[Volunteer Concert in Kesennuma DAY2] Members' Report

This is a report on the second day of the Kesennuma volunteer performance event!

The first people we will introduce are the latecomers, who look nervous as the big day approaches...

Our destination on the second day is Kesennuma City Great East Japan Earthquake Relics and Memorial Museum.

This facility, which stands in the Hashikami district, is a renovated version of Kesennuma Koyo High School, which was damaged by the tsunami during the earthquake and tsunami, and has preserved the classrooms and grounds as they were at the time.

When all the participants had finally gathered, we headed out to tour the facility together with the storytellers who shared their memories of those days. Our attendants were Akio Miura and Kimihito Kondo. They were classmates and guided us around the facility.

Despite the cold wind blowing, we concentrated on looking at the exhibits.

On the left is a car that crashed into the third floor of the school building, and on the right is a dent made by a warehouse that crashed into the fourth floor of the school building. When the tsunami hit, a nearby refrigerated warehouse was swept toward the school building, but it happened to crash into the edge of the building, allowing those who had evacuated to the roof to be saved. It's an unimaginable situation...

After finishing the tour, it was time to fill our stomachs!

Lunch was prepared by the family of Mizuho Miura, the musician and perc. who was also the initiator of this event! We enjoyed a feast using local ingredients, including two kinds of steamed rice, fish ball soup, potato roe soup, special pickles, and more! We ate together with the people from LAFFOO and the folk museum!

After lunch, rehearsals begin for the actual performance.

In fact, the venue for this concert is quite large for a volunteer concert! We changed into all-black outfits and headed off to practice. Our alumni, Kano-san, was also there to support us!

The start of the show is finally approaching.

The performance began. The first piece was "The Last Emperor," conducted by H. Kikuno. They gave a magnificent performance in front of a packed audience.

The second piece is "Trio for Six Horns" by Hr Trio. It gently and gorgeously envelops the entire venue. The third piece is "A Town with a View of the Sea" by the Mokko ensemble. It is performed while imagining the strong, sometimes frightening, yet beautiful sea of Kesennuma.

The fourth piece was a trumpet trio from the film "litany" directed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. We wanted to share this piece, which we had performed at a volunteer concert in the past, so we performed it. Next was "aqua" by the string ensemble. This piece features a gentle melody and is a favorite of the members of the orchestra.

The final song was "Furusato," a beautiful tune that touched the hearts of everyone.

After that, we received thunderous applause and performed "The Last Emperor" as an encore! The members were very happy to see the smiles on the faces of the audience.

This volunteer concert ended with great success.

Of course, the volunteers will continue playing until they get home!

So, finally, we stopped off at Otani Beach one more time to buy souvenirs and take some more commemorative photos!

Now we will all disband to our respective homes, and this project will come to an end!

Thank you to everyone who came to listen, to the Folk Museum and LAFFOO Kansai branch, and to everyone who helped out!

And above all, thank you to everyone who participated! Let's do our best for the concert in March.

This project was the largest ever for a volunteer performance by Tohoku Youth. By visiting Kesennuma, which suffered the greatest damage from the earthquake, I believe that this activity allowed us to confirm various thoughts, such as the meaning of being the "Tohoku" Youth Orchestra and the meaning of conveying our message through music.

What can the Tohoku Youth Orchestra convey to help society cope with natural disasters such as the Noto Peninsula earthquake? I want to continue my volunteer performance activities while constantly asking myself this question.

Tohoku Youth Orchestra volunteer performer Tb. Mayon Fukusumi