Dec. 7, 2024 (Sat.): Winter Wonderland of Picture Books and Piano, Presented by the Fukuoka Art Museum — Happy Christmas Time!
Enjoy seasonal picture-book stories accompanied by the beautiful sound of the Legacy Piano. Why not share a wonderful Christmas moment with your children at the museum?
Program
Picture-book performances
100 Santas by Tomonori Taniguchi
The Magic Night by Dominique Marchand
Listen to the Piano! Play with the Piano!
Tchaikovsky: “Waltz of the Flowers” from The Nutcracker
“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
“Do-Re-Mi”
Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, and more
The program is subject to change.
Concert information
Date: Dec. 7, 2024 (Sat.)
First stage: doors 2:10 p.m.; performance 2:30–3:30 p.m.
Second stage: doors 4:10 p.m.; performance 4:30–5:30 p.m.
Venue: Fukuoka Art Museum Museum Hall
Address: 1-6 Ohori Park, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka
Admission: ¥500 (capacity: 170)
Please pay the admission fee in cash at the venue reception on the day.
Deadline approaching! Apply by 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 17 (Sun.).
Reiko Tokunaga (narration and reading)
Born in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, in 1965.
Joined the Theatre Hakata company in her second year of junior high school.
Made her debut in 1986 as an anchor on KBC TV’s Morning Morning.
Left the company in 1998.
Since 2001, she has served as a main anchor on KBC TV’s Asadesu. and works widely as a radio personality, stage performer, and event host.
Her special skills include Hanayagi-school Japanese dance (Bishosei Hanayagi) and shamisen (Naganori Imafuji).
■Miki Tsukamoto (pianist, composer, and arranger)
She began studying piano and composition at age six and started working professionally as a jazz pianist while at university.
She moved to New York in 1996 and studied with Kenny Barron.
In 1999, she joined the Percy Faith Orchestra’s Japan tour as its only Japanese member.
In 2000, she formed a unit with bassist Kiyoshi Mamura.VisionsThe unit has presented a wide range of art collaborations throughout Japan. Tsukamoto has performed with internationally renowned tap dancer Yuji Uragami and produced film, commercial, and stage music with Seiichi Hishikawa, the globally active art director behind the NHK historical drama Yae no Sakura.
Since 2007, she and Reiko Tokunaga have co-produced Ehonto Otono Tamatebako, a collaboration pairing picture books with original music.
About the Legacy Piano
This instrument, known as the Legacy Piano, entered the Fukuoka Art Museum collection in November 2023. It is a full concert grand made by Steinway & Sons in Germany and was purchased by Fukuoka Civic Hall when the hall opened in 1963.
Many performers from around the world gave concerts on it over the years. After six decades, however, age took its toll, opportunities to play it disappeared, and the instrument lay quietly unused. The signatures of as many as 40 renowned performers remain on its frame. Prompted by one citizen’s appeal, the Legacy Piano Preservation Project began in 2022 to restore this piece of Fukuoka’s musical heritage and pass it on to the next generation.
With support from many people, the piano was reborn and installed at the Fukuoka Art Museum in November 2023. It will once again be played and cherished as part of Fukuoka’s music scene.
