by Ms Silvia
2025 is the 70th anniversary of Suzuki cello this year! Three weeks ago, on the Sunday of April 6th, I was so lucky to participate in the 26th Suzuki Method Cello Grand Concert at Tokyo together with three cello students.
The concert was took place at the famous Bunkyo Civic Hall with the attendance of Her Imperial Princess Takamado. It started with the Rachmaninoff cello Sonata performed by Mr. Hiroyasu Yamamoto (Suzuki Method lecturer in cello department), followed by student cello ensemble performance. One of the highlights was seeing our dear “teacher on CD” Mr. Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. Yes! The cello master who recorded book 1-8 Suzuki cello CDs. It meant so much to all the Suzuki cellists to finally meet him in person. Mr Tsutsumi was originally asked to perform, but due to his ongoing treatment of arthritis, he gave an on-stage talk instead.
The second half of the concert was the grand play in. It started from Book 9 Haydn Cello Concerto first movement. There were about 40 students playing the solo part accompanied by the Suzuki student orchestra. Although it is a very advanced and technically demanding repertoire, they made it looked so easy and sounded so perfectly together. Then it was the traditional play-in which show case a selected repertoire from Book 8 back to Book 1. The last performance was the Twinkle Theme and Variations. There were more than 200 students on stage at this moment. Twinkle is always the last performance of all Suzuki Play in, no matter how many times I hear the students play, I always feel deeply moved at this moment. I was so impressed by the pure intonation and great passionate energy from all the students. The rich warm cello tone filled the hall and gave me goosebumps.
After the concert, I rushed back to the backstage to congratulate my students. They all looked so excited and their eyes filled with joy. Lucia kept saying to me “it felt like the whole world was thrilling resonance with me! And how did so many little ones played so well and advanced? They must practice very hard! I need to go home and practice right now! ”
This was a truly memorable experience for all of us to be part of this great event.
Here are the official event photos: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EuFfzq2Qi/