A Thousand Cranes

3:00PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2019

Strings of the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra
Chris Whittaker, Conductor
In partnership with Tampopo Ramen
Led by music director Chris Whittaker, the strings of the WHCO come together to perform music inspired by Japan and Japanese-American composers. After the concert, Friends of WHCO enjoy a food and sake tasting courtesy of Tampopo Ramen. Kenji Bunch’s Supermaximum opens the program — a work inspired by the songs of Depression-era chain gangs in the American deep south.  Next we hear Toru Takemitsu’s Requiem, a piece from earlier in his career which launched him into prominence after the work was discovered by Igor Stravinsky. By the end of his life, Takemitsu had become one of the most unique voices and influential composers in both Japanese and western classical music. Japanese-American composer Karen Tanaka’s Dreamscape follows — a lush and imaginative work, featuring harp and violin solo. The concert concludes with Christopher Theofanidis’ A Thousand Cranes, named from the Senbazuru legend that states if one crafts one thousand paper cranes his or her wish will be granted. The piece is inspired by the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died from leukemia after initially surviving the 1945 nuclear bomb detonation on Hiroshima. Sasaki began making cranes while in the hospital, and her story renewed a culture-wide interest in the practice. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and installed in the Hiroshima Peace Park.

Our concert is followed by a reception for Friends of the WHCO, sponsored by Tampopo Ramen.