Okayama Concert

This weekend pianist Mikiko Yamaguch and I were at Okayama-city for a concert.
I had been to Okayama prefecture several times as one of my distant relatives live in the neighboring city of Okayama-city. Okayama Prefecture is located in the Chugoku region (mid-west) of Japan, sharing a border with Hiroshima Prefecture and Hyogo Prefecture. Since it receives more sun annually than most other Prefectures, Okayama is known around Japan as the “Land of Sunshine.” (Guide to Okayama Prefecture) Because of their warm climate, they are well-known for growing many delicious fruits such as Grapes (Pione, Aurora Black, etc), Muscats (Shine, etc) each
This year, 2021 marks the 290th birth year of Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the Father of Symphony or the Father of String Quartet, and we were super thrilled to have arranged his Violin Sonatas to the saxophone and piano. We first discovered his Violin Sonatas towards the end of 2020 and we were so fortunate to have received two grants to perform concerts of his music in 2021. This Okayama Concert was one of them.

In this concert, we performed:

Bach: Italian Concerto in F BWV971

Haydn (1732-1809): Sonata in G major (after Piano Trio No. 31 in G major, Hob.XV:32)
I. Andante II. Allegro

Mozart: Violin Sonata No. 18 in G Major, K. 301
II. Allegro

Beethoven - Horn Sonata, Op. 17

This definitely does not look like a saxophone concert program but I think they all worked very well for the saxophone and piano.

I was super thrilled that Hiroyuki Shimanaka, saxophone player and a music teacher based in Okayama was able to make it to the concert! Him and I got connected through social media while I was advertising about this concert. Since we asked the audience to refrain from sticking around later and talking, I was not able to chat with him but it was nice to meet a local saxophonist!