The HAFU ハーフ Project
An autobiographical recital by Luka Kawabata
Saturday
Jun 10, 2023
2:00pm
Venue Baumann Centre
Cost Free
Join us for The HAFU ハーフ Project, an autobiographical recital exploring identity, remembrance and connection to culture by Luka Kawabata in collaboration with the Victoria Nikkei Cultural Society and Pacific Opera Victoria’s Civic Engagement Artist Residency
This three part series features Japanese, Swedish and French art song matched with spoken Japanese and English.
Chapter I: パウエル街 includes educating new audiences on the history of Japanese internment on the West Coast of North America.
Chapter II: 幼年 discusses the experience of marrying someone from a different culture and raising a family.
Chapter III 希望, premiering June 2023, explores dreams for the future, represented by an origami crane – a symbol of healing and hope. This chapter, including the pieces The Water is Wide 河は広く and 翼を下さいPlease Give me Wings, showcases one experience in growing up Japanese and the common experience of coming to terms with understanding intersecting identities. .
Hosted at the Baumann Centre (925 Balmoral Road, Victoria, BC), this free recital will take place in person on Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 2PM (Pacific Daylight Time).
Limited capacity – please RSVP. General Seating. The Baumann Centre is an accessibly venue equipped with an entrance ramp and elevator to the second floor.
Free parking available on-site.
Artists:
Luka Kawabata – Baritone
Perri Lo – Piano
Program:
Soran Bushi ソーラン節
L’horizon chimèrique – Composer: Gabriel Fauré, poetry by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont
1. La mer est infinie
2. je suis embarqué
3. Diane, Séléné
4. Vaisseaux, nous vous aurons aimés
Wakaremichi わかれ道 – Composer: Takashi Inomoto, Poetry by: Rumi Kineta
När jag för mig själv – Composer: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger
Presentation of The HAFU Project Ch 3 – 希望
Hatsukoi 初恋 – Composer: Tatsunosuke Koshitani, Poetry by: Takuboku Ishikawa
Takeda’s Lullaby 竹田の子守唄
More About the Civic Engagement Artist Residency:
Through artist-led learning, fostering creativity, and cultivating community, our artists bring music to life in the third year of the Civic Engagement Artist Residency.
The Cohort for 2022|23, includes soprano Natalya Gennadi, soprano Jaclyn Grossman, baritone Luka Kawabata, and tenor Pierre Luc Houde. These singers have been mentored by artists accomplished in a variety of performing arts disciplines through a process of creation, storytelling with voice, and authentic personal connection to song.
The year culminates in a series of four video recitals as well as an in-person event focused on the connection between art and place.
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