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In 2024, Joe Hisaishi--and I just learned today that his stage name's given name is actually 譲, fortuitously for English-speaking audiences pronounced jō--came through Chicago to conduct a concert of his music put on by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. At the time, we didn't have a lot of money and ![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png)
sashagee's health was really bad, so I didn't get tickets--by the time I actually felt comfortable buying, any seat that would have been reasonable had been snapped up by scalpers and I would have had to pay close to $1000 to go. So when we missed it, I thought that was that and we had lost our only chance. Imagine my surprise when CSO emailed me that there was going to be another performance, and this time we had the money to buy tickets (still expensive but not four figures expensive). So, we did:
The concert was lovely! I hadn't realized that Hisaishi composed symphonies of his own, though it's obvious in retrospect--one movie every couple years isn't enough to get all the creative juices out. The pre-intermission section of the program was "Symphony #2," which included a movement based on a Japanese children's song that I almost recognized. I did recognize the motif that occurred multiple times through all of Hisaishi's work, though--you can hear it here, near the end of Mononoke-Hime. There were four movements and it took about forty minutes all told, after which Hisaishi bowed, walked off stage, and the lights came up.
The second half was his movie work, featuring the Laputa: Castle in the Sky main theme with a trumpet soloist and a medley from Spirited Away that included all the hits. When Hisaishi left to a standing ovation and came back for the inevitable encore, we heard the first notes of the ending theme from My Neighbor Totoro ring out, and I looked down and saw a seven or eight year old girl being held aloft by her grandfather and waving a Totoro plush almost as big as she was. When the concert ended and the last bow had been taken, Hisaishi walked off stage and the lights came on once again. He never said a word--normal for orchestra concerts, but I still was expecting maybe a brief speech after the intermission. We got some piano playing from him, though, it wasn't all conducting, and a neat moment when they lowered the conductor's podium on an elevator down below the stage and then it came back up with a piano.
The concert was great! The only disadvantage was that since I bought seats on the very edge of the balcony, my legs were too long to fit into the available space and I ended up having to sit at an angle to be able to fit. Next time we go to the symphony I'll make sure to get seats on a lower level.
( We also went out to dinner )
sashagee's health was really bad, so I didn't get tickets--by the time I actually felt comfortable buying, any seat that would have been reasonable had been snapped up by scalpers and I would have had to pay close to $1000 to go. So when we missed it, I thought that was that and we had lost our only chance. Imagine my surprise when CSO emailed me that there was going to be another performance, and this time we had the money to buy tickets (still expensive but not four figures expensive). So, we did:The concert was lovely! I hadn't realized that Hisaishi composed symphonies of his own, though it's obvious in retrospect--one movie every couple years isn't enough to get all the creative juices out. The pre-intermission section of the program was "Symphony #2," which included a movement based on a Japanese children's song that I almost recognized. I did recognize the motif that occurred multiple times through all of Hisaishi's work, though--you can hear it here, near the end of Mononoke-Hime. There were four movements and it took about forty minutes all told, after which Hisaishi bowed, walked off stage, and the lights came up.
The second half was his movie work, featuring the Laputa: Castle in the Sky main theme with a trumpet soloist and a medley from Spirited Away that included all the hits. When Hisaishi left to a standing ovation and came back for the inevitable encore, we heard the first notes of the ending theme from My Neighbor Totoro ring out, and I looked down and saw a seven or eight year old girl being held aloft by her grandfather and waving a Totoro plush almost as big as she was. When the concert ended and the last bow had been taken, Hisaishi walked off stage and the lights came on once again. He never said a word--normal for orchestra concerts, but I still was expecting maybe a brief speech after the intermission. We got some piano playing from him, though, it wasn't all conducting, and a neat moment when they lowered the conductor's podium on an elevator down below the stage and then it came back up with a piano.
The concert was great! The only disadvantage was that since I bought seats on the very edge of the balcony, my legs were too long to fit into the available space and I ended up having to sit at an angle to be able to fit. Next time we go to the symphony I'll make sure to get seats on a lower level.
( We also went out to dinner )
We sat and chatted over lunch and stopped by Lost Larson on the way home to pick up dessert. This is something we'll have to do more often.