First, we took an artist photo with the second term members of this year. This is a smartphone photo taken from the same angle.

If you look closely, you can see conductor Yanagisawa Toshio and another person standing next to the piano on the left.

That's right, this time the representative and manager Ryuichi Sakamoto, who came to Japan from New York, joined the practice, and arrived at Fukushima Station, wearing the straw sandals of the Fukushima City Summer Festival. The practice venue was Paruse Iizaka in Iizaka Onsen, where we were also treated in February of last year.

Director Sakamoto joined us on this day, so the staff involved in interviews, recording, and information dissemination also participated. Ms. Naiko Ito from Sapporo and designer Rikako Nagashima, who we asked to hold a workshop called "Let's spread the word about TYO better" at this summer's training camp, joined us.

In my personal opinion, our hairstyles and clothes are always the same. Ito-san is leading the renewal of TYO's website, and on this day, I was interviewing him during the lunch break to get his real voice across. I also interviewed Captain Akane Hatakeyama.

And then the shoot.

As the day was also Christmas, Hatakeyama demonstrated his captaincy by bringing treats for the band members out of his own pocket.

Kirin Beverage also sent a canned coffee to the Mets. Kirin's canned coffee is Fire. Director Sakamoto is currently appearing in an advertisement for the black type of product, and the commercial is currently on air, so it's a great coincidence.

Of course, he gulped down the snacks in thanks. During the break, Fukushima Minpo, which will be hosting a triumphant return performance in his hometown of Koriyama City on March 26th next year, interviewed Director Sakamoto.

It appeared in the morning paper the next day.

Practice with Ryuichi Sakamoto Tohoku Youth Orchestra | Great East Japan Earthquake | Fukushima Minpo
http://www.minpo.jp/pub/topics/jishin2011/2016/12/post_14576.html

thank you!

As for the essential practice, in the morning they performed Mahler's Symphony No. 1. After joining Director Sakamoto, they performed Japanese folk songs that will be debuted at the concert in March next year, starting with a medley of folk songs from the three prefectures they are from, "Three TOHOKU Songs" (arranged by Dai Fujikura), followed by the Okinawa folk song "Tinsagu no Hana", and Director Sakamoto's homage to the Ryukyu Islands, "Miruku Yugafu". At the actual performance, four members of the Unaigumi group, led by Misako Koja from Okinawa, will perform the sanshin and sing, and we are looking forward to seeing what kind of performance it will be.

As with last year, TYO's official photographer, Ryuichi Maruo, captured the event in stills and on video.

And now we have renewed the TYO homepage. The team that came together on this day has created an exciting website that conveys the message of TYO. Please take a look.

Tohoku Youth Orchestra: Tohoku Youth Orchestra
http://tohoku-youth-orchestra.org/

This website has information on the advance sale of tickets for the second concert in Tokyo and Koriyama on March 25th and 26th next year. We have also announced that Sayuri Yoshinaga will be making a guest appearance, just like last time. We hope you will enjoy the live performance at the venue! We wish you all a happy new year. Thank you for your continued support of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra!

Tohoku Youth Orchestra: Tohoku Youth Orchestra
http://tohoku-youth-orchestra.org/