"Fantastic Gala Concert 2018" hosted by Yasunao Ishida

The annual end-of-year "Fantastic Gala Concert." This year, marking the 160th anniversary of Japan-France relations, we will be presenting a stylish and elegant program with a French theme.
From Japan's leading artists to promising young performers, a spectacular lineup will be gathering at Kanagawa Prefectural Hall! This time, we spoke with Yasunao Ishida, the principal solo concertmaster of the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra.

*From a performance in 2016 ©Kiyonori Hasegawa

The "Fantastic Gala Concert 2018" will be held for the 13th time this year.

Yes, I have been participating since 2015.
I still remember well the first time I went on stage. The Prefectural Hall, which can accommodate more than 2,000 people, was filled to the third floor, and I thought, "This is amazing." I could tell from the applause that all the audience members were there to enjoy the concert and wanted to "enjoy it to the fullest." This is the greatest joy for a performer.

Each performance features a very diverse program, ranging from orchestral pieces to opera and ballet music.

It's wonderfully diverse, isn't it? To be honest, it's quite difficult to perform all of this in one day (laughs). But the soloists are all top-notch, so it's also true that it's a lot of fun to perform.
Also, the host, baritone Miyamoto Masumi, is not only a wonderful singer but also skilled at getting the audience excited, so we are looking forward to that as well.

The well-known ballerina Mizuka Ueno will also be performing at the Prefectural Hall.

Yes, I'm really looking forward to it. I've collaborated with Ueno-san before in this gala performance, and it was really beautiful. I don't usually have a chance to see ballet, so when I see it up close, I'm really impressed by how beautiful it is. This time, we're scheduled to perform the Adagio from the ballet "Swan Lake," which has a violin solo, so I'm looking forward to performing with her.

I heard that in the special session, you will be performing as a duo with pianist Tsuyoshi Nakajima.

I will be performing Piazzolla's "Le Grand Tango."
Piazzolla is one of my favorite musicians, but I think his music is neither classical nor tango; it belongs to the "Piazzolla" genre.
The song itself is not long, about 7 to 8 minutes. But it's really cool. It was originally written for cello, but it's also great for violin. It'll definitely get the crowd excited.

What kind of year was 2018 for you, Ishida-san?

I feel like this year has been more fulfilling than ever before. We performed all 10 of Beethoven's violin sonatas in one day, and the group I produce, "Ishida Gumi," recorded a BS program.
I think I'll have to take care of my health because I'm going to be busy again next year.

What would you like to do in the future?

I want to try things that no one else has done before. When I played all of Beethoven's works this year, I thought, "There's no one else who can play it." (laughs) I have a lot of desires, goals, and things I want to do, so I want to always be challenging myself in different ways.

Please give a message to Magcal readers.

The "Fantastic Gala Concert 2018" is a concert that you can hardly experience anywhere else. There is singing, piano, ballet, and live orchestral performances. There is so much to see, so even those who don't usually attend classical concerts will be able to enjoy it. Please come.

This event has ended.
"Fantastic Gala Concert 2018 "

[Date and time] Saturday, December 29th, 15:00 start (doors open at 14:15)

[Venue] Kanagawa Prefectural Hall, Large Hall

[Cast]
Conductor: Yoko Matsuo
Host/Baritone: Masamitsu Miyamoto
Soprano: Makiko Kaname
Tenor: Yukimasa Sawahara
Ballet: Mizuka Ueno, Dan Emoto (Tokyo Ballet)
Piano: Yuki Yoshimi
Violin: Yasunao Ishida
Orchestra: Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra

[program]
【orchestra】
- Gounod: Ballet Music No. 1 from the opera "Faust" Nubian Dance
Mussorgsky (arranged by Ravel): Promenade from "Pictures at an Exhibition" Great Gate of Kiev
- Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3, 1st Movement "Yoshimi Yuki"
- Debussy: Petite Suite IV. Ballet
・Massenet: Meditation by Thais ≪Ishida Yasunao≫

[Opera]
・Gounod: From "Faust" - Before Leaving the Hometown - by Masumi Miyamoto
・Wagner: Song of the Evening Star from "Tannhäuser" ≪Masumi Miyamoto≫
・Lehar: Vilia's Song from "The Merry Widow" ≪Makiko Kaname≫
・Mascagni: Ave Maria ≪Makiko Kaname≫
・Bizet: Flower Song from "Carmen" ≪Sawahara Yukimasa≫
・Puccini: "Cold Hands" from "La Boheme" (by Yukimasa Sawahara)

[Ballet] ≪Mizuka Ueno and Dan Emoto≫
- Tchaikovsky: Adagio from "Swan Lake"
・Delibes: Suite delibes

[Tango] <Special Session with Yasunao Ishida (violin) and Tsuyoshi Nakajima (piano)>
・Piazzolla: Le Grand Tango

*Due to unavoidable circumstances, the performers, songs performed, etc. may be changed.