Nobuyuki Tsujii in Seattle, 2013, part 2

Continued from 2013 North America Tour - 2; more here: Nobuyuki Tsujii in Seattle, 2013, part 3

Jan 22, 24, 27 Seattle, Washington state, U.S.A.

January 25

http://drryo.com/2013/01/25/an-inspiring-night-of-music-with-nobu/

"An Inspiring Night of Music" with Nobu by Dr. Ryo Kubota, president of Aceucela Inc., which sponsored Nobu's recital on Jan 22 - text copied below for preservation.

image via Internet link

Helping people improve and protect their vision is one of my greatest passions, but another passion of mine that you might not know about has always been the arts. I enjoy sharing this love and appreciation with those around me and recently, was able to do just that when I and many of my colleagues at Acucela attended a wonderful recital by Nobuyuki “Nobu” Tsujii, a world renowned pianist, held at the Seattle Symphony. Not only did we attend the event as the corporate sponsor for the evening, but I also had the distinct honor of introducing Nobu on stage prior to his performance. It was a very memorable evening, indeed!

Blind since birth, 24-year-old ‘Nobu’ is considered a prodigy not only in his home country of Japan (which, as you all know by now, is also my home country), but around the world. Never one to allow his vision impairment to hold him back, Nobu began playing the piano at the age of two. By the age of 12, he was performing solo recitals in halls around Tokyo. In 2009, Nobu was awarded a joint Gold Medal in the esteemed Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which became the subject of the documentary film, “A Surprise in Texas”.

As a concerto soloist, Nobu has appeared with some of the most renowned symphony orchestras from around the world, including the Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev in St. Petersburg; the Philharmonia Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy in London; and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and Thierry Fischer in Lugan, Switzerland. He gave a sold-out solo performance at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium in 2011, and has also given recitals in Washington D.C, Boston, Berlin, Munich and other major cities around the world.

I admire Nobu not only for his talent, but for his drive to overcome adversity and travel the globe to share his music with the world. While Nobu has an inspiring story, unfortunately, his is not a singular one as there are approximately 285 million people worldwide who are visually impaired, according to the World Health Organization. Ninety percent of these people live in developing countries and, while there has been much progress in preventing and curing visual impairment, we still have a long way to go.

Acucela was founded with that global mission and unmet need in mind – to develop new drugs to treat devastating eye diseases. As humans and more importantly, as global citizens, I believe that we have a responsibility to improve the world in whatever way we can, whether through science, music or some other talent. This pursuit is essential to achieving not only an informed, but an inspired, society.

Nobu’s performance was nothing short of an inspiration, and if you ever have the opportunity to attend one of his concerts in person, I highly recommend it. Even if you can’t attend a live performance, you can always enjoy his music at home by listening to one of his many albums. When you do, I would encourage you to close your eyes and ‘see’ the world as Nobu and millions of others do every day.

Tweets of the day:

窪田良 ‏@ryokubota <president of Acucela Inc.> tweeted:

我々がスポンサーさせて頂いた辻井伸行さんのコンサートが無事修了しました。辻井さんのピアノ演奏は言語や人種を超えて世界中の人を感動させるすばらしいものでした。皆様のご協力ありがとうございました。http://bit.ly/10KTf2I Nobuyuki Tsujii's concert, which we were allowed to sponsor, has completed successfully. Mr. Tsujii's excellent piano playing impresses people around the world beyond <the boundaries of> language and race. Thank you everyone for your support.

January 24

Nobuyuki Tsujii in rehearsal with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

This photo was posted on Nobu's official website, shown here via Internet link

I just had an experience that I had yearned for.

Through the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Minegishi, organizers of "Celebrate Asia", I was given the opportunity this morning to sit in on a rehearsal of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with Nobuyuki Tsujii. The rehearsal at the Benaroya Hall started at 10. It lasted for an hour.

