"ALTERNATIVE-STATE: The Concert that Bridges Beppu and the Future"
On February 23rd, we participated in the "ALTERNATIVE-STATE: The Concert that Bridges Beppu and the Future" held in Beppu with our string quartet.
The members who participated were four members total: first violin from Fukushima Prefecture, Mahiro Watanabe (TYO OB), second violin from Miyagi Prefecture, Minami Suzuki, viola from Fukushima Prefecture, Yuri Naganuma, and cello from Miyagi Prefecture, Makoto Hibino (TYO OB).
The performance for this event took place in Beppu, Oita Prefecture.
As soon as we arrived in Beppu, we ended up having lunch and had Oita's specialty called "toriten" (also known as chicken tempura). It was very filling and the meat was really tender and delicious.
Next, we were shown around the city and steam was rising everywhere, even from the drains! We felt like we were able to fully experience a true, authentic hot spring town.
After that, we finished off the first day with a tuning session.
At the "ALTERNATIVE-STATE: The Concert that Bridges Beppu and the Future," we performed the background music of Seiichi Saitō-san's work, "JIKU." It depicts the axis of Beppu in the sky above it with rays of light and the performance took place on the rooftop of a building with this beautiful work in the background!
When we got to the rooftop, the wind was blowing and it was so cold!
Because a cold wave had hit Beppu for exactly three days during our visit, it felt as cold as it is in the Tōhoku region. It was expected to be even colder at night during our actual performance so we were a little worried about whether we would be able to play well or not.
As it got dark, the lighting ceremony for "JIKU" began and it was almost time to perform.
The songs we performed were as follows:
1. The Last Emperor
This space where director Sakamoto's music was playing with a blue light shining in the night sky felt like something special was flowing through the air. I love "Aqua" but the combination of this musical piece with the blue light of Saitō-san's work made it even more beautiful.
We are extremely grateful that many people listened to us until the very end despite the cold!
We were at ease and took a breather after the performance.
The photo shows us clapping hand warmers between our hands as though we are thanking someone. As expected, playing outside was very cold. During the performance, we warmed our hands with hand warmers between songs as well.
This time, after visiting Beppu far away from Tōhoku and participating in an art project, we learned that Beppu is not only a city with hot springs but also a city with a thriving art scene. It was a very fun and valuable experience to be able to play along with an artwork and it would be wonderful to perform like this again. Thank you for inviting the Tohoku Youth Orchestra to Beppu.
P.S. On the day that we returned from Beppu to Tokyo, our flight was canceled due to the snow so we took an express train and then transferred to the bullet train to get back home. The flight going to Beppu was over in a flash so we didn't really realize how far Oita and Tokyo actually were...
We are truly grateful to have had this opportunity to perform in Beppu, Oita, considering the fact that it is so far away from where we are so we don't often get to go. Thank you so much again!
Yours truly, Yuri Naganuma on the viola.
Thank you for reading until the very end.