April 15, 2001: Argerich Music Festival |
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The 3rd Argerich Music Festival started from yesterday in Beppu City. Today, we have a performance by Quartet Excelsior who will play in the 27th Yufuin Music Festival (YMF) in this summer. I came up here to distribute the brochures of YMF. The Argerich Music Festival will be held at B-con Plaza. The Global Tower (center) soars high in the sky in the distance. |
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B-con Plaza was designed by Arata Isozaki, a prominent architect from Oita Prefecture, featuring its glazed structure. |
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| Large signboard is made in wisteria violet, the image color of the year. I found another board of Martha Argerich in the hall. | |
| Many volunteer staff work busy wearing T-shirt uniforms. |  |
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We still have a long time before the opening, but many audience gather at the reception desk with great expectation of the performance. |
| YMF volunteers distribute the 27th MYM handbills. We have distributed about 1,000 handbills to the visitors. I hope many of them will read the program carefully and join our festival in summer. |
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   YMF volunteers, from left, Mr. & Mrs. Kato, Mr. Satoh, me, Ms. Kibe, and Ms. Yoneta. |
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Well, the opening is closing. I entered Philharmonic Hall, the site of the Festival. I took the seat in the area reserved for the families of Quartet Excelsior artists. We exchanged greetings for the first time since Yufuin Music Festival in 1999. |
 The chamber music started with the performance by Quartet Excelsior. The program was J.S.Bach Concerto d-minor, BWV.1052 piano by Alan Weiss. We took a picture with the artists. Click the picture to enlarge. |
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There are many variations tonight, from classical music, tango, jazz and other Latin music. They are very good as Martha Argerich-like performance. The program is named as "Marathon Concert." I the break for an hour, they sell supper boxes in the lobby. One of my close friends Mr. Abe, left, was a seller. |
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| There are many tables in the lobby for taking supper. A tea ceremony corner is provided as well. People are enjoying exchanges here and there pleasantly. | |
| We also took supper here over talking about the impression of the performance tonight. |  |
After the break, Excelsior members joined another program, Frank, Piano Quintette f-minor. Thunderous applause broke when Martha Argerich finished her program, Mendelssohn Piano Trio No.1 d-minor played together with Takashi Shimizu, violin, and Jian Wang, cello. Tonight, I have enjoyed a luxurious concert with many kinds of music. I hope many guests will join us in coming YMF this summer. |
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