By the time I was led into the concert hall, the orchestra members had been seated and were tuning and practicing. Nobu was at the piano bench before I even noticed. And there he was, dressed in a hoodie and his tomato-red-colored slacks, poised for action. The conductor came to shake hand with him, a reenactment of an endearing scene in the 2009 Cliburn Competition documentary video. The conductor stretched his hand and somehow Nobu found it to make the handshake. A brief introduction of Nobu to the orchestra was uttered by the conductor, and the familiar opening of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 soon started.

The entire first movement was played without interruption. At the conclusion, the orchestra members gave an applause, some with clapping and some with foot stamping. Some of the orchestra members in the string section seemed -- to my eyes -- to look on Nobu's hand movements with amazement. I saw one who shook his head as if in disbelief. The conductor then went over some parts of the concerto movement, asking for adjustments from the orchestra. I could not hear nor understand his instructions well, but he would say something like "let's go over the section starting at measure X", and Nobu would be ready when his part came in. At one point, Nobu was going on on the keyboard when the conductor had to turn to apologize to him and say that some of the orchestra members were not ready -- they were fumbling to turn the pages in their score books.

Unlike what we saw in the Cliburn documentary, Nobu required NO translation. He seemed to understand the conductor, either instinctively or from experience, or perhaps his English has improved that much. Nobu stopped his playing instantly each time the conductor said to do so, even when it was spoken to the orchestra instead of to him directly. Throughout, the orchestra members were watching the conductor, who would turn to face Nobu at crucial points, and that seemed to do the trick for the necessary sync-up between orchestra and soloist.

After the fine-tuning, part of the first movement was played again, and indeed the rough corners had been smoothed. The second movement was short. When it was over, the conductor asked for some changes in playing from the string section, and then they were onto the third movement. After the fiery conclusion, the orchestra gave a hearty applause to Nobu. The conductor thanked Nobu. Nobu tried to give the orchestra a bow, but the members were already hurrying off for their short break. Mr. Asano led Nobu off the stage. And that was the end of today's rehearsal, for Nobu.

Nobu was his usual self, completely ready and at ease. There was the usual body rocking. This concerto is so familiar to him that he has perhaps completely internalized it by now. Looking at him, you would think that playing this most difficult of piano works is mere child's play.

I had heard Nobu's performance of Tchai 1 so many times on video, but never live, till now. Seeing him wield his magic in the raw -- at a rehearsal with a fine orchestra that he had never performed with -- really did give me goosebumps. I was in the presence of higher beings.

As I said good-bye to Mr. Minegishi, he shook his head in amazement and readily agreed with me that Nobu is a musical genius.

Jan 24

Thursday

6PM

Nobu performed at the beginning of a Seattle Symphony preview lecture hosted by the Seattle Central Library. Info here

January 24 Thursday 6PM -- Nobu performed in the "Microsoft auditorium" in Seattle's main public library, pictured below. The 206-seats room was almost full. I had the rightmost seat on the third row, and happily looked down on Nobu's hands playing "Pagoda" and "Rain Garden" from Debussy's "Prints", on a piano that was in mint condition. The crowd gave Nobu an enthusiastic applause, before he was led off to another event.

image via Internet link

Tweets of the day

Nobuyuki Tsujii in rehearsal with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra - Jan 24 Thursday, Seattle. http://bit.ly/Y1zMei @seattlesymphony -tweet by me

Seattle Symphony @seattlesymphony tweeted back: @ mlliu2006 So glad you enjoyed it and were able to come!

@jungleCity tweeted:

今日6pmからシアトル中央図書館で開催される無料イベントで、ピアニストの辻井伸行さんが演奏します。火曜日のリサイタルを聞き逃した方はぜひ足を運んでみてください。http://bit.ly/RUA6M5 Today at 6PM, in Seattle Central Library, free event. Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii pianist will play. If you missed hearing the recital on Tuesday, please try to be there.

I tweeted back:

I was there. Full house. Great piano, great performance. Big applause.

- Celebrate Asia performance was a big success Nobuyuki Tsujii in Seattle, 2013, part 3

- More comments and articles Nobuyuki Tsujii in Seattle, 2013, part 4

http://bit.ly/Y1zMei