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World Children’s Music Festival 2021 in Tokyo

Let’s play, sing and strive

The World Children's Music Festival 2021 in Tokyo has successfully ended.
Thank you for your cooperation.

世界子ども音楽祭2021 in 東京 FESJ2021Mariko Tagash

The World Children's Music Festival in Tokyo took over three years of preparation.
Initially, in April 2020, on the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, the concert's primary purpose was to perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with musicians from El Sistema and related countries, mainly from four locations in Japan and children from eight countries around the world.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed to August 2020. It soon became apparent that this would also not be possible and that our friends from overseas will not be able to join us on stage. However, we kept our hopes high that the situation will improve over time, and the children will be able to sing Beethoven's Ninth by March 2021.

Despite our hopes, all choir activities were suspended when the Tokyo metropolitan area declared a state of emergency at the beginning of the year. Not sure about how many children from Soma will be willing to travel to Tokyo in March, we made the difficult decision to give up on Beethoven's Ninth's performance. The piece that would replace this monumental piece was Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which was the first orchestral piece that the Soma Children's Orchestra performed five years ago. The chorus changed program to Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus," a piece that the children of Soma sung many times in memory of those who died in the earthquake, and "Ametsuchi no Uta (Song of Nature)" by Maki Ueda and Nozomu Hayashi, a work that the children of the Tokyo Whitehand Chorus practiced online throughout lockdown.

Will the wind instrument section be able to prepare such a monumental work with just two months of preparation? Will the chorus be able to resume practice before the concert?
On top of all the uncertainties, a large earthquake hit at the end of February, causing one of our precious rehearsals to cancel. Our conductors, Mr. Kimoto and Mr. Furuhashi, were beyond worried.

We would like to thank all of our supporters, parents who have encouraged our children, teachers who have taught our children both online and in-person, all our staff members, interns, volunteers, and, of course, the children who continued to strive to enjoy music and had the courage to move forward with their peers.

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Pre-recorded message and performance by children from Japan and abroad

Friends of El Sistema Japan

​Soma children’s Orchestra & Chorus

Otsuchi children's Orchestra

Friends from Overseas

Brasil 

Ação Social pela Música

New Zealand

Sistema Aotearoa

Scotland/England

Big Noise from Sistema Scotland

France

TUTTI

South Korea 

Orchestra of dream

USA 

Youth Orchestra LA

Date

March 29th (Mon)

Starts 18:00 (Opens 17:00) /Ends approx. 20:00

Venue

Program

●Pre-recorded message and performance by children from Japan and abroad

●Live performance

​ Maki Ueda: Ametsuchi no Uta (Song of Nature) 

 Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 67

 Mozart:Ave verum corpus(K. 618)

Cast

相馬子どもオーケストラ.png
相馬子どもコーラス.png
TWHC.png

World Children’s Music Festival Orchestra

木許裕介(弦楽合奏指揮)(C)Yasutaka Eida edit.png

Fujio Furuhashi ( Choir master)

古橋富士雄(コーラス指揮).png

Harumi Noma (Piano)

野間春美 (ピアノ).png

Video message and performance

大槌子どもオーケストラ.png
駒ヶ根子どもオーケストラ.png
Ação Social pela Música(ブラジル).png

Big Noise from Sistema Scotland

(Scotland/England)

Big Noise from Sistema Scotland(スコットランド

Orchestra of Dream

(South Korea)

Orchestra of Dream (韓国).png

Sistema Aotearoa

(New Zealand)

Sistema Aotearoa(ニュージーランド).png
TUTTI Passeurs d’Arts (フランス).png
Youth Orchestra LA (米国).png

日時

Organizer

Friends of El Sistema Japan

Nominal Support

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan

American Embassy

British Council

Embassy of Brazil in Japan

Embassy of France in Japan/ French Institution in Japan

Embassy of Korea in Japan/ Korean Cultural Center

Grant

Arts Council Tokyo Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture

Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan Arts and Culture Foundation

Tokyo Club

Water Dragon Foundation 

Shinnyo-en

Cosponsor
Kikkoman Corporation
Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd.
GeoEarth Techno Corporation
Rotary Club of Tokyo South
Toyota Motor Corporation

Mio & Company, Inc.

Cooperation  
Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture
JR East Marketing & Communications,Inc. (JR Higashi Nihon Kikaku)

Design cooperation 
Illustration: Kahori Sato
Design: Funaco design studio

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