This event now concluded.
- Featured guests : Narimichi KAWABATA (violin) and Katsushige SATO (piano)
- Date: Tuesday, October 17, 6:30-8:30 pm (including reception)
- Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
- Language: Japanese (without interpretation)
- Admission: 5,000 yen/person (Registration required)
*This event is exclusively for I-House members.
Members may be accompanied by a spouse or partner.
As you may know, we hold members-only events to which a distinguished member is invited as a guest. In October, to kick off the autumnal “season for the arts,” we will hold a mini concert by violinist and social activist Narimichi Kawabata. After the performance, there will be a reception with drinks and refreshments. We hope you will take this opportunity to meet with fellow members.
Narimichi Kawabata is actively engaged not only in music but also in a campaign to defeat childhood cancer. He started playing the violin after becoming visually impaired during his childhood. By subsequently developing his sense of hearing, he has gained a sensitivity to the world around him that few others have been able to achieve. Accompanied by pianist Katsushige Sato, he will perform a wide range of pieces, including classical works and film music, that are associated with the capital of music—Vienna. Join us for a unique members-only event featuring the beautiful strains Kawabata’s violin.
*Program (tentative)
Beethoven: Kreutzer Sonata
Kreisler: Beautiful Rosmary
In 1998, Narimichi Kawabata made his sensational debut as a violinist after graduating at the top of his class from the Royal Academy of Music and conferred Special Artist Status in 1997. Since then, he has performed at renowned international venues, including at London’s Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, and has been critically acclaimed by the local media.Kawabata’s busy recital schedule includes performances with major orchestras, such as St. Petersburg Camerata and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.He attracted national attention when his debut album, On Wings of Song, became a record-breaking hit in 1999. His second CD, Ave Maria, also reached number one on the classical music chart.Kawabata became visually impaired at the age of eight and has since been studying with his ears alone. He is now based in the UK and Japan as an international soloist and takes part in many charity concerts in and out of Japan. He has been supporting various causes, holding charity concerts for West African refugees and the International Red Cross.
Katsushige Sato moved to France after graduating at the top of his class from Toho Gakuen Music High School. After winning first prize at the Paris Conservatory, he furthered his studies at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris, from which he graduated with unanimous top honors with a Diplome Superieur de Concertiste. He has won prizes at competitions both in Japan and abroad, placing first in the national finals of the Student Music Concours of Japan and the Sofia International Piano Competition in Bulgaria. In 2000 he was selected to represent in Japan at the 14th Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw. His first solo CD, Nocturnes, released by ALM Records in 2012, includes nocturnes by 15 different composers and was critically acclaimed, being selected as the editor’s choice by the magazine Record Geijutsu. His second album, Hommage, was released in 2016 and was highly commended by Record Geijutsu. In recent years, he has been performing more chamber music, giving concerts all over Japan with prominent string and wind players and recording eight CDs. He is a member of Trio Espace and Tokyo Paris Ensemble. He writes articles for music magazines, gives lectures at seminars, serves on the juries of student music competitions, and gives advanced coaching at the Toho Gakuen School of Music and Showa University of Music.