During the week of August 15-20, eight students ages 12 to 16 from Fukushima, Japan will join eight young American composers ages 12 to 16 in New York City to participate in the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers Program. Together, the students will attend composition workshops, share personal histories and music in a cultural exchange, and explore New York City. In the Very Young Composers Program, students compose, orchestrate, and notate their own music with the help of teaching artists, and hear their scores performed by Philharmonic musicians. The Japanese students are part of the Tomodachi Suntory Fukushima Mirai Music Program, and their week in New York will culminate with a free concert with the young American composers at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center on August 20. The Fukushima composers have been creating arrangements of the Japanese song “Furusato,” which means “hometown” in Japanese, working with Professor Takehito Shimazu in a program based on the Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers model. The Tomodachi Initiative with the Philharmonic, established in the 2014-15 season in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, supports educational, cultural exchange, and leadership youth programs in Japan and the U.S.
Posted August 17, 2016
