Choral Event for Disaster Reconstruction Held in N.Y.

May 10, 2018

New York- A choral event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York on Wednesday night to support the reconstruction of areas hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Choirs from Japan and the United States sang in the New York Chorus Festival, the sixth of its kind, to send good wishes to disaster-affected areas.

From Japan, a total of four groups took part in the festival.

"Hana wa Saku" (flowers will bloom), written to support disaster reconstruction efforts, "Furusato" (hometown) and other songs were sung at the event, which lasted for some three hours. A fundraising activity to support disaster areas was also conducted at the venue.

The participating groups included Fukushima CF Chorus, formed mainly by people from the northeastern Japan prefecture of Fukushima, which hosts Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s disaster-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power station.

Fukushima CF Chorus heartily sang "Stabat Mater" by Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, joining a musical performance by Manhattan String Octet.

"We put into the song our hope that sorrow and pain (from the disaster) will not be forgotten, as well as prayers" for reconstruction and the disaster victims, Chikako Shishido, the leader of the Japanese choir, said after the performance.

"I've known the name of Carnegie Hall since I was in elementary school," said Masanobu Korai, the conductor of Fukushima CF Chorus and honorary chairman of the choral federation of Fukushima Prefecture. "We were able to perform happily in a relaxed manner." Jiji Press