Singing & Piano in Vancouver: '11

Feb.6 Gift of Music for the Worship

Accompnied by pipe organ and piano,
Erik Olson

Johann Bach: Agnus Dei from 'Mass in B Minor'
Franz Schubert: Ave Maria

Mar 30 Ayako's last concert at South Granville Park Lodge
Max Reger: Maria Wiegenlied
Stephen Sondheim: Send in the Clowns from 'A Little Night Music'
Toru Takemitsu: Chiisana Heyade
Franz Shubert: Fruhlings glaube
and more. 13 songs all together.
All songs are piano accompanied by Masako and introduced by Kiko.
We had an ensemble with Flute (Maria) and Piano (Ayako). We performed 'Wedding Day at Troldhaugen' from 'Peer Gynt' by Edvard Grieg.

Apr. 2 Charity Concert for Japanese Earthquake at Tonari Gumi
I joined guitarist Eiichi and pianist Nami's unit for a folk song 'Tooi Sekaini'. It was live stage, and using a microphone, it was a very unique situation for me!

Apr. 3 Benefit Concert for Victims of the Japanese Earthquake at West Point Grey United Church

After the disaster, I was wondering how I could help from here. Fortunately the United Church was happy to host our concert and bring people together. We had about 160 people in attendance and raised $3,134. It was not only for the donations, but also encourage people to support the victims.

Programme

1. Mezzo Soprano singer, Ayako Komaki, accompanied by pianist Chihiro Honma

Gerorge Handel: Ombra mai fu from the Opera Seria 'Serse'

Amadeus Mozart: Das Veilchen

Toru Takemitsu: Chiisana Sora

Amazing Grace ( A cappella )

2. Piano Duet - Chihiro Honma, Ross Salvosa

Samuel Barber: Souvenir Suites

3. Classical Guitar Duet - Eiichi Ishikawa, Michael Mao

Fernando Sor: Encouragement

Petrenko: Waltz

Christian Sheidler: Sonata D Major

From Left :

Eiichi, Michael, Ayako, Kozue, Kevin, Chihiro, Ross

4. Koto, Shamisen - Kozue Matsumoto, Kevin Olafsson

Yatsuhashi Kengyo: Rokudan no Shirabe

Michio Miyagi: Sarashi fu tegoto

Apr. 11 Family Concert at Shimizu House
We held a private home concert for only three families. It was very homey style and we eventually moved into a singalong.

Jun. 11 Piano students' concert with three teachers at Broadmoor Church

This is good timing with the RCM exams following closely. This church has a Boston grand piano.

I sang two songs with Vanessa's piano accompaniment.

It is always interesting to see people's surprise when they hear my singing voice for the first time.

G. Donizetti : O mio Fernando from opera "La Favorita"
K. Hashimoto : Cakes and Girls (Okashi to musume)

Four Piano Teachers, from your left, Amy Ma, Ayako, Mimi Ho, Vanessa Wong.

Jun. 19 Scandinavian Midsummer Festival at Scandinavian Community Centre

It was a great one-hour concert at the dining room with a large audience. The weekend wasn't great weather for the festival but it was a boost for our audience to be performing in the warm, dry, indoor space!
I got the offer at the begining of the year to perform at the Festival. I knew the midsummer festival was very important event for Scandinavians as I have performed in this festival before. So I planned a lot for the day with my singing students and other music friends.

All our performers were did so well!
They sounded their best and were dressed so beautifully in white.

I was so happy to listen to their harmony and got great feedback from our audience and performers.

I thank my choir so much for all their hard work!

Programme

1. Lasse Heikkilä : Runsasta leipää <Finnish> Choir with Piano
2. Alfred Toft : Ole sad på en knold og sang<Danish> Choir
3. Russian Folksong: De Vita Akasiorna (the white acacias) <Swedish> Choir
4. Norwegian Folksong: Per Spelman<Norwegian> Choir with Violin
5. Edvard Grieg: Solveigs sang Violin with Piano
6. Edvard Grieg: Wedding day at Troldhaugen Flute with Piano
7. Puccini: Butterfly's entrance from "Madam Butterfly" Soprano with Piano
8. Puccini: Humming Chorus from "Madam Butterfly" Choir with Piano
9. Puccini: Un bel di from "Madam Butterfly" Soprano with Piano
10. Tadao Sawao:Hana Koto
11. Mitsuzaki Kengyo: Godan Ginuta Koto
12. Yoshinao Nakada: Chiisai Aki Mitsuketa <Japanese> Choir with piano
13. Soichirou Kotou:Karamatsu <Japanese> Choir
14. Nursery rhyme: Zuizui Zukkorobashi<Japanese> Choir with Koto
15. Rentaro Taki: Hana <Japanese> Choir with Piano
16. Finlandia <Finnish and Swedish> Choir

