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World Premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Prayer for Violin and Orchestra in Berlin

Mar. 30, 2023

The world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s Prayer for violin and orchestra was performed by Daishin Kashimoto (violin) and the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Paavo Järvi, at the Philharmonie Berlin on March 2 with additional performances on March 3-4. The work was co-commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, and is dedicated to its first performer, Daishin Kashimoto.

This work was composed while the world was in turmoil; the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus that began in 2020 not having yet come to an end, and the war breaking out in Ukraine in February 2022. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Hosokawa has written a great deal of music in the form of a prayer. Through the composer's own words, we can feel the depth of prayer he tries to put into his music. He says:

"I have always enjoyed admiring Buddhist statues. In Japan, stone and wooden Buddha images can be found not only in temples, but also at ordinary roadsides. Many of them were carved by unknown sculptors, Buddhist sculptors, and have been carefully watched over and preserved by people for a long time. The 'prayers' of these Buddhist statues most likely support us in unseen places. I wonder if my musical works could have the same 'prayer' as the Buddha statues created by these unknown sculptors."

Like many of Hosokawa's concertos, the soloist in this work is the shaman, and the orchestra plays the role of the universe and nature that expands inside and outside the shaman. The shaman (human) spins powerful songs of prayer. Hosokawa notes, “The shaman sings to the cosmos, to which the cosmos responds or rebels. During the exchange of songs, the prayer gradually deepens and the shaman finally becomes one with cosmos and nature.”

Now, one year after the start of the war in Ukraine, we hope that Hosokawa's musical prayers will reach even more people. The composer is as yet questioning himself what music can do for humanity.

The performance of the world premiere in Berlin was streamed live via the Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall. Premieres in Lucerne and Tokyo are also scheduled, with Kashimoto serving as soloist in both performances.

Listen to Toshio Hosokawa's Violin Concerto (2020):

Violin Concerto/Toshio Hosokawa/Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra/Veronika Eberle, violin/
Alexander Liebreich, conductor

To learn more about Toshio Hosokawa, visit: schott-music.com.

Toshio Hosokawa
Prayer (2022-23)
for violin and orchestra

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