Notable web postings - June 2019

Continued from Notable web postings - May 2019 

Older notable web postings are collected at Notable web postings archival

What a month May 2019 has been for Nobu. 

* May 5 & 6 2019 Miyazaki Festival

* May 10  triumph at the Carnegie Hall

* May 23-27 A "Grand succès"! with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg in France & Germany

* May 29, 31 Nobuyuki Tsujii at the 2019 White Nights Festival St. Petersburg

♪ Onward and forward

This month, June 2019, marks the beginning of summer for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere.

As usual, Nobu spends his summer in hot and humid Japan, performing and (I presume) learning new works.

This month is also the10th anniversary of the gold-medal victory of Nobuyuki Tsujii 辻井伸行 at TheCliburn Competition .

To celebrate: 3 special concerts (11 ,12 and 15) and a limited-edition CD (released on12th).

♪ June 28 Performing for the G20 summit

On June 28 2019, leaders of the G20 (Group of 20) economies gathered in Osaka Japan.

Unexpectedly, Nobuyuki Tsujii played a role in the gathering. He was among the Japanese artists that performed onstage for the dignitaries before a banquet held in the Osaka Castle.

The event (including the performances) was shown live on Japanese TV and, as it happened while I was sleeping, I was unaware of a torrent of tweets about it that came up overnight.

Apparently a lot of people in Japan saw the broadcast. But the performance was a complete surprise -- even Twitter Yura, who lives in Osaka, knew nothing of it ahead of time.

NHK News Web

[Translated from Japanese]

G20 Nomura Shinsai et al. Hospitality to the leaders of each country

June 28, 2019 21:03

The G20 Osaka Summit opened on the 28th. In the evening, cultural events and dinners were held to welcome the leaders of each country, and there were performances such as syllabary and piano performances.

Japan's first G20 Osaka Summit, held at 4:00 pm, ended the second session on the subject of technological innovation, and the discussions scheduled for the first day were over.

The leaders of each nation moved to the Osaka Guest House in the Osaka Castle Park in Chuo-ku, Osaka, and a welcome cultural event was held starting 8:00 pm. At the cultural event, Kyogen was performed by Kyouji Nomura/Nobuyuki Nomura. The pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii performed and the singing by opera singer Nakamaru Michiya was presented.

... [introduction of each performer and what they performed]

"Flower is blooming" played this time is reconstruction support song of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and Tsujii announces piano music in 2012 of the year following earthquake disaster. [Editorial: This is not a composition by Nobu -- he did perform and record it in 2012, to help raise fund for reconstruction.]

In addition, "La Campanella" is one of the representative work of the composer Liszt, and Mr. Tsujii has played it repeatedly in his own performances. ...

With a photo of Nobu on stage in performance, a large screen projection behind him.  The image on the screen is Japan's beloved sakura against a blue sky.

♪ June 27

Congratulations to Japanese pianist Mao Fujita 藤田真央 (age 20) for sharing second place at the just completed Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. ( First place went to Alexandre Kantorow of France.)

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/06/66729b260173-japans-fujita-ranks-2nd-in-tchaikovsky-piano-competition.html

Professor Kawakami (Nobu's long-time piano teacher) writes highly of Fujita-kun, and mentioned in his latest blog post that Nobu and his parents were rooting for him.

Someone on Twitter commented that there are so many young Japanese pianists with round faces, including Nobu ^_^ & Fujita-kun.

♪ June 27 Nobu heard on Irish radio

A little happy news on this slow (and warm) day: Nobu's CHOPIN Etude Op.10 No.2 was aired on Irish radio ‎RTE lyric FM June 26 17:28 , on their Lorcan Murray's Classic Drive program

It makes me happy to think that Nobu's piano was heard on 'the Emerald Isle' -- here is the 'playlist'

♪ June 26  "Close friends" violin sonata CD released in Japan

https://twitter.com/TOWER_Marubiru/status/1143413898940313600 [tweet by Tower Records Marubiru in Japan]

【クラシック】三浦文彰さんと辻井伸行さんによるフランクのバイオリン・ソナタが本日入荷しました。バイオリン・ソナタの中でもピアノが重要な役割を果たす名曲を今まで折に触れて共演してきた親友2人による待望の新録音！(T)

[Classical] Violin sonata album of Fumiaki Miura and Nobuyuki Tsujii arrived today. A long-awaited new recording by two close friends play two masterpiece sonatas [Franck's violin sonata & Brahms' 'Rain Song'] where the piano plays an important alongside the violin!

Image: store display of Nobu's Cliburn Competition commemorative CD and the duo sonata CD.

♪June 21 The saga of my battle for Hamburg Concert Tickets

I used to get a good laugh reading postings from folks in Japan about the hardships that they have to endure to get tickets for Nobu's concerts.

I am not laughing any more.

Read, if you wish, what I went through to get ticket for  Nobu's concerts in Hamburg, Germany in October => The saga of my battle for Hamburg Concert Tickets

♪ June 24 A rare moment of keyboard swagger

I just noticed this Instagram that comes with a clip of Nobu playing La Campanella at the 2013 BBC Proms. => https://www.instagram.com/p/ByxUFWsg1gK/

It has gotten 11K views, but what I like is the still photo shown with the posting (copied below), which catches Nobu raising his arms after finishing the last note.

