HANAMAKI, Iwate Prefecture--A children’s orchestra formed after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and equipped with musical instruments donated from around Asia will hold its first concert on the one-year anniversary of the disaster.
HANAMAKI, Iwate Prefecture--A children’s orchestra formed after the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and equipped with musical instruments donated from around Asia will hold its first concert on the one-year anniversary of the disaster.
The Venus Junior Orchestra was established in September in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, the hometown of Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), a poet and author of children’s literature.
The orchestra has 91 members, all of them elementary or junior high school students. They were beginners when they joined the group, but they can now play such musical instruments as the violin, cello and viola.
Shinichi Minami, 58, a music director of the Gunma Junior Orchestra, has been teaching the children in Hanamaki twice a month.
The 94 new musical instruments used by the children were donated from Singapore, Vietnam and South Korea after Minami called on music-related people to support areas affected by the March 11 disaster.
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, 570 people have relocated to the inland city of Hanamaki from coastal communities devastated by the tsunami. Four members of the junior orchestra were from hard-hit areas, including Natsuki Oikawa, 11, who moved from Miyako, also in Iwate Prefecture.
“I want to perform so that I can give encouragement to people affected by the disaster,” Natsuki, a fifth-grader at Miyanome Elementary School in Hanamaki, said.
One popular short story written by Miyazawa, a music lover and a cello player, was “Gauche the Cellist.” The junior orchestra is named after “Venus Orchestra” that appeared in the story.
“I want the children’s orchestra to take root in the hometown of Kenji (Miyazawa). I want to convey the feeling of gratitude to the Asian countries through the (March 11 concert),” Minami said.
The concert will be held at the Hanamaki city cultural hall. The children’s orchestra will play such songs as “Kirakiraboshi” (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star) and “Kaeru no Gassho” (Frog chorus).
The Gunma Junior Orchestra and Gunma Kokusai Gasshodan (Gunma international choir) will take part in the concert as guests.