JCH Will Sing at "Heart of Japan" Symposium & Concert

Japan Choral Harmony (JCH) who participated in the 4th Annual Circle Wind Concert last September will join and sing at a public symposium and concert titled "Heart of Japan" in March. The event will be held at Merkin Concert Hall of Kaufman Center in New York City on March 6, 2012, commemorating the first anniversary of the 3.11 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan.

A famous Haiku poet, Madoka Mayuzumi, will talk about Haiku as Japan's culture of silence in Part 1. She will also introduce poems composed by 3.11 quake victims to elucidate what the Haiku form reveals about their percptions of the unprecedented natural disaster, as well as the values that permeate and underlie Japan's culture.

The part 2 will be a panel discussion among Mayuzumi and US-based specialists in Japan studies such as Prof.Carol Gluck of Columbia University that explores whether Japan's "culture of silence" is making a change. They will also discuss which aspects of Japanese society are being transformed and what are remaining the same. Q&A session will follow.

In the last part, a world premier song for the people of Fukushima, who are unlikely to be returning home for many years to come due to the nuclear accident, will be performed by members of Japan Choral Harmony. The choral piece is a collaborative benefit project by Mayuzumi and composer Akira Senju, one of the most popular composers today who has written a number of theme songs for TV series, movies, anime, commercials and documentaries.

Addmission is $10.