Nobu is, thankfully, no arm-flinging, heaven-gazing performer like some other pianists, and it is rare that he throws his hands up in air like this, in a rare display of swagger and drama.

♪ Nobu article in Japan textbook

A twitter shares this photo of an article in an English textbook for high schools in Japan, featuring Nobu, titled "Seeing with the Eyes of the Heart."

I hope high-school students in Japan are more respectful of their textbooks than those in U.S.!!

https://twitter.com/8VY0Vr1CdO9AlJf/status/1141336242878996480

#辻井伸行 高校のコミ英の教科書で見つけました！

Nobuyuki Tsujii -- found this in a highschool English textbook!

♪ June 18 Amusing tweet on a quiet day

Nobu's music figures in everyday life in Japan =>

https://twitter.com/Miho__official/status/1140598784537186305

整骨院帰りに寄った

DHCのお店でクラシックが流れていて

その演奏がおそらく辻井伸行さんで

幸せな5分間を過ごしました。

そして

いいお酒と共にいい時間を頂けそうな

お店を沢山発見したので幸せ。うぃる。

本買いすぎて重くて腕筋肉痛。うぃる。

I stopped by the osteopathic clinic

There was classic music running in the DHC shop [beauty products].

The performance is probably by Nobuyuki Tsujii.

I had a happy five minutes.

I think you can have a good time with a good drink. I was happy because I found a lot of shops. I bought so much that my arm aches [from carrying the stuff]

With a photo of stylish Japanese paper lanterns hanging in a line from the eaves of shops.

♪ June 17 Nostalgia

Twitter sunsoon just posted a link to this 2014 YouTube video of Nobu playing "Happy Birthday" "for a friend" at a Berlin restaurant in November 2014. It starts with a little impromptu.

I knew about this video and in fact I was the first to leave a comment on it. But I had thought that the video was taken down. So it' good to see it again.

The "friend" is Mr. Nick Asano, Nobu's former manager.

And the restaurant (which thankfully posted the video) is , I believe, the Cafe Brel in Berlin. Sadly, it seems the restaurant might have since closed permanent, in spite of good reviews online.

♪ June 12 "Berlin-Tokyo Project"

I just noticed a new icon posted on The Nobuyuki Tsujii Official Website, which leads to this page

https://avex.jp/classics/dso2019/

This is an interesting new undertaking by Avex Classics International, titled "Berlin-Tokyo Project", featuring conductor Robin Ticciati with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO Berlin) this fall. 5 shows with 5 sets of top young Japanese classical music artists, including Nobu and Fumiaki Miura (cleverly packaged as a Ark Classics Concert at Suntory Hall, for which Nobu & Fumi are artistic directors).

Guess which show has already sold out?

♪ June 6 Nobu's tribute to Yūzō Kayama 加山 雄三

Nobu is no snob. He makes no secret that he enjoys music beyond the classical, including Japanese traditional songs (enka) and pop music.

This tweet shows a photo of a flower arrangement sent by Nobu to musician Yūzō Kayama, age 82, in tribute to the start of his nationwide tour.

https://twitter.com/yamakikazuhiro/status/1136834794602369025

加山雄三さん＠茅ヶ崎市民文化会館。４年振りのツアー初日。この地でライブできる事をとても喜んでいらした。ですよね。僕もこの地だから駆け付けました。客席は70代中心。男性お一人様も多い。加山さんは先日腰を骨折(本人談)したそうで、お辞儀ができなくて恐縮しきり。辻井伸行さんからお花が。→

Yuzo Kayama @ Chigasaki Civic Culture Center. The first day of hs four-year tour. I am very glad in this area ... The audience were mostly in their 70s. There were a lot of men. Mr.Kauama had broken his hip the other day, so he was not able to bow. The flower is from Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii. →

Yūzō Kayama "is a Japanese popular musician, singer-songwriter and actor ... As a guitarist, he took inspiration from the American instrumental group The Ventures ... One of his best-known instrumentals is 'Black Sand Beach.' "

♪ June 4 Full-page ad in Asahi Shimbun

Suntory Hall tweeted:

https://twitter.com/SuntoryHall_PR/status/1135839869840764928

辻井伸行🎹、三浦文彰🎻が豪華アーティストと共演する「サントリーホールARKクラシックス」好評発売中❗️今年も辻井(ピアノ) 三浦(ヴァイオリン) 両氏を中心に、10/4(金)～6(日) 全9公演、熱いステージをお届けします。本日、朝日新聞に広告掲載。https://www.suntory.co.jp/suntoryhall/feature/2019_20/#ark …

https://www.suntory.co.jp/suntoryhall/schedule/index.html?year=2019&month=10 …

Nobuyuki Tsujii 🎹 and Fumiaki Miura perform 🎻 with luxurious artist in "SUNTORY Hall Ark Classics" -- tickets now on sale! his year, with focus on Tsujii(piano) Miura (violin), and 9 performances from October 4 (Friday) to 6,  we will deliver a red hot stage. Today, advertisement  in the Asahi Shimbun.

Information about this year's Ark Classic Concerts here => 2019 Ark Classics Concerts