Basic Information

Participants: 11 current and former undergraduate/graduate students in traditional Japanese music and musicology
Location: Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Period: Oct. 25 – Nov. 6, 2016

Achievements

Aiming to promote global career development for young performers of traditional Japanese who intend to individually produce and perform at overseas concerts, this project assists in their undertakings from logistical arrangements to the implementation of events. The project, which marked the third anniversary this year, has grown to hold a total of thirteen events implemented by three groups, two performer groups and a preliminary research group. In contrast to the past two years where an event was held only at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, this year saw the start of collaboration with new partners that are Saint Petersburg Conservatory, the St. Petersburg Association for International Cooperation, the Consulate-General of Japan in Saint Petersburg, Office Propellant, and Saint-Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts. The project members were engaged in not only a concert but also various other events including a workshops with concert, a lectures at a symposium, and a collaborative program with local student performers.

Among the participants, there were two former students who had visited Russia as project　members twice in the past. They showed high adaptability to the local environment and effectively assisted other members who had never participated the project or performed in the country. This reconfirmed the importance and necessity of continuing the project while seeking to establish a system where experienced members train and support less experienced members.

The project members followed a tight schedule with full of events throughout their stay in Russia. However, the young performers who successfully realized a series of events they produced themselves looked fulfilled and happy. With the joy of performing and succeeding traditional Japanese music, they were trying to respond to the reactions of the audience using their entire body. Moreover, the members in the preliminary research team who supported the events in the background seemed greatly inspired by the performing members determining to join in the project as performers next time.

When the events were all over, various local organizations kindly commented that they wanted to see similar events happen again. Some of them actually made offers for the next year. Moscow Conservatory offered to financially assist the next year’s project for the first time since the launch of the project. All these propositions were resulted from the trust the young artists won through their performance. It is hoped that such opportunities will continue to increase year by year, allowing students studying traditional Japanese music at Tokyo University of the Arts to globally stage performance on an ongoing basis.