Total Immersion : Sounds from Japan

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Total Immersion: Sounds from Japan
Takemitsu and the New Generation

A day of music, film and more…

10.30am Talk & Film, Barbican Cinemas
Music for the Movies: Toru Takemitsu
Takemitsu composed the scores for almost 100 films, including Kurosawa's epic Ran, based on King Lear. This documentary includes interviews with Takemitsu and clips from some of the films.
1994, Dir. Charlotte Zwerin
Plus an introduction to music in Japan today.
Tickets £6

1.00pm Concert, LSO St. Luke’s
Takemitsu Rain Spell
Takemitsu Tree Line
Jo Kondo Surface, Depth and Colour 
Dai Fujikura Secret Forest

Guildhall Chamber Ensemble
Sian Edwards conductor

Taking us from Takemitsu’s beguiling vision of slender acacias Tree Line (1988) to the dizzying evocation of birds and insects in Dai Fujikura’s Secret Forest (2008) the Guildhall Chamber Ensemble explore a fragile, unearthly and shimmering acoustic world in this concert. Jo Kondo’s meditative Surface, Depth and Colour bridges the generation gap.
Tickets £12 (unreserved seating)

3.00pm Film, Barbican Cinemas 
Thirteen Steps Around TakemitsuA portrait of Takemitsu filmed at his country home and in Tokyo, featuring the composer in conversation as well as perfomances of A Flock Descends on the Pentagonal Garden and excerpts from his chamber music.
UK, 1996, Dir. Barrie Gavin
Tickets £6

5.00pm  Concert, Barbican Hall

Japanese traditional music for sho, koto and shakuhachi
Dai Fujikura Movements from Okeanos cycle: Touch of Breeze, Breathign Tides, Cutting Sky and Okeanos Breeze
Fusion piece created by musicians from the BBC SO, Okeanos, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and composer Dai Fujikura. 

Robin Thompson sho
Melissa Holding koto
Clive Bell shakuhachi 
Okeanos  
Musicians from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama

A chance to hear traditional music from Japan, performed by leading UK exponents. Plus East meets West in Dai Fujikura’s cycle of pieces written for the Okeanos ensemble. And a new work created specially for this concert. 
Tickets £12 (unreserved seating)

7.00pm Free Event, Barbican Foyer
The culmination of BBC SO Learning's Diverse Orchestra Japan week.

7.30pm, Barbican Hall
Akira Nishimura Bird Heterophony 
Misato Mochizuki Musubi 
Takemitsu November Steps for shakuhachi, biwa and orchestra 
Dai Fujikura Atom UK premiere 
Toshio Hosokawa Woven Dreams UK premiere
Akira Miyoshi Litania pour Fuji 

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Kazushi Ono conductor
Kifu Mitsuhashi shakuhachi
Kumiko Shuto biwa

A unique celebration of Japanese composers past and present, featuring two major premieres, by Dai Fujikura and Toshio Hosokawa. Nishimura’s scintillating Bird Heterophony contasts with the sad solemnity of Mochizuki’s Musubi, both for strings and percussion. Miyoshi’s Litani Fuji erupts like the famous volcano while Takemitsu’s spooky November Steps, in which he juxtaposed traditional Japanese instruments with orchestra, was written at the suggestion of Leonard Bernstein.  
Tickets £24 £20 £16 £12 £8

Sounds from Japan Day Pass
Save money and guarantee entry to all events with a Total Immersion Day Pass. Day Passes are available by telephone or in person only.
£48 £45 £42 £38 £35