Event Durham

Miku Yasukawa, soprano

Yoshie Kawamura, piano

Programme to include:

Rentarō Taki:Kōjō no Tsuki (荒城の月, ‘The Moon over the Ruined Castle’)

Kōsaku Yamada:Karatachi no Hana’ (からたちの花, ‘Trifoliate Orange’)

Tatsunosuke Kishitani:Hatsukoi (初恋, ‘First Love’)

Gaetano Donizetti:Prendi per me sei libero

Giacomo Puccini:Quando m’en vo’

Umberto Giordano:Caro mio ben

This unique concert, curated by Dr Amanda Hsieh, presents a selection of extremely beautiful early twentieth-century Japanese art songs, rarely heard in the UK. Music by composers such as Rentarō Taki, Kōsaku Yamada and Tatsunosuke Kishitani will be interwoven with European songs and operatic excerpts, just as they would have been performed in their original context.

These songs – exploring timeless themes of love, nature and travel – formed part of a musical landscape grounded in Japanese desires to explore a new musical medium in times of political turmoil and imperialist expansionism.

Miku Yasukawa is fast gaining a reputation as one of the most exciting young sopranos around, following her appearance as a finalist in the prestigious Guildhall Gold Medal competition at London’s Barbican Centre. She is partnered by Yoshie Kawamura, one of the North East’s finest pianists.

The concert is held in association with the even ‘Song Travels, with “Our Tenor” Yoshie Fujiwara’ at the Durham Clayport Library, on Monday 11 November, at 2–6pm, as part of the Being Human Festival.