Creative project stipend
We were pleased to award a $2,000 stipend to five Silk Road Ensemble members to help fund their recent visit to the American School in Japan (ASIJ), in Tokyo. There, shakuhachi player Kojiro Umezaki, and string players Jonathan Gandelsman, Nicholas Cords, Colin Jacobsen and Eric Jacobsen offered performances, master classes, chamber music coaching and workshops.
Several of these musicians had stopped in at ASIJ during the Silk Road Ensemble's 2008 Japan tour, including Ko, who is an alumnus. This group returned to Japan at the end of November to work with students in the school's uniquely multicultural environment.
On the final day of their visit, the musicians took a train to Sendai, then drove another three hours north to Kesennuma City in northeastern Japan. A group at ASIJ had organized the trip as part of the school's relief efforts. There the musicians performed for residents still coping with the aftermath of the tsunami that devastated the region earlier this year.
A remarkable school
The group spent four days in residence at ASIJ, whose mission—"developing compassionate, inquisitive learners prepared for global responsibility"—speaks to the same aims as our own Silk Road Connect program, though the school works with quite a different population. Students at ASIJ hail from around 40 countries, making the school a truly international learning community.
The musicians played two concerts and visited string, wind and concert band groups. They stopped by classrooms as diverse as an elementary school music class and a composition studio for high school students, who were writing their own pieces.
"It was intense to be there for several days," said Johnny Gandelsman, "and to watch the kids interact, among themselves and with their teachers. It's a really special place. I haven't seen kids feel so free to express their opinions before. And my respect for the teachers—and for Ko, who went to school there—only grew."
"It's a school with a lot of resources," Ko added, "and because of those resources—and the dedication of the teachers—they can do a lot. But being back there made me see that, given the right environment, anybody could flourish."
Performing at Jifukuji
The group's drive up from Sendai through the Miyagi Prefecture took them along the coastline, still scarred by the tsunami. Jifukuji, the Zen Buddhist temple where they played, had been partially destroyed.
The head priest, known as Ei-san, welcomed the musicians with bento boxes and told them what had happened the day of the tsunami. More than a hundred high school students took refuge in the temple before deciding to move further inland. Ei-san ran to the second floor just as the water rose above his feet. The toll was staggering: 171 members of the temple died that day; 70 are still missing.
The group ate looking out at the ocean. Before the tsunami, from the temple they wouldn't have been able to see the sea. Ei-san had been inviting musicians to visit and play for the community, to lift their spirits.
Ko and the string quartet had an audience of around 40 locals for a Silk Road-inspired concert of music from around the world—from Ireland to Persia, from America to Ethiopia. Ko began with a Japanese lullaby on the shakuhachi. By the time the group played an arrangement of a Brazilian tune by João Gilberto, the audience was swaying and singing along.
"It was one of the most special places we've ever played," said Johnny. "The people were so appreciative of the music. They listened so intently."
Other Silk Road Ensemble creative projects supported by the Silk Road Project
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