A report Tuesday (9/18) in The Asahi Shimun (Tokyo) states, “German musicians, including members of one of the world’s leading orchestras, are raising funds for a youth orchestra in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, where children continue to live with damage and fallout from last year’s quake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. On Sept. 16, Berlin Philharmonic players and other musicians gave a charity concert in the orchestra’s chamber-music hall. It was part of the Berlin music festival, which features prominent orchestras from around the world. … Proceeds from ticket sales will help fund a children’s orchestra currently in training in Soma, about 45 kilometers north of the destroyed Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. The youth orchestra is partly the work of El Sistema, an organization with roots in Venezuela that promotes education through music at project sites worldwide. It provides instruments and funds tutors. The idea for the orchestra came from a Berlin Philharmonic player who visited Japan in autumn last year and suggested founding a branch. Friends of El Sistema Japan was launched in March; it decided upon Soma for its first project.”
Posted September 18, 2012
