We have started our 7th period of activities.

On Sunday, July 11th, the Tohoku Youth Orchestra was able to begin its seventh term of activities in 2021. The timing was perfect, as Tokyo entered its fourth "state of emergency" the following day.
The venue for this year's kickoff event is Parse Iizaka in Iizaka Town, about 30 minutes by train from Fukushima City. The location was carefully chosen to avoid the three Cs and to ensure proper ventilation.

The first joint practice session in this luxurious space began with this year's orientation.
He declared that the Tohoku Youth Orchestra would continue to operate this year with the motto of "safety first," which has been the motto since the orchestra was founded, and then greeted the new members and the parents who had accompanied them.
With 69 continuing members and 33 new members, the orchestra now has a total of 102 members. In front of the third of the members who are new faces, I spoke with a fresh feeling about the purpose of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's activities, saying that we should not let the memory of the earthquake fade away, but rather to convey it to the world through music.
I distributed a copy of my book, "Resound, the Sound of Hope - The Tohoku Youth Orchestra Connects to the Future" (Froebel-kan) , to the new members to learn more about the process. I was honored to have my book selected as a required reading for the upper elementary school division of the 54th Iwate Book Review Competition run by the Kikuchi Yusei Culture Project , so I encouraged the elementary school students from Morioka City to write their reviews, saying, "If you write a review, I'll correct it. Let's have yours selected and have Kikuchi read it."
A message was also read from Ryuichi Sakamoto, the company's director and representative, who was unable to attend on the day. There were also some members who were absent, so I'll introduce them here.

I was really disappointed that last year's 5th anniversary concert was cancelled. It's been a long year and four months since then. It seems like the situation hasn't changed, but at least Tohoku Youth is now able to practice like this, which is a big change.

I'm really happy that I can't be there to practice today. My soul is with you all and listening carefully. This is a precious opportunity, so please don't waste your time, have fun, and work hard.

Ryuichi Sakamoto

Next, the secretariat members introduced themselves. Technical director Norimitsu Iijima (President of Promax from this spring) announced the dates and venues for the regular concert in March of next year. The concerts went south to Morioka, Sendai, and Fukushima, and cheers of joy were heard at the final venue in Tokyo.

Conductor Toshio Yanagisawa then asked the audience to be grateful for the opportunity to perform under such favorable conditions.

That's right. Gratitude and practice. And since we have more new people, let's say hello. This year, I introduced these two people, saying, "Don't forget to say thank you, practice, and say hello."

Mr. Hideyuki Araki (executive director of Fukushima Minpo and representative of Koriyama headquarters) supports the activities of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra as a director of the general incorporated association. Mr. Araki introduced his colleagues from Fukushima Minpo who participated in the kickoff, and a reporter wrote an article about the day in the Fukushima Minpo newspaper .

Furthermore, Michio Hattori, General Manager of JA Zenkyoren Fukushima, who has been a long-time sponsor of the project, expressed his high expectations for the activities leading up to the concert in March of next year.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the earthquake, and we have been asked to perform in October and November which will be a good commemoration for some of our members, and we have also given a performance of this.

In the second half of the kickoff orientation, this season's captain, Shiori Tajima, gave a few words and then introduced each section leader and each person in charge.

Captain Tajima entered the graduate school at Tokyo University of the Arts in April to pursue his horn. There aren't many photos of him wearing a mask, so I've uploaded Captain Tajima's profile photo of the 75 participants taken on that day.

With many new faces joining the troupe this season, we look forward to seeing her use her natural cheerfulness to bring the members together and bring out the best in them.

The new members also gave a short self-introduction. The next practice will be in September, skipping August, but I would like to ask the new members who were unable to attend this time to give a short self-introduction.

After about an hour of orientation, the participants were divided into sections to introduce themselves, decide on their responsibilities, and start playing.

In this conference room, we have the flute and oboe.

The first and second violins make use of the spacious stage to produce their sounds.

Already providing intensive training to the new elementary school student members as they practice their scales is this season's concert mistress, Watanabe Masahiro.

Masahiro, a member of the orchestra from the first term, was a high school student and is now a fourth-year student at a music college. I was deeply moved by how quickly time flies, and I was also happy about the tradition of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, which continues to have exchanges and guidance that transcends age.

Each part, which lasted about two hours, passed by in a flash and we all gathered together before the end.

While waiting for everyone to arrive, the new member reads a book by himself. As a book lover, I wanted to ask him, "What are you reading?" but I held myself back.

After saying goodbye and saying "See you again next time," Captain Tajima holds out his arm with his smartphone in hand. I wondered what he was doing, but it turned out he was recording comments from the new members for the Shibuya radio regular program "Shibuya's Tohoku Youth Orchestra" (every Wednesday from 11:30). You can listen to it here .

On the way back, we received a gift from the JA Kyosai Fukushima Prefecture Federation: a bottle of green tea and a pack of rice. Thank you very much!

Since we cannot hold a joint practice session next month in August, we will hold two sessions in September.
We're off to a good start towards March 2022!
To all members, please remember to "appreciate, practice, and greet each other," and let's make this season's activities more fulfilling by taking precautions against COVID-19!