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Two World Premieres by Atsuhiko Gondai

Sep. 01, 2018

Two World Premieres by Atsuhiko Gondai

The start of the 2018/19 performance season sees the world premieres of two works by Atsuhiko Gondai. The world premiere of To the West for string quartet takes place on September 17 at the Catholic Toshima St. Patrick’s Church in Tokyo, Japan, and Gondai’s Sæwol for vibraphone and string orchestra receives its world premiere on October 14 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

To the West, commissioned by violinist Machia Saito, is Atsuhiko Gondai’s first string quartet. Saito previously commissioned and gave the premieres of two other works by Gondai: Zig-Zag (2012), and Leading-tone (2016). The world premiere of To the West will be given by Matthias Strings, the string quartet led by Saito (Machia Saito and Takao Furihata, violins, Gentaro Sakaguchi viola, and Hiroshi Miyasaka, violoncello).

Sæwol for vibraphone and string orchestra was commissioned by percussionist Mizuki Aita. Aita previously commissioned Gondai’s Vibration of Light for vibraphone and has performed the piece on various occasions since its premiere in 2016. As the composer states, “sæwol” is an ancient word deriving from the same source as “sea” and “soul” in English, expressing this work’s form and character. Mizuki Aita (vibraphone) will give the world premiere of Sæwol with Vilnius' St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Modestas Barkauskas.

Aita is also expected to give the Japanese premiere of Sæwol on December 25 at Suginami Koukaidou in Tokyo, Japan.



Listen to Atsuhiko Gondai's Falling Time to the End (2015) for orchestra here:


(Falling Time to the End/Atsuhiko Gondai/hr-Sinfonieorchester – Frankfurt Radio Symphony/
Andrés Orozco-Estrada, conductor)

Atsuhiko Gondai
To the West (2017)
for string quartet

Sæwol (2018)

for vibraphone and string orchestra
18'



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