On 10–27 October, the European Foundation for Support of Culture and the Arev Arts Management presented the 2019 “Japan Grande Classico” Music Festival (The Wind from the Mediterranean) to be held for the first time in Japan in Tokyo, Osaka and Yamanashi. The project was intended to introduce the people of Asia to Mediterranean culture and contemporary classical music.
The Festival featured concerts by the IlluminArt Philharmonic Orchestra (Japan) at the country’s best venues, such as the Symphony Hall (Osaka), Opera City (Tokyo), Kodaira City Principal Hall (Tokyo) and Yamanashi Principal Concert Hall (Yamanashi). The orchestra was conducted by Maestro Tomomi Nishimoto, artistic director and principal conductor of the IlluminArt Philharmonic Orchestra.
Tomomi Nishimoto is also the musical director and principal conductor of the Royal Chamber Orchestra, musical partner with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, artistic director of the Kishiwada Namikin Hall, Honorary Artistic Advisor to the Guangzhou Opera House and Visiting Professor at Osaka College of Music. Nishimoto was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Matsumoto Dental University and she also serves as the first Honorary Ambassador for the city of Hirado in Nagasaki Prefecture and as the first International Cultural Ambassador for Osaka. The conductor received the Honour of Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra in the Vatican for her artistic talent and musical contributions, making Nishimoto the youngest recipient of the honour ever.
The project’s soloists included world-renowned Japanese musicians: violinist Yayoi Toda, winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Competition, Professor of the College of Music at Ferris University, adjunct at Toho Gakuen School of Music; Kyoko Tabe, winner of many international piano competitions; Fumika Mohri, winner of the Seoul International Music Competition, Paganini International Violin Competition and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition; cellist Yo Kigoshi, winner of many international competitions.
The festival’s programme featured works by famous Maltese and other Mediterranean composers, as well as by Japanese composers.