The scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the classical music business. All concerts of Nobuyuki Tsujii (as well as other artists) in April and May have been cancelled/postponed.
On the recently posted video of Nobuyuki Tsujii on TVTokyo: "We will smile together again", a twitter wrote:
So the announcement this week of the 2020 Ark Hills Festival is welcome news. This Tokyo music festival, third years in running, is headed by Nobu and his good friend violinist Fumiaki Miura. Details have yet to come, but the program for the 3-day (Oct 2-4) event points to chamber-music performances by the duo and the ARK Sinfonietta, an ensemble of local musicians headed by Mr. Miura.
Image: Nobuyuki Tsujii performs with the ARK Sinfonietta with conductor Fumiaki Miura, at ARK Fesival 2019
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Small concerts by local musicians. I think that's the kind of performances that will blaze the trail as the classical music world gingerly emerge from the ravage of COVID. Likewise, word came today that London's Wigmore Hall is staging a series of lunch-time concerts performed to an empty hall for BBC broadcast, featuring leading British musicians ("local talent [including] Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida ... all the performers in the series live in London.").
Nobu was to perform at the Wigmore on June 27th. The recital has long been cancelled. If for no other reason, international traveling will be problematic for the foreseeable future. (There is talk of a 14-day quarantine for air passengers arriving in U.K.)
So this is what concerts have come to. I did see it coming: in the wake of the pandemic, only localized performances will be viable. For some time to come, musicians will likely be able to appear on stage only in the cities where they reside. In the case of Nobuyuki Tsujii, his popularity in Japan is such that his performances in Tokyo especially will have no trouble selling tickets. Unfortunately, someone like me will be excluded. And it will be many moons before I will get to hear the bewitching tone of his piano in a concert hall. I have accepted that.
For those who are fortunate enough to see him on stage again, there will likely be other changes. I don't know if it is as much a concern in Japan as in the U.K. and here (U.S.), but concert hall seating for musicians as well as for the audience will likely have to be adapted for physical distancing. For some time to come, orchestra performances may be out of question. And recitals and chamber groups are likely the performances that can be practically staged. That's why the Ark Hills Festival makes sense, as will the only June performance of Nobu that has not yet been cancelled, an All Chopin recital in a Tokyo museum. on June 2 to celebrate a "Chopin-Portrait of 200 Years" Commemorative Exhibition.
We cannot live in prolonged isolation. I really hope these smaller concerts will materialize, even though I myself cannot be in the audience. It will make me happy to think of Nobu performing on stage again, and I will get my share of vicarious pleasure from reading comments posted by those who are lucky enough to be in the audience.
There is no life without concerts.
RELATED ARTICLES
'Glimmer of hope': leading performers return to London's Wigmore Hall, U.K. Guardian May 12 2020
2020 Ark Hills Festival at Suntory Hall, Tokyo.
On the recently posted video of Nobuyuki Tsujii on TVTokyo: "We will smile together again", a twitter wrote:
今年も辻井さんの生演奏が聴けると良いな。[I hope I can hear Tsujii-san's live performance again this year.]
The poster spoke for many, including me.So the announcement this week of the 2020 Ark Hills Festival is welcome news. This Tokyo music festival, third years in running, is headed by Nobu and his good friend violinist Fumiaki Miura. Details have yet to come, but the program for the 3-day (Oct 2-4) event points to chamber-music performances by the duo and the ARK Sinfonietta, an ensemble of local musicians headed by Mr. Miura.
Image: Nobuyuki Tsujii performs with the ARK Sinfonietta with conductor Fumiaki Miura, at ARK Fesival 2019
Small concerts by local musicians. I think that's the kind of performances that will blaze the trail as the classical music world gingerly emerge from the ravage of COVID. Likewise, word came today that London's Wigmore Hall is staging a series of lunch-time concerts performed to an empty hall for BBC broadcast, featuring leading British musicians ("local talent [including] Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida ... all the performers in the series live in London.").
Nobu was to perform at the Wigmore on June 27th. The recital has long been cancelled. If for no other reason, international traveling will be problematic for the foreseeable future. (There is talk of a 14-day quarantine for air passengers arriving in U.K.)
So this is what concerts have come to. I did see it coming: in the wake of the pandemic, only localized performances will be viable. For some time to come, musicians will likely be able to appear on stage only in the cities where they reside. In the case of Nobuyuki Tsujii, his popularity in Japan is such that his performances in Tokyo especially will have no trouble selling tickets. Unfortunately, someone like me will be excluded. And it will be many moons before I will get to hear the bewitching tone of his piano in a concert hall. I have accepted that.
For those who are fortunate enough to see him on stage again, there will likely be other changes. I don't know if it is as much a concern in Japan as in the U.K. and here (U.S.), but concert hall seating for musicians as well as for the audience will likely have to be adapted for physical distancing. For some time to come, orchestra performances may be out of question. And recitals and chamber groups are likely the performances that can be practically staged. That's why the Ark Hills Festival makes sense, as will the only June performance of Nobu that has not yet been cancelled, an All Chopin recital in a Tokyo museum. on June 2 to celebrate a "Chopin-Portrait of 200 Years" Commemorative Exhibition.
We cannot live in prolonged isolation. I really hope these smaller concerts will materialize, even though I myself cannot be in the audience. It will make me happy to think of Nobu performing on stage again, and I will get my share of vicarious pleasure from reading comments posted by those who are lucky enough to be in the audience.
There is no life without concerts.
RELATED ARTICLES
'Glimmer of hope': leading performers return to London's Wigmore Hall, U.K. Guardian May 12 2020
2020 Ark Hills Festival at Suntory Hall, Tokyo.