Awarding Piano Performance Internationally

Particularly when Tomoko was young, she participated in several piano performance competitions. Besides the regional competitions, Tomoko had the honor Tomoko had the honor to participate in the Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, which promoted classical music. This biennial contest was

created in 1943, in the midst of World War II.

The following year she entered her most memorable international competition: the 1968 Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition. First of all, this Queen did not rule in England. She was born in Bavaria, and was the wife of Belgium’s King Albert I. This Queen Elisabeth as a patron of the arts and set up the competition in 1937, only to have it interrupted by World War II.  In 1951 it was re-activated and named in honor of the queen.

A more recent international award is the program of Excellence Piano Awards, which awards piano solos, duos and trios from around the world. Categories include classical, jazz, film music, minimalist, pop covers and original compositions. Unlike Tomoko who had to fly to these international competitions, current competitors submit their recorded performances online.

The website Musical Chairs (https://www.musicalchairs.info/piano/competitions) lists national and international piano competitions for performers of classical music.

Tomoko’s daughter also completed professionally – in ice dancing. She won several awards nationally, and even competed in the 2002 Winter OIympics.

When asked why she did such competitions, Tomoko replied, “Humans need competition. Pressure transforms to energy.” She continued, “Enjoy life with its challenges – then succeed.” 

Spring into Competition

 

When Tomoko was performing competitively in the 1960s, spring seemed to be a favored time.

In late March of 1985, the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Junior League of Fresno held a Young Artists competition, at which Tomoko won as the best pianist, garnering a $500 prize. At the winners’ concert in the town’s Roosevelt High School auditorium, Tomoko played her  praiseworthy Mozart concerto. The other performing winners were baritone David Tenbrook, who later sang in west coast operas, and violinist Varoujan Kodjian, who became a conductor in the states and in Europe.  

Later that spring Tomoko had her Peninsula debut at Foothill College in its Appreciation Hall. At this evening event, sponsored by the Santa Clara Japanese Speaking Society of America, she again performed a full program, which would largely overlap her post-graduation recital: a mix of Mozart, Brahms, Chopin and Schumann. A year later, in 1966, Tomoko again played under the sponsorship of the Santa Clara Japanese Speaking Society of America, this time at Mountain View High School in a piano and violin duo with Jack Ullom. The composers were again Mozart and Brahms, with Bartók added, but the pieces were naturally composed for two. And Tomoko wowwed the audience with her Mozart rondo encore. The press agreed: “The delicacy and precision of her runs and trills made this a particlar delight. A beautiful figure in yellow silk, she played with the greatest composure.” 

Even though Tomoko enjoyed performing in California live and in broadcasts, she yearned to perform in Europe. Tomoko had the chance to fly to Europe  in spring of 1967 for the Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, which promoted classical music. This biennial contest was created in 1943, in the midst of World War II. Just a year before Tomoko participated in the competition, founder pianist Marguerite Long passed away. “I feel a little guilty having such a good time here, even though the contest has an undertone of sadness,” Tomoko recalls.

Tomoko ended up flying to the Continent the next spring for her most memorable international competition: the 1968 Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition. Tomoko had to spend months ahead of time learning the required composition written for the competition and another piece by a Belgian composer as well as practice her own technique. As with other contestants, Tomoko had to pay her own expenses, but was housed by local arts enthusiasts. Even during the competition, the pianists practiced and conversed with each other; they were in it together, especially as they had to perform with the same orchestra and conductor. The competition was a city-wide event for Brussels, with journalists and photographers avidly following the musicians throughout the three rounds of competition, with the final round being broadcast on radio and television. When asked why she did such competitions, Tomoko replied, “Humans need competition. Pressure transforms to energy.” She continued, “Enjoy life with its challenges – then succeed.” 

Poetic Poulenc

 

Classic composers can also be poetic. One of Tomoko’s favorites is Frenchmen Francis Poulenc, who was also a celebrated pianist.

 Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was born in Paris on the cusp of the 20^th century: January 7, 1899. Poulenc’s mother played the piano competently, and Poulenc developed broad musical taste. However, his father would not allow Poulenc to study at a music conservatory. Fortunately, early 20^th century Paris was a cultural hot bed and Poulenc was able to befriend piano and composition mentors Ricardo Viñes, George Auric and Erik Satie. The young composers admitted him to “Les Nouveaux Jeunes,” a circle of protégé musicians. In the 1920s, Poulenc was known as one member of “Les Six”: up and coming composers. Poet Cocteau served as the group’s father figure.

