VENUE: Tokyo Spring Festival, Bunka Kaikan, TOKYO

In the heart of historic Tokyo, Ueno Park is one of the city's green lungs and artistic hubs. It houses four museums and a large concert hall, the Bunka Kaikan. Inspired by Brutalist architecture (its architect, Kunio Maekawa, collaborated with Le Corbusier), it hosts the Spring Festival in Tokyo each spring, where the Ensemble Intercontemporain (EIC) is once again a guest of honor this year, performing two concerts.

The first concert offers a double, if not triple, perspective. It first bridges Japan and France, embodied by Malika Kishino. Born in Kyoto in 1971, the composer initially studied in her native Japan with Yoshihisa Taira, then in France, notably at the CNSMD in Lyon and IRCAM. His two pieces, Ochres and Nox (Gold and Silver) II, embody this dual cultural connection: the first evokes the landscapes of Roussillon, while the second is inspired by a haiku by Teitoku Matsunaga.

Between the two lies the lyrical tale Into the Little Hill, a free reinterpretation of the fable of the Pied Piper of Hamelin by George Benjamin and his librettist Martin Crimp—a work that propelled them to the pinnacle of world opera in 2006. Interspersed throughout the program are excerpts from Signs, Games and Messages, celebrating György Kurtág, the brilliant and meticulous master of the short form, whose centenary was recently commemorated.

Jenny Daviet, soprano; Joanne Evans, mezzo soprano

Soloists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain

Pierre Bleuse, conductor