One-night Aqua concert features classical music

Three Japanese opera singers and a pianist will serenade several CNMI dignitaries and select community members in a rare and unique concert tonight.

The post-Valentine concert, entitled “Saipan Gala Concert with Special Dinner,” will be held at the Aqua Resort Club beginning at 6:30pm and will feature a soprano, an alto and a baritone singer, together with a well-renowned concert pianist. The concert is by invitation only.

Yuya Harada, Chinatsu Hirahuku, Yuka Yasumoto, and pianist Riha Koyama arrived on Saipan Monday afternoon to prepare for the concert.

The three singers and pianist are expected to feature classical songs, as they serenade the local community with melodies ranging from Japanese opera to classical music by Gershwin, Verdi, Puccini, and Bizet.

Hirahuku, a soprano, is only 23 and this is her fifth visit Saipan. She said she began singing when she was 17 years old. She is a graduate of Vocal Music from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. She has also received several awards.

“I am really glad to have a chance to play and sing classical music on Saipan,” she said, adding that Saipan has become one of her favorite places to visit in the Pacific. She hopes that, through the concert, they would spark interest in classical music among the island’s people.

Yasumoto, 24, also graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. She is also attending graduate school at the same university with Hirahuku. This is her first time in the CNMI. “I noticed that the people here are as warm as the climate,” she said, adding that she hopes the local community will enjoy their music.

Harada, 24, the only male singer in the group, said he has been visiting the islands for a long time now. It’s his 15th time to visit the island but this will be his first concert here.

Harada, also a graduate of vocal music from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, is also an award-winning classical singer. He has bagged previous honors, including the Tsuzuki Music Award and Japan Broadcasting Corporation Award.

“Although classical music is not that popular here on the island, I hope to play and sing for the people of the CNMI,” he said. “It would be a pleasure for us to be instruments of this friendship.”

Koyama, an award-winning pianist, will take part in the first act of the concert with her rendition of music by Liszt, Chopin, and Beethoven.

A pianist by heart since she was four, the 23-year-old Koyama has transcended all barriers and challenges in her love and passion for playing the piano. At her age, she already has participated in several festivals and competitions.

She ranked second in 1994 during a piano competition in Saitama and in 1998 she bagged the championship in the PTNA piano contest in East Japan. In 2004, she participated in the Euro Music Festival in Prague. She is set to graduate this year from Toho Academic School of Music.