Tucson Repertory Orchestra is headed to Japan, the second time in its eight years that the volunteer orchestra will perform in founder-conductor Toru Tagawaβs native Hiroshima.
In addition to Hiroshima, the tour also will include a concert in Osaka, a pair of events in Okayama Prefecture and a special concert July 11 featuring Tucson piano phenom 7-year-old Ayla Moreno.
She will join the orchestra to perform Mozartβs Piano Concerto No. 1, Tagawa said.
βShe is an amazing girl, who plays the piano, violin, does ballet,β Tagawa said, noting that Ayla will perform the full 17-minute Mozart concerto. βIt is a challenge for most 7-year-olds to perform a piece of that length, but she plays with ease.β
TRO will be the third Tucson orchestra to host Ayla after she won first place early this year in youth competitions for both the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra and Civic Orchestra of Tucson.
Tagawa has been friends with Aylaβs family since his son Max, who is also 7, was 2. Her parents, including her pianist mother Shiho Takeda from Nagoya, Japan, are coming on the tour.
Returning to Japan will be a family reunion of sorts for Tagawa, who formed the orchestra in 2011 to provide performance opportunities for highly skilled non-professional musicians. His father, jazz musician and composer Kokichi Tagawa, his cellist brother and another brother who plays electric bass will be among the 28 musicians performing with the TRO. All told, the orchestra will be a contingent of 40 counting support staff.
The Japan tour runs 11 days, from July 4 to the 15. To learn more or follow the ensembleβs Japanese adventures, follow TRO on Facebook at facebook.com/TucsonRepertoryOrchestra
The Tucson Repertory Orchestra rehearses at the Grace St. Paulβs Episcopal Church, preparing for a July tour of Japan, on Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Tucson, Ariz.
Cellist Robert Marshall, left, plays as Toru Tagawa conducts the orchestra during a rehearsal.Β
