It is already ten years since Toru Takemitsu's death. To honor the anniversary, The Izumi Hall and The Phoenix Hall in Osaka have momentarily put aside their rivalry to plan a four-concert series together. Normally, the two venues compete over the same territory, but this is a special occasion. They will be cooperating in commemorating this tenth year anniversary in music, and with lectures as well.
Beginning in the 2006 season, the two concert halls will also be jointly presenting a variety of events that will cover the wide span of musical history since the beginning of the twentieth century.
The Phoenix Hall Lecture Concert Series is the brainchild of Nobuhiro Ito, an assistant professor of literature at Osaka University who is in charge of planning and programming, and Akira Nishimura, a composer and the music director of Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka (ISO), an ensemble famous for its performances of contemporary music whose home is Izumi Hall. Serving as joint producers of the project, Ito and Nishimura are each bringing their own perspectives to a set of common themes that promise to make for an attractive series of concerts.
The lecture concerts will feature ensembles consisting of ISO members, joined by Mr. Nishimura, while Mr. Ito will go over to join the ISO concerts. The series has billed an assortment of offerings from chamber to orchestral works, amounting to a dazzling array of musical delights.
