra. He is presently Director of the Japan Horn Society.
Mozart’s Third Horn Concerto is perhaps the finest in this genre. The ‘Romance’ second movement allows the soloist to display his finest cantabile, and infectious high spirits dominate its hunting horn finale.
Mendelssohn’s Ruy Blas overture is mainly in C minor, and is a wonderfully tuneful overture for large orchestra consisting of pairs of flutes, clarinets, bassoons and trumpets, four horns, three trombones (alto, tenor and bass), timpani and a full complement of strings. It was written for a Victor Hugo play of the same name, which the composer hated. |
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