Koto - Kozue Matsumoto

Soprano - Rei Miyamoto

Violin - Mika Saito

Flute - Maria Niiro-Foster

Piano/Conduct - Ayako

Jul. 1 Charity Lunch for Victims of the Japanese Tohoku Earthquake

Jul. 1 Charity Dinner for Victims of the Japanese Tohoku Earthquake

The charity Lunch and Dinner (on the same day) was organized by Mrs Sakaino, and hosted by Mrs and Mr Tidball. I was playing background / lounge music while guests were arriving for lunch and gethering at the lounge. Before dinner, I had a solo concert with Masako accompanying on the piano (in the photo below). I sang:

Antonio Lotti: Pur dicesti, o bocca bella
Tamezo Narita: Hamabeno Uta
Toshi Isobe: Harukana Tomoni
and more..

I was so amazed by Mr Kishi's cuisine, the beautiful table settings, and Mrs Sakaino's calligraphy (right photo). I admired all the people who had been preparing for this day.

Aug. 13 Vocal Mini-Concert at Tanemura House

Vocal - Moritaka Matsumoto

Piano - Ayako

Giulio Caccini: Amarilli, mia bella

Antonio Caldara: Sebben, crudele

George Handel: Ombra mai fu

Al di la

Salvatore Cardillo: Core 'Ngrato

Friedrich Flotow: M'appari tutt'amor from 'Martha'

Danny Boy

Sep. 17 Voice and Piano Concert at Shimizu House

This was a home concert at my pianist, Masako's. I sang:

Henry Purcell: Come all ye songsters from 'Fairy Queen'

George Handel: Cara sposa, amante cara from 'Rinaldo'

Robert Schumann: Die Lotosblume

Robert Schumann: Widmung

Robert Schumann: Im wunderschonen Monat Mai

Richart Strauss: Zueignung

Jules Massenet: Madrigal

Amilcare Ponchielli: Stella del marinar from 'La Gioconda'

Welsh song: Watching the wheat

Henry Schmidt: Try to remember

Toru Takemitsu: Ashita wa harekana, kumorikana

Teiichi Okano: Oboro Zukiyo

Oct. 9 Wedding Party in Tokyo

I sang Edelweiss a cappella - it was the wedding couple's request!

Oct. 22 Gei no Kai at Lala Bianche in Fujisawa, Japan

(Above : Soprano - Nobuko Nishino, Piano - Ayako )

(Right : Pianist/Composer - Gen Fujimoto )

This was the 2nd 'Gei no Kai' in my hometown, Fujisawa. We had an even greater variety of talented musicians than the first 'Gei no Kai' in 2010. I'm absolutely fascinated with all of my friends and family who were there, such as painters, a quilt artist, a card designer, a dranyen (Tibetan guitar) player and a singer / songwriter, a composer, opera singers, and more. I'm happy everytime I see all those friends, some of whom came to join us from far away. I really appreciate the great time we had together!

Nov. 26 Piano Students' Concert with three teachers at Broadmoor Church

I'm always looking forward to singing in concert with the two piano teachers, Mimi and Vanessa. In this performance:

Franz Schubert: Gretchen am Spinnrade

Gustav Mahler: Un Schlimme Kinder Artig Zu Machen

Some people assume all of my piano students are kids/teenagers. This is NOT true! I absolutely have mature students and I really enjoy teaching them. Their improvement is remarkable, I adore their endeavor.

Dec. 18 Christmas Concert at West Point Grey United Church

This was a mixed concert, with piano students, voice students and our choir!

We had two guest musicians:

Koto - Kozue Matsumoto

Our choir performed with her Koto playing on June this year at the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival. I asked her again to complete Kagome Variations with my voice and piano. Zuizui Zukkorobashi and Kagome Variations are good match with the Koto. It was a nice and interesting experiment!