DePauw Chamber Symphony Kicks Off Nine-Day Concert Tour of Japan

January 4, 1999

January 4, 1999, Greencastle, Ind. - In a preview of a Goodwill Concert Tour of Japan during January, the 37-member DePauw University Chamber Symphony will present a pre-tour concert on Saturday, January 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, Moore Theatre. The program, sponsored by Cinergy Corp., is open and free to the public.

The performance will kick off the DePauw Chamber Symphony's nine-day concert tour of Japan. The tour is made possible by a significant gift from Fuji Heavy Industries, parent company of Subaru Automotive.

The Japan tour includes performances at the Ota City Concert Hall on Jan. 13, Minato Mirai in Yokohama on Jan. 14, Tsuruga Cultural Center on Jan. 16, Tochigi City Cultural Center on Jan. 17 and the Osaka International School on Jan. 18. The Ota City appearance will include performing a benefit concert for the Ota Arts School with the Ota Arts School Children's Orchestra. The Yokohama site is a brand, new performance hall.

The concert repertoire includes Bernstein's Candide Overture, Borodin's In the Steppes of Central Asia, Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, Copland's "Pieces from the Ballet Rodeo," and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The Gershwin piece will feature DePauw junior Jeremy A. Rafal of Millilani, Hawaii.

Borrowing the namesake of the Japanese cultural holiday Seijin-no hi, "Coming of Age," the DePauw Chamber Symphony's tour in January is particularly timely. "Coming of Age" refers to the Japanese holiday on Jan. 15 that celebrates the point at which Japanese youth upon their 20th birthday go into the wider world. The DePauw Chamber Symphony will not perform on Jan. 15 in observance of this holiday.

"The phrase 'Coming of Age' has significance to the student musicians in the chamber symphony. The student musicians are all around 20 years of age, and this tour certainly takes them into the wider world and provides a different cultural experience," Conductor Smith said.

The Japan concert tour also is unusual, according to Smith, because each student will be required to complete an academic project related to an aspect of Japanese culture. "Although 'being there' and performing the music well are good experiences, each of the students will have the opportunity for a distinctive cultural immersion," Smith said. "The student musicians will pursue projects in secondary areas of academic interest that will help them understand cultural differences and similarities more thoroughly."

The DePauw Chamber Symphony is the elite core of the larger DePauw University Orchestra, and it has toured extensively since established in 1974 by Smith. The ensemble makes its concert tours as a part of the university's Winter Term in January. With more than 120 concerts to its credit, including performances in Austria, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Canada, New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, Washington's Kennedy Center and Vienna's Musikverein Brahmssaal, the DePauw Chamber Symphony has garnered critical acclaim both in the United States and abroad.

Additional financial support for the DePauw Chamber Symphony's 1999 Goodwill Concert Tour of Japan is provided by Heartland Automotive, Inc., Greencastle; Shigeru, Inc., Ota City, Japan; the mayor of Ota City; The State of Indiana, East Asian Office, Yokohama; ELSA Corporation, Elwood, Ind.; and DePauw University.

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