Shonorities presents
Shiro Fukai: Japanese Flute (voice, flute, piano)
Tuesday, April 29, 2014, 19:30, Hellenic American Union Theatre
Under the auspices of the Japanese Embassy of Athens
Shie Shoji -- voice
Petros Stergiopoulos -- flute
Evgenia Votanopoulou -- piano
Programme Note
The composer Shiro Fukai, who was mainly known during his lifetime as a music critic, was born in Akita Prefecture in April 1907 and died in Kyoto in 1952. He came to Tokyo at the age of 20, and studied at Kunitachi Music School under Meiro Sugawara. His compositions came to assume an elaborate style based on French impressionistic music and he wrote several well-structured orchestral works. Apart from the cantata Prayer for Peace he left little vocal music and the Japanese Flute written in the 1930s can be said to be his only vocal work that is relatively well-known. This work was rated highly at the time, and one senses the beauty of Japanese lyricism in between the lines.