On January 4th and 5th, the Volunteer Concert IN Hokuriku was held at the Himi Arts and Culture Center in Toyama Prefecture.

The conductor was Yuki Takai, who also helped us out at "Otobutai 2024 Horyuji" in September last year.

The first day, the 4th, was a day of travel and practice in the hall. We gathered at Koriyama Station around 8am and took the bus to travel.

The person said, "I got up at 4am because it takes a long time to get ready!" and I felt sorry for sleeping until 6am.

After getting on the bus, some members were chatting and others were looking outside, but after about an hour, some members had fallen asleep.

We took a lunch break and other breaks as we traveled, and arrived at the venue around 3pm.

As soon as we arrived, we started practicing with Takai.
The Himi Arts and Culture Center is a recently built hall, and it's a very beautiful and lovely hall! https://www.himi-bunka.or.jp/

After a while of practice, we all had dinner on the first day and finished the day.

The second day, the 5th, is finally the real thing. Today is the last day of this volunteer concert, which we have been practicing since October. It feels a little sad. I hope that we can hold volunteer concerts in various places next term as well.

In the morning, we all headed to the venue from the hotel.
We had a stage rehearsal in the morning, and several members helped guide customers to the venue.

The MC was Mao Fukuzumi, a trombone player. In addition to supporting the participating members and leading them to the venue, he also acted as the MC, and I can't thank him enough.

The songs performed were "Aqua," "Kizuna World," "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence," "Yae no Sakura Main Theme," "The Last Emperor," "Behind the Mask," and "Flowers Bloom."

This volunteer concert was a talk session with the people of Himi City about their experiences and lessons from the earthquake. I want to live my life without forgetting the lessons I learned here.

Two of the songs we played were arranged by horn section member Kikuno Sora. He accompanied us to this volunteer concert as a chaperone and took many photos of the practice and the movement. Thank you!

↓Photos taken by Sora

On January 17th, the event was broadcast on Fukui Prefecture's News Saurus Fukui! It is currently being streamed on NHK+!

↓Check it out here! !
http://www.nhk.jp/p/ts/M2G2VJQ24Y/plus/

Today's volunteer concert was the beginning of TYO's theme of "From being supported to supporting." We would like to continue to work to support those in the disaster-stricken areas.

This is the end of a message from flute section member Ishikawa Keika.

The concert in March is just around the corner. We want to practice even harder so that the concert will be a great one.

For information on the Tohoku Youth Orchestra Concert 2025, click here
https://tohaku-youth-orchestra.org/concert_info