Kimiko's Pearl - Symphonic Suite

Year Composed:	2025
Instrumentation:	2.2.2.2/4.3.3.1/timp+3 perc/hp/strings
Duration	20 minutes

Program Notes

The process of adapting a symphonic suite from the music of Kimiko's Pearl - a ballet that chronicles the Japanese-Canadian internment through the lens of a single family - was both a privilege and a challenge. The ballet was originally conceived for violin, cello, harp, flutes (Japanese and Western), as well as immersive sound design (courtesy of Aaron Tsang) whose role was to augment and transform each instrument in ways that mirrored the excavation of cultural, racial, and national identity at the heart of this story. In this suite, I have highlighted these instruments through solo passages, while using the orchestra to lend a sense of grandeur and scale to an otherwise intimate aesthetic.

The greater challenge was condensing 70 minutes of narrative drama (see Howard Reich's synopsis) into a 20-minute suite that would have its own sense of flow and dramatic pacing. To do so, I focused on the ballet's emotional arc, chaining together a series of musical sequences that would best support that arc - a process that entailed much re-composing. The resulting work is loosely cast in three acts, and begins with A New Life, where a mysterious flute solo unveils the orchestra and initiates our journey back into the mists of time. Atop a restless violin figure glides the Ayukawa Theme: a two-part phrase, alternating between tight intervals and vaulting leaps, that becomes a sonic metaphor for Yosuke Mino's yearning, expressive choreography. The section culminates in an achingly lyrical pas de deux as the great-grandparents of our narrative, Shizuo and Natsue, are wed.

Their anticipation of an idyllic new life in Canada is cut short by the invasion of Pearl Harbour, and by the crisp string staccato that signifies the start of the second act (Enemy Aliens). The scherzo that follows alternates between graceful counterpoint and an increasingly ominous undercurrent as the Japanese-Canadian community is systematically ostracized. As the veneer of musical civility gives way to a barrage of percussion, the music recalls the suite's storm-tossed opening - one that is both internal and brought upon by outside forces. A frenetic violin solo culminates in a Baroque-inspired elegy, which paves the way for the suite's cathartic final stretch (Communing with the Ancestors). Here, a melody that represents the Ayukawa family's multi-generational journey unfolds in all its quiet nobility. The suite ends with a whirlwind of fluttering strings, over which an expansive version of the "Bon Odori" - a traditional Japanese folk dance - plays, symbolizing the meeting of past and present, and the beginning of a multi-generational healing process.

For this performance, the suite will be preceded by a short improvised solo played by Ron Korb on the shinobue (a high-pitched Japanese flute.) Subtly incorporating motives from Kimiko's Pearl, the solo acts as a bridge between the somber language of Takemitsu's Requiem and the luminous sound world of the suite to follow.

Performances

• April 9-11, 2015 - Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Gmineo. Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto.

Commissions and Awards

• Commissioned by Bravo Niagara! and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.