It was featured in the March 14th edition of the Kahoku Shimpo.

On March 14th, the Kahoku Shimpo newspaper, headquartered in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, which is also a board member of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra General Incorporated Association, introduced the orchestra's concerts in Morioka and Tokyo at the end of this month.

This is an interview with Nishina Aya, a local Sendai native who composed the piece "Kugui no Sora," the first commissioned piece for the Tohoku Youth Orchestra for this concert. Director Ryuichi Sakamoto, who came up with this year's theme of "Sounds that are typical of Tohoku" and "Things that are northern," asked Nishina, who he knew in New York, to compose the piece, which led to this challenge.

All members of the orchestra are practicing with a sense of tension as they prepare for their first "world premiere."

Please come along to the Morioka performance on Saturday the 30th (seats still available) and the Tokyo performance on Sunday the 31st (sold out).