DENNIS ODA / DODA@ STARBULLETIN. COM
Lisa Nakamichi, right, and her mother, Chieko Hayasaka, at Hayasaka's home. Nakamichi will be playing in a benefit concert at the Hawaii Theatre for the Hawaii Youth Symphony.
Pianist adds her
talent to benefit
Classical pianist Lisa Nakamichi was born and raised here, even though she made her professional debut in 1995 in her ancestral home country, in a career-making recital sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Culture.
Since then, she's traveled back and forth between Japan and Hawaii as both a resident and performer. One of her latest projects includes playing in Sunday's Hawaii Youth Symphony benefit concert. Nakamichi will perform George Gershwin's evergreen "Rhapsody in Blue" with the symphony, under the direction of conductor Henry Miyamura.
'A Celebration of Excellence
Hawaii Youth Symphony benefit concert celebrating the 150th anniversary of Louis Vuitton
... the Legacy Continues'Where: Hawaii Theatre
When: 4 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $20, $15, and $10 for students and seniors (includes $2 theater restoration fee)
Call: 528-0506
"And for the encore, my teacher Ellen Masaki and I will perform a work by Dvorak, 'Slovak Dance in G minor,' four hands on a piano," Nakamichi said.
(She, Masaki and Mark Wong previously played a Mozart triple concerto with the Hawaii Youth Symphony back in December.)
The program will also include dancers from the Hawaii State Ballet, retired Army general Fred Weyand narrating Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," and percussionist Sango, who will premier local composer Neil McKay's new work with the full 94-piece orchestra.
EVER SINCE her mother placed her in front of the keyboard at the tender age of 3-and-a-half, it seems Nakamichi had the knack for the piano. "I progressed really fast compared to the other kids, and the progress I made every year was fast," she said. "And I did practice every day, and my mom used to sit by me on the bench every day. Up to when I was 10 years old, I would practice at least three hours a day after school."
Her progress was such that Nakamichi would later travel to the West Coast on a regular basis, competing in and winning high school level, state, regional and national contests. So it seemed only right that, after graduating from Kailua High School, Nakamichi would try for, and subsequently pass, an entrance exam into the prestigious Juilliard music school in New York.
"Ellen Masaki has been such a great inspiration in my life," she said. "If not for Ellen, I wouldn't have gone to Juilliard, so she's done a lot for my piano career."
She spent six years at Juilliard, and got her DMA at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in Long Island.
While teaching may be a later career option, Nakamichi admits she's too busy performing, "and I travel so much between here and Japan." Since she's with an artist management firm in Japan, the Tokyo resident performs the bulk of her recitals, chamber music concerts and concertos there, having performed with such august orchestras as the Hiroshima and Kyoto Symphonies and the New Stars Japan Philharmonic.
(In fact, Nakamichi says the chairman of the Japan Youth Symphony will be attending Sunday's benefit concert.)
"I would like to expand my touring, maybe to Europe, but I still want to do as much as I can for the music community here," she said.
About the previous Hawaii Youth Symphony concert in December, she said: "I was impressed with the level of the three orchestras, especially Symphony I, who I thought was quite comparable to a professional orchestra. The musicians were all so dedicated, all talented, and put in such hard work to prepare for the concert. I was thoroughly impressed, such a pleasure working with them, and I'm looking forward to playing with them again Sunday."
Symphony performs
‘Carmina Burana’The Honolulu Symphony will perform Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" with the 200-plus Honolulu Symphony Chorus, led by conductor and chorus director Karen Kennedy.
Often used in film scores, "Carmina Burana" is a collection of music with a selection of 13th-century poems for its text. Soprano Alicia Berneche, tenor Laurence Paxton and baritone Lorenzo Formosa will join the symphony and chorus for this crowning event of the Hawaii International Choral Festival, running through Sunday.
Berneche returns to the stage in Honolulu after having performed the Mozart "Great Mass" in the 2003 Hawaii International Choral Festival with the Honolulu Symphony. Berneche has become a major proponent of contemporary opera in this country, culminating in her starring role as Daisy Buchanan in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of "The Great Gatsby" in 2000.
Baritone Lorenzo Formosa has distinguished himself as an up-and-coming artist with his performances of opera and operetta.
Tenor Laurence Paxton has been a professor of voice at the University of Hawaii since 1985. He's won the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions and took first place in the Beethoven Vocal Competition.
» Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall
» Time: 8 p.m. today and 4 p.m. Sunday
» Tickets: $16 to $59
» Call: 792-2000
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