EO9066 Seattle Symphony Event Review January 29, 2022

EO9066

Seattle Symphony
Benaroya Hall

Performance Reviewed: 1/29/2022

My first performance back “after” the pandemic at Benaroya Hall featuring the Seattle Symphony was this past Saturday evening. Executive Order 9066 was the program as it is the 80th anniversary of the Executive Order that sent thousands of Japanese Americans to internