The last day of the training camp! Tomorrow, the 21st, is the Iwate performance!!

Today's Iwate Nippo newspaper.
An article by reporter Fujita, who interviewed us yesterday, has been published.

Ahead of tomorrow's WBC semi-finals, the paper reported on local heroes with "Rouki and Otani are natural on the way to the big game," and the same article featured on the social page reported on the current situation at Okawa Elementary School, where members of the band visited on March 12th to perform the school song as a volunteer band.

Even after 12 years, the scars from the disaster remain.

Today we had extra members from the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra join us for our final day of ensemble practice.

Lunchtime is a precious opportunity to refuel after intense training, and there are long lines to receive hot meals.

At the very back of the line, violinist Tsuguyoshi Ota, a second-year junior high school student from Sendai, was admirably reading a book. Yesterday, she was wasting no time in the queue and had a book open, so when I asked her, "What are you reading?", she replied, "Do you know Greek mythology?" by Takashi Atoda.
This knowledge will definitely be useful in the future!

Mizuki Sato, also a second-year junior high school student and member of the violin group from Fukushima City, was asked by Yanagisawa Toshio yesterday what her favorite food was, and she answered "pepper," causing a stir that seemed to throw the conductor off guard, but she also had a special skill that was just as good as her pepper mill performance.

Crack an egg with one hand.

So today's lunch was beef bowl.

Manabu Takeda from the Fukushima office also looked happy.

After quickly gobbling down the beef bowl, we were busy practicing in a horn class taught by music college student Nazuna Itagaki (a fourth-year university student from Fukushima Prefecture).

The results of their practice were shown to the other members of the orchestra in a pre-concert before the big day, which begins tomorrow.

Please look forward to the horn septet.

In the afternoon, two people who would be performing a poetry reading with us came to the practice venue.

Yoshinaga Sayuri will be appearing at the Fukushima performance (Koriyama City) on the 23rd, Miyagi performance (Natori City) on the 24th, and Tokyo performance on the 26th, marking her sixth time having attended every concert.

The poems by Terayama Shuji and Hesse, which have been picked up for the first time this time, are two pieces written in memory of Director Ryuichi Sakamoto, who is currently recuperating from an illness, and I heard that Hesse is a writer that Sakamoto has been a fan of since he was in junior high school.

They returned to Tokyo after just under three hours. Thank you very much for taking the time to join us for the rehearsal!

Non will be performing with us at tomorrow's Iwate performance on the 21st.
The selected poem from "Spring and Ashura" by Kenji Miyazawa, a local native, includes the word "Ukraine." Yoshinaga, who selected the poem, said, "I wonder why Kenji wrote "Ukraine."

"Thank You" by Kikuta Kokoro, a victim of the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami, will be read aloud for the first time in all performances, and the ending will make you want to say "I can't take it anymore." We ask that everyone in the audience listen with a handkerchief in hand.

And speaking of the annual tradition, Yuji Arakawa, CEO of music copyright management company NexTone and writer of music commentary for the pamphlet for the TYO regular concert, came to encourage us with his usual gift: "The Tohoku Youth Orchestra's final performance is incredible. I'm looking forward to hearing their performance tomorrow."

Of course, the gift came from Mr. Arakawa, who is also known as "Uncle Cream Puff."

We can finish off the training camp with some sweets, thank you.

Finally, the day before the performance, we were able to practice the main piece for the next day, Mahler's Symphony No. 5, from start to finish in the evening.

The four energetic girls in front of the countdown board are members from the first term. From the left, they are Nishino Aoi (from Miyagi Prefecture, trombone), Chiba Aiko (from Miyagi Prefecture, violin), Abe Himeno (from Fukushima Prefecture, violin), and Suzuki Nami (from Miyagi Prefecture, violin), who will be starting college life in Tokyo in April. Their tough and cheerful attitude, which shows they have mastered the training camp just before the event, gave me energy.

Mr Yanagisawa, who was the first to arrive for dinner, looked very tired...

However, when the camera is pointed at them, they make a peace sign.

Kaizu Kota (trombone player, from Fukushima Prefecture) is singing "Okayu." His energy is even reflected in his T-shirt!

Suzuki's classmate, Saiun Sakamoto (from Miyagi Prefecture, flute), also joined the group, and we can all do our best to emulate these tenacious, cheerful people who make peace signs.

Before the evening practice, this year's fanfare, composed by Hidezumi Tono (from Fukushima Prefecture, third-year university student, percussion), was performed.

The strange combination of violin, two clarinets, percussion, horn, and double bass was apparently chosen by the orchestra members. You can hear what kind of song it will be just before the performance begins.

With the final confirmations complete, the final training camp is over!

At the request of the hall, everyone will disinfect the room.

Sasaki Seri (from Fukushima Prefecture, first year university student, violin) is in charge of disinfection, and her partner Asano Yuzuki (from Fukushima Prefecture, second year high school student, flute) is in charge of wiping down the instruments.

Here, Itagaki Nazuna from the horn music class is in charge of disinfection, and Sato Anna (from Fukushima Prefecture, third year university student, flute) is in charge of wiping down with water.

These are the disinfected chair carrying pair, Senda Natsuki (from Fukushima Prefecture, third year university student, horn) and Honda Norimaru (from Fukushima Prefecture, second year university student, cello).

It's heartwarming to see people who would never have met without the Tohoku Youth Orchestra working together. Of course, the greatest form of cooperation is playing music together.

Thank you to Denen Hall for hosting us for three days!

The 2023 regular concert finally starts tomorrow!
We look forward to seeing you there.

Same-day tickets will be sold for all performances!
See you at the venue.