Indeed, Poulenc met several avant-garde poets and set their poems to music. In fact, his first public composition, Rapsodie nègre, featured African-style poetry. Only 18 at the time, his five-movement piece was impressive enough that Stravinsky helped Poulenc to get a contract with a music publisher. Even while serving in the French army, Poulenc set poems (in this case, Apollinaire) to music; the resultant song cycle was an international success. His incorporation of poetry continued in the 1930s, at which point his music was one of the first to be broadcast on BBC television. During World War II Poulenc set French Resistance poets’ works to music, which sometimes could not be performed in France when it was under German occupation – so was broadcast in England. Poulenc also performed his songs; Pierre Bernac and he dueted for over twenty years in Paris and internationally.

Poulenc also composed operas, ballet music, liturgical works, and chamber music thoughout his life, which ended in 1963 from a heart attack.

Tomoko’s album Baroque-20^th Century features Poulenc’s break-out piece Movements Perpétuels” and his mid-career “Villageoises,” which was inspired by the French countryside. Like Poulenc, Tomoko appreciates the natural rhythm of poetry, which music can accentuate.

Celebrants of Culture

On May 5, 1997, Tomoko played piano compositions for the poetry of Hojo Nakajima. Singers and musician with Western and Japanese performed her in this evening of music celebration, held at the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor.

Hojo Nakajima was in Fukuoka, Japan, born two years earlier than Tomoko. He was Chamberlain to the Crown Prince and part of the Imperial Household Agency. His first poetry anthology was published in 1990.

The history of  the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor begins earlier in the century. A replica of Paris’s Palaise de la Légion d’Honneur was constructed by the French for the 1915 San Francisco Panama Pacific International Exposition. At the end of the exposition, the French government sugar magnate Adolph Spreckels to build a permanent ¾ sized replica, which was completed in 1924. Spreckel’s wife, Alma, wanted the city to have a new art museum, so the family donated it to the city of San Francisco, in memory of WWI California military casualties. In 1995 the museum was renovated to make it seismic safe, and was enlarged in the process to handle more exhibits and services.

Since the beginning, the museum has been located in Lincoln Park, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. IT collects ancient and European art, and houses the largest collecxtion of works on paper in the western United States. The museum’s Spreckels gallery also contains a symphonic organ, which is played every Saturday for concerts; another space holds the Gunn Theater, which is a venue for chamber music concerts.

Tomoko’s performance was held in that theater, and Tomoko likely saw the original Palaise when she visited Paris as part of her time as a contestant at the Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition, thirty years before her performance at the San Francisco Palace.

All of these people and places reflect celebrated the international world of culture, and we are their beneficiaries.

The Sounds of Paris

Even as a child, Tomoko looked to Europe for musical inspiration. When Tomoko was in college, she loved to go to concerts when European musicians toured in Tokyo. “One day I will witness such performers in their home country,” Tomoko remembers saying to herself then

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Tomoko’ own first European performance took place in Paris: at the Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, which promoted classical music. She admitted, “I feel a little guilty having such a good time here.” Tomoko wasn’t sure if she would ever have a chance to visit Europe again so she took every opportunity to see the sites of Paris.  

Tomoko isn’t the only musician to be inspired by Paris. Certainly, some of Tomoko’ favorite composers spent valuable time in the memorable city.

As a ten-year old protégé, Mozart gave recitals in the homes of wealthy Parisians. Later a local musical society commissioned his “Paris” Symphony No. 31. Unfortunately, most of Mozart’s time in Paris was not enjoyable, especially because his mother died there.

More than fifty years later, Chopin arrived in Paris and stayed for most of the rest of his life, even becoming a French citizen. He gave only thirty public performances because he preferred giving recitals in private salons where his intimate keyboard technique was better suited. Most of his income, though, came from giving private lessons and getting commissions to compose. 

Four years earlier than Chopin, Liszt moved from Vienna to Paris where he gave piano and composition lessons. Liszt stood out because of his virtuoso piano performance technique, but Chopin was sometimes annoyed that Liszt would embellish Chopin’s compositions when performing. Nevertheless, the two men were friends, and made joint appearances at several concerts. 

A generation later, Gabriel Fauré started studying classical music in Paris when nine years old; by his mid teens he was tutored by Saint-Saëns. Later in life, Fauré himself taught at the Paris Conservatoire; among his pupils was Ravel. The music of Mozart and Chopin greatly influenced him; over the years Fauré stylistically bridged romanticism and impressionism.

One of Tomoko’s 20^th century admired composers is Francis Poulenc, who was actually born in Paris at the turn of the century. One of her set pieces that Tomoko performs is “Trois mouvements perpétuels,” which Poulenc composed as a teen on a local elementary school piano. 

The sounds of Paris have certainly influenced Tomoko.