Grants Takeda｜New Year's Concert: String Quintet Resonates in a Castle Town

2021.02.24 classical music

Date	January 15, 2021 (Fri)

venue	Takeda City Shirokamachi Exchange Plaza

In the midst of the Corona disaster, there is a strong need for people to be able to communicate with each other through live music and performing arts. In October 2020, we started the "Takeda Version Artist Support Project". This project aims to provide many citizens with opportunities to enjoy live music and to support artists in their self-production. This year's concert was held as a New Year's Concert to mark the beginning of the new year.

This site includes the entire program (5 songs including encore).

[Contents of the recording]
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Mozart
Emperor's Round Dance Johann Strauss II
The Voice of Spring Johann Strauss II
The Beautiful Blue Wood Donau Johann Strauss II
Radetzky March Johann Strauss I

CAST & STAFF

Keiichi Asarai (Violin)
Born in Oita City, Oita Prefecture. Graduated from the High School of Music attached to the Faculty of Music of Tokyo University of the Arts and the Violin Department of the Faculty of Music of the same university. He has been invited to perform at music festivals in Japan and abroad, including the 1st, 11th, and 20th Commemorative Beppu Argerich Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival in the United States. The 1st Midori Goto Lecture Concert, the movie "Maestro! NHK TV series "Yale" and others. He also created the stage music for the Kyushu premiere of rakugo storyteller Yonedanji Katsura's "Opéra Rakugo," and worked on the JR Kyushu cruise train "Natsusei in Kyushu. He is widely known and loved.

Saori Noda (Violin)
Born in Kumamoto City. Graduated from Lutheran College High School Art Course. She completed the instrumental music course at Oita Prefectural Junior College of Arts and Culture and the accredited major course at the same university. She won the Gold Prize and the Jury's Special Prize at the 9th Kyushu Music Competition. She received the Verde Artist Award (3rd place overall) at the 6th Verde Music Competition. Since then, she has been active in various performances. She was a guest performer at the opening stage of the 33rd National Cultural Festival Oita 2018, "Yorokobi Mukaeru? She appeared as a guest performer and gave a solo performance in front of the Crown Prince and Princess. She has studied under Yumiko Yamamoto, Himari Umehara, Kazutoyo Arata, Ryunobu Goto, and Mayumi Kawase. Currently, she is active as a violinist mainly in Kyushu. She is also a teacher of the Iichiko Grand Theater Junior Orchestra and a member of Sanrio's "Musicians of the Ribbon Country" in western Japan.

Eizo Shimamori (Viola)
Graduated from the International Suzuki Method School of Music. He won the Gold Prize at the 28th Kumamoto Prefecture High School Instrumental Music Competition, and represented the prefecture at the 27th All-Kyushu High School Music Competition. She has studied violin under the late Otoya Inomoto, Yohko Inomoto, Koji Toyoda, Yuko Suzuki, and viola under Koji Toyoda. Currently, she is a part-time instructor at Oita Prefectural Geijutsu Midorigaoka High School, a Suzuki Method instructor, and a freelance performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral music.

Kenta Uno (Cello)
Born in Hita, Oita Prefecture. After graduating from the High School of Music attached to the Tokyo University of the Arts, he completed his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He also studied at the Department of Contemporary Music Performance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz with Klangforum Wien. He has studied with Hiroyuki Kaneki, Nobuko Yamazaki, Fumiaki Kono, W. Schulz, C. Ottensamer, B. Weinmeister and F. Bartolomei, and in 2017 he won the second prize at the Klaipeda International Cello Competition, and in the same year he won the first prize in the string section and the second prize in the overall section at the Padua International Music Competition.

Ryohei Morita (double bass)
Born in Kagoshima City. Completed master's programs at Heisei College of Music and Kyoto City University of Arts. He has been invited to perform at music festivals in Japan and abroad, including the Kirishima International Music Festival and the Liszt Festival in Hungary, and has given performances as a soloist throughout Japan, as well as recitals and performances with orchestras overseas. In 2007, he performed with Gary Carr. In addition to classical music, he has toured with various artists such as Yuzu and Masaru Sada. He has been a guest player of the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra and the Macau Orchestra, and is a contracted guest principal of the Bulgarian National Vratsa Symphony Orchestra. He is the producer and representative director of Kyushu City Philharmonic Association. He is the 157th Amami Oshima Tourism Ambassador, and has been the Director of Music Planning and Production of Grants Taketa, Takeda City Cultural Hall since 2008.

MESSAGE

We hope you enjoy the atmosphere of the New Year's Concert in the castle town of Takeda.

（The quintet will include violin, viola, cello, and double bass, so the sound will be thicker and you will be able to enjoy the sounds of all the string instruments.
(About future activities) (On future activities) Since last year, I have been fortunate to be associated with the city of Takeda, and I have been able to not only perform concerts, but also create “concerts”. I want to make a lot of “devices“ that will make people in Taketa and Oita feel closer to music.