We performed as the opening act for the badminton S/J League TOP 4 Tournament Finals.
We performed as the opening act for the badminton S/J League TOP 4 Tournament Finals.
This year, in between the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's Tokyo and Sendai concerts, they performed as the opening act at the final match of the TOP4 Tournament to determine the best badminton team in Japan, which was held at the Xebio Arena Sendai on Sunday the 25th.
Why badminton and orchestra? How can sports and culture be integrated? With such simple questions in mind, we gathered at 7:30 in the morning.
The first to perform was none other than conductor Yanagisawa Toshio, followed by Fukusumi Maon, a first-year junior high school student who lives near Sendai City, on trombone, and then local concert girl Chiba Hazuki.
The bus from Fukushima has arrived, and today we will be performing with over 70 members. As we entered the venue, Xebio Arena, the members cheered and everyone took out their smartphones.
It was even displayed on the center vision inside the venue.
Tohoku Youth Orchestra logo!
Additionally, to lift our spirits, there was a 360-degree ribbon vision surrounding the court.
Everyone recorded the welcome with the TYO logo displayed throughout the venue!
We received the data from Sakura Sato, a fellow horn player, who was photographed with Mizuki Sone (left), who is graduating from TYO due to employment, at the Sendai performance on the 31st.
Sakura Sato, who took the photos, also sent us the following feedback.
"Having the opportunity to perform as an opening act for a sports event was a professional experience. My father used to work at the futsal field next door, and I've seen a lot of games at the Xebio Arena, so today has become a very fond memory for me."
It's true that even professionals rarely have an opportunity like this. Rehearsals start at 8:00, about two and a half hours before the performance.
Surrounded by TYO logos and confused by the sound reverberation unique to arenas, Yanagisawa Toshio continues his careful checks.
Here, we received a greeting from tournament ambassador Shintaro Ikeda . Mr. Ikeda is a well-known Olympian, the first Japanese man to win a medal at the World Championships in 2007, and the tournament ambassador for this TOP4 tournament.
"I'm happy that the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's performance has become a reality. I was so impressed by the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's activities that when it was decided that the tournament would be held in Sendai I definitely wanted to invite them to the finals," he said.
I was deeply moved by Mr. Shintaro Ikeda's enthusiastic encouragement. Thank you very much for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.
As for where TYO was performing in the entire venue, it looked something like this.
It's right next to the court. Looking at it from a distance like this, the combination of a badminton court and an orchestra is quite unique and fascinating, and makes you want to write a haiku about it.
Since we had the opportunity to rehearse in this special location, we decided to film it in 360 degrees.
That was an analog 360-degree shoot.
This was probably due to the efforts of Shintaro Ikeda and other pioneers in the badminton world. I had a seat like this right next to the court.
This is the Royal Box. It is a box seat for four people. It costs 60,000 yen including food and drink service.
In addition, the seats behind the digital signage displaying the TYO logo on the end line of the court were designated as exciting seats (10,000 yen).
I was impressed by the seats, which seemed to be so impressive that I could see not only the shuttlecock but also the sweat of the athletes.
We were impressed with the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's logo, which looks great even when displayed on a digital sign like this, and TYO art teacher and designer Nagashima Rikako said, "It's a well-designed logo."
Now that practice is over, there's about an hour and a half until the actual performance.
Our waiting room is at the back of the building.
Here.
It was the big room.
Some people practice during this time,
Some people may be feeling a bit hungry after working from early in the morning.
Oboe player Satoshi Sekine (left) got up at 3:30 in the morning from Koriyama and came here without even taking the Shinkansen. Being a second-year high school student means eating a lot. Clarinetist Natsumi Kidoguchi (center) from Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture, and violinist Ai Hibino (right) from Sendai City enjoyed a local delicacy called "Mochi Frank". It was a typical scene of people from three prefectures who met at the Tohoku Youth Orchestra feasting on local B-class gourmet food.
Everyone changes into their stage costumes and the performance begins.
A familiar face among the members!
The first season's captain, Momo Hasegawa (currently a music teacher at a junior high school in Miyagi Prefecture), happened to be going to a movie at a cinema close to the venue, so she dropped by to support us. We took a commemorative photo of our reunion with Asano Miku, a local percussionist. I just realized that Asano's name is a perfect fit for this year's program, Debussy's "La Mer."
This is Shiori Tajima, a horn player and member from the third term who has proven to respond with a humorous pose whenever the camera is pointed at her.
It's time to set out.
The cello case stands out.
In the back yard, memorabilia from legendary athletes from around the world who have played at Xebio Arena Sendai was on display.
Yuzuru Hanyu's autograph and merchandise from NBA legends.
The performance will be held at the arena that has produced so many memorable matches.
Here we go.
For the two songs we performed, local university student and top trumpet player Yuto Nakamura came along to help and support us, as he was off duty.
The live footage on the center vision is eye-catching.
I've uploaded the performance of "Three TOHOKU Songs" from that day.
Please check out other TYO performance videos as well.
After the performance, they took a commemorative photo with the three players from Japan Unisys, the team competing in the finals.
From the left are Takae Nakanishi, Nozomi Okuhara (bronze medalist in singles at the Rio Olympics), who is the world's best, and Shiori Ebihara.
Once we receive official photos from the organizers, we will upload them.
In any case, we received a huge round of applause and left the arena where the final was about to begin.
From the right, with satisfied expressions on their faces, are conductor Yanagisawa Toshio, the two double bass players, aspiring nurse Watanabe Haruka and section leader Yoshida Asuka.
Inside the arena, the first match of the women's final between Nippon Unisys and Saishunkan Pharmaceutical had begun.
The pair of Hoshi Chito and Higashino Arisa from Nippon Unisys vs. Fukushima Yuki and Hirota Sayaka. Not only was the speed faster than I expected, but the sound of the racket hitting the shuttlecock was soothing, and I was impressed that this was a world-class sound.
The second match was a singles match between Sayaka Takahashi of Nippon Unisys and Akane Yamaguchi of Saishunkan Pharmaceutical. Yamaguchi is a strong player, and it turns out she is the youngest ever winner of the Yonex Open and is currently ranked second in the world! The team members held their breath as they watched the match between the world's best athletes.
This is Captain Akane of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra.
Akane Hatakeyama, who served as captain for the second and third seasons, was the captain for the first season.
The Fukushima group's bus was leaving at 1pm, so the local Sendai group came to see them off.
Well, on Saturday the 31st we will be performing in Sendai. This will be the final concert of the third period of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra.
We hope that the performance will be even better than the Tokyo concert, and that we will receive thunderous applause and cheers from everyone who comes to the Sendai venue.