Last concert of the year! Violinist Rika Masato and I played at a noontime concert at Iino Building. Lovely short pieces by Kreisler, sonata by Debussy, and Carmen Fantsy by Sarasate – good program to end year 2016. We loved the cheering in between the movements in Carmen!
Thank you for coming to hear us at the Living Room Cafe！
It’s always a treat to work with violinist Mai Suzuki! We had fun performing our favorite short pieces this week. Yesterday, we escaped the heat in the Kawaguchi-Ko Music Forest in Yamanashi. Their summer roses and old music boxes are from all over the world. It felt like we were performing in a fairytale land.
ザルツブルグから帰国中のヴァイオリニスト、鈴木舞さんと河口湖オルゴールの森美術館へ行ってきました。世界に数台しかなく、製作に250年かかったというオルゴールが置かれたメインホールと、部屋全体がオルガンになっているダンスホールで、沢山のお客様に聴いていただきました。オルゴールの綺麗な装飾や色とりどりの夏バラに囲まれて、舞さんの美しいヴァイオリンにうっとりしました。
I had the honor of performing at the 6th Enraku Sanyutei’s Rakugo recital in Ginza Jujiya. Rakugo is a Japanese traditional form of comic storytelling. Using only a paper fan (扇子 sensu) and a small cloth (手拭 tenugui) as props, Rakugo’s minimalistic style is one of the coolest arts we have in Japan. The master Enraku took us through a mesmerizing hour of storytelling. His storytelling was so good that I forgot I needed to perform next! I was completely drawn in by the funny but very human tale of a pickpocket in Edo. Famous for his sarcasm, of course he said “this big instrument takes up so much space on the stage! ”
昨日は銀座十字屋さんの「午後のサロン」で円楽師匠の後に演奏させて頂きました。銀座にちなんだお話からいつのまにかじーんとくる人情噺になり、本当に時を忘れるくらい師匠の話芸に引き込まれました。「寄席のように居心地が良い十字屋さんのホールですね、このピアノさえなければ…」いじって頂きました！ありがとうございます。
