English Blog

As a pianist, I have been playing Chopin since my very young age, and from time to time I have been performing his music. But it is my first time to program all Chopin works on one concert. I really like my program and I have discovered a lot through practice and study. Yesterday, I […]

こんな風に思える「故郷」「家」があるって、とても素敵だと思う。綿矢さんご自身も京都の出身らしいので、京都の魅力を「住人」としての目線で語ってくれている。私は、とても幸運な事に、海外在住でありながら、祇園祭をアメリカ人の夫と経験している。計画を立てていた訳ではないのに、偶然日本旅行中に祇園祭に遭遇したのだ。それは素晴らしかった。私は、父・母両方の家とも何代も前から東京で、「京都」という街には、ひたすら憧れがある。あのはんなりとした語り口、薄味の煮物。すべてが、Sophisticatedだ。私は早口で、落ち着きがない！ 個性豊かな３人姉妹が織りなす、日常の物語。読んでいて、京都に友達が出来たような気持ちになった。今度京都に行く機会があれば、是非この３姉妹の軌跡をたどりたい。

I am in the midst of “Chopin Project”, and I have been trying to learn about him from different perspectives. This book provides interesting points of views on the composer. It goes through not only Chopin but also his friends and most importantly the life of George Sand. Sometimes it is a bit confusing that […]

Such a delight to read András Schiff ‘s memoir! He has tremendous humor and sharp mind to tell us his stories. He goes through many fascinating episodes which was recorded in the conversation between Sir Schiff and Martin Meyer. This conversation is in the first part of this book, and the second part contains Sir. Schiff’s […]

I have always been fascinated by Janáček’s music since I got known with his piano composition “In the Mists”. “Fairy Tale” and “In the Mists” were written around the same time, at a difficult time for Janáček, following the death of his daughter Olga and when he was still seeking musical recognition.  If you don’t know […]

To the surprise of some of his associates, a renowned period keyboard player, musicologist, and conductor, Gustav Leonhardt, accepted the role as Johann Sebastian Bach (played in a wig) in this movie. And Anna Magdalena Bach is played by Christiane Lang. “The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach” consists of many excerpts from Johann Sebastian Bach’s […]

Pope John Paul II “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”

Sakamoto passed away on March 28, 2023. His achievement is so big and I am sure so many people have already written about it. Personally, I grew up listening to YMO, and as an adult I performed his piano music on so many occasions. I took his music for my tours when I introduced Japanese music […]

I am touched to receive an email from our current president of Occidental College, President Harry Elam, today. He addressed to us about the college’s connection to Dr. King. Below is an excerpt from his campus email. On April 12, 1967, Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at Occidental, invited by President Richard Gilman, […]

I just finished this book. The biographical elements of the book are very interesting and fascinating; however I did not enjoy the very detailed (and personal) discussion of his compositions. They are too descriptive and interrupt the flow of the stories. I could not stop reading the end of this book where Schumann’s life in […]