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Kazuyoshi Akiyama, conductor |
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Conductor of many orchestras including the Tokyo Philharmonic and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. He is frequently the guest conductor for Canada's National Youth Orchestra of Canada. (See more information at the Tokyo Symphony website.)
The Youth Orchestra spent part of a summer at the UBC campus in British Columbia. My family and I spent the summer with them for a number of years. I was their photographer. Just before the orchestra performed at the Orpheum in Vancouver, one of the percussionists left unexpectedly. They urgently required a castanet player for Ravel's Rhapsody Espaniole. I practised feverishly and then auditioned for the part. I was accepted and played with the Ochestra at the Orpheum and again for the concert in Victoria. As the piece finished at the Orpheum, Maestro Akiyama raised his arm, looked at me, and gave me a big "O" with his finger and thumb, saying "good job". As we boarded the bus, the orchestra members gave me a big cheer. This was the highlight of my not very illustrious musical career. After that I said that I had been the token geriatric member of the National Youth Orchestra for a very short period. |
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