Peace concert set for New York in May to ring in NPT
Mar. 14, 2010
by Sakiko Masuda, Staff Writer
On May 16, a charity concert for peace will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York City in advance of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Yasuko Mitsui, 59, an organizer of the event and a harpsichord player from the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture, will perform with musicians from five nuclear weapon states with a wish for peace.
The concert is being coordinated by the Harmony for Peace Foundation in the United States, for which Tomoko Torii serves as president and executive director, and the executive committee for the peace concert, chaired by Kazutaka Yamamoto. Other than Ms. Mitsui, a pianist, a children's choir, and other musicians from the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and China will join the concert and perform about 15 pieces, including "Sakura Sakura" ("Cherry Blossoms"). The poem "Umashimenkana" ("We Shall Bring Forth New Life") by the late Sadako Kurihara will be recited in English as well. Proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed (HICARE), an organization formed by Hiroshima Prefecture, the City of Hiroshima, and other entities.
On March 11, Ms. Torii and Ms. Mitsui held a news conference at Hiroshima City Hall. Ms. Mitsui expressed her enthusiasm for the event, saying, "We hope that artists from Japan and the nuclear weapon states will join together and appeal for peace through music, the universal language."
(Originally published on March 12, 2010)
On May 16, a charity concert for peace will be held at Carnegie Hall in New York City in advance of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Yasuko Mitsui, 59, an organizer of the event and a harpsichord player from the city of Hatsukaichi in Hiroshima Prefecture, will perform with musicians from five nuclear weapon states with a wish for peace.
The concert is being coordinated by the Harmony for Peace Foundation in the United States, for which Tomoko Torii serves as president and executive director, and the executive committee for the peace concert, chaired by Kazutaka Yamamoto. Other than Ms. Mitsui, a pianist, a children's choir, and other musicians from the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and China will join the concert and perform about 15 pieces, including "Sakura Sakura" ("Cherry Blossoms"). The poem "Umashimenkana" ("We Shall Bring Forth New Life") by the late Sadako Kurihara will be recited in English as well. Proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of the Radiation-exposed (HICARE), an organization formed by Hiroshima Prefecture, the City of Hiroshima, and other entities.
On March 11, Ms. Torii and Ms. Mitsui held a news conference at Hiroshima City Hall. Ms. Mitsui expressed her enthusiasm for the event, saying, "We hope that artists from Japan and the nuclear weapon states will join together and appeal for peace through music, the universal language."
(Originally published on March 12, 2010)
