Whether it’s for fine art, national treasures, or majestic architecture, visitors travel from far and wide to commune with all the diverse art and culture that awaits in Ueno Park. However, any discussion of Ueno would be incomplete without mentioning music, as recently evinced by Around Ueno Park with Music 2020. Launched in 2019, the annual event invites visitors on a two-day “sound tour” of six cultural institutions located throughout the park. Three musical performances, each ranging from 20 to 30 minutes, are conducted per day, for a total of six casual concerts that are all free of charge and open to the public. Join us as we explore this harmonious blend of music and art in Ueno.
A uniquely museum-worthy concert series
Around Ueno Park with Music 2020 opened with a dazzling flute trio performance at The Ueno Royal Museum.Flautist Yuri Ito, a prizewinner in the Wind Section of the 15th Tokyo Music Competition. The trio performed three captivating pieces, including Hirokazu Fukushima’s Snow Reflection Fantasy.
Even a quick glance at a map will illustrate Ueno’s inextricable connection to music. The area is, of course, home to the Tokyo University of the Arts (whose alumni include illustrious musicians such as Ryuichi Sakamoto and Taro Hakase) as well as the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, a world-class concert hall that doubles as a stage for the opera and ballet. But the connection runs even further back through the annals of time, as Ueno also boasts the Sogakudo, a concert hall built for the former Tokyo Music School as the first dedicated venue for authentic Western music in all of Japan.
In furtherance of these musical roots, Around Ueno Park with Music
was inaugurated in February 2019 as an annual mini-concert series consisting of
six performances held at museums throughout Ueno Park. Each performance provides
a platform for chamber music ensembles composed of past recipients of the Tokyo
Music Competition, a prestigious competition held under the auspices of the
Tokyo Bunka Kaikan and aimed at discovering and cultivating the new generation
of emerging artists.
The concert series serves as an excellent opportunity for Tokyo
Music Competition winners to perform alongside their peers in trios and quartets,
while providing concertgoers with a diverse musical program in such novel
venues as the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and the Ueno Royal Museum.
For example, the opening day of Around Ueno Park with Music 2020 featured a string quartet perched on the palatial staircase in the Tokyo National Museum, an architectural icon familiar from numerous films and TV programs. As the concert progressed, the quartet drew an ever-growing crowd of museum visitors entranced by the soprano and tenor hues of the violin and cello, richly amplified by the space.
Violinist Seki Tomotaka, 1st prize recipient in the String Section of the Tokyo Music Competition and current scholarship student at the Tokyo College of Music.This string quartet, comprised entirely of university students, received a particularly resounding round of applause for their fresh and youthfully energetic performance.
An informal venue to appreciate music and cultural diversity
Inside the old Sogakudo Concert Hall. The pipe organ was purchased by Marquis Yorisada Tokugawa in 1920, and imported from England as a gift to the Tokyo College of Music.Pianist Risako Fukagai performed three pieces arranged for solo piano, including the J.S. Bach cantata, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.
The performance at the Sogakudo Concert Hall, former home of the
Tokyo Music School, was a particular treat, as the same venue once resonated
with the piano of Rentaro Taki and the voice of Kosaku Yamada. Foregrounded
against Japan’s oldest pipe organ, the ensemble of young musicians transcended
nearly a century of music history, reminding the audience of the universal and
timeless power of music. Fresh off a solo piano concert at the Sogakudo earlier
in 2020, Risako Fukagai agreed that performing in the venue for both her own
recital and Around Ueno Park in Music was a special experience.
“When you’re a performer, there is something to be said for any
venue, whether a famous concert hall or a small community locale. However, in
terms of atmosphere, the Sogakudo is an exception. I feel this venue truly
offers concertgoers a uniquely intimate experience of classical music. Many
Tokyo Music Competition prizewinners have stood on this stage, but for me, the
greatest reward has been the opportunity to share my playing with a larger
audience through this event. I’m truly grateful and thrilled to have been able
to play here today. Outside of Japan, it’s quite normal to hold concerts in
museums and other cultural sites. But such concerts are still rare in Japan. I
hope there will be more events like Around Ueno Park with Music, where music
lovers can serendipitously stumble upon an informal performance as an extension
of their morning walk through the park.”
The event’s second day was rounded out with a string quartet at the
Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, a wind quartet at the Natural Museum of Nature and Science,
and a soprano-bass-guitar trio at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. As the distinct
reverberations of Toru Takemitsu’s modernist compositions and Teiichi Okano’s Furusato
faded away, the ensemble of university students and fledgling virtuosos packed
away their instruments, signaling the event’s close.
Around Ueno Park with Music represents an uncommon dialogue with music in an extraordinary space, immersed in art. This reporter has already marked his calendar, and eagerly awaits hearing what next year’s event has in store.
The newly renovated Sogakudo of the former Tokyo Music School, which reopened in November 2018. To the right of the entrance stands a statue of Rentaro Taki, produced by Fumio Asakura.“I would be delighted to perform again at Around Ueno Park with Music in the years to come.” Pianist Risako Fukagai placed second in the Piano Section at the 9th Tokyo Music Competition, and graduated at the top of her class in the concertist program at the Schola Cantorum in Paris.
Text: Takahiro Okuda Photos: Kuniko Hirano
Around Ueno Park with Music 2020
Dates: Wednesday, February 12th and Thursday, February 13th, 2020 Venues: The Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo National Museum, Sogakudo of the Former Tokyo Music School, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum) Event website: https://uenoyes.ueno-bunka.jp/2019/events/music.php
