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  • Soka University Pioneer Wind Orchestra Wins Gold Prize at the Tokyo Wind Orchestra Musical Competition, in its Sixth Time and Second Year in a Row Going to the All-Japan Competition!

2019/09/09

Soka University Pioneer Wind Orchestra Wins Gold Prize at the Tokyo Wind Orchestra Musical Competition, in its Sixth Time and Second Year in a Row Going to the All-Japan Competition!

    On September 7 (Saturday), the Pioneer Wind Orchestra of Soka University won the gold prize at the 59th Tokyo Wind Orchestra Musical Competition (university section) held in Fuchunomori Geijutsu Gekijo in Tokyo and earned a trip to the All-Japan Wind Orchestra Musical Competition for the sixth time and second year in a row.

    The competition is a preliminary contest for the All-Japan Wind Orchestra Musical Competition held by the All-Japan Band Association and Asahi Shimbun Company. It is held in each region by age group. In the university section, the top eight universities selected (out of 24 groups) in the Tokyo University Wind Orchestra Musical Competition held on August 18 (Sunday) participated with the goal of earning a spot at the All-Japan Competition (top two universities).
     
    The Pioneer Wind Orchestra played with all their strength a set piece of music, Bismuth Psychedelia I (composed by Takafumi Hikage) and a free program, “A paraphrase from Opera ‘The Tale of the Blackened Canteen’” (composed by Yasuhide Ito) conducted by composer Yasuhide Ito, and were awarded a ticket to the national contest. The judges commented: “Each musician has great skill, and they are exceptionally well balanced. They created an ‘artistic’ piece of music,” and “It was a wonderful performance that was well worth listening to.”

    Orchestra conductor Ai Kaneshiro (a sophomore with the Faculty of Business Administration) said, “For this contest, we practiced while also discussing what music we wanted to perform and what passion we wanted to convey to the audience. We chose a piece of music composed based on ‘peace’ as the theme for our free program, and on stage, we were able to perform the music with our wish to spread peace by cheering up the people in front of us. Now, we will further come together for the All-Japan Competition, and while being grateful to all those who support us, we will keep practicing with the aim of performing pioneering music.”

    The All-Japan Wind Orchestra Musical Competition (university section) will be held on October 26 (Saturday) at Link Station Hall Aomori in Aomori Prefecture.
    ページ公開日:2019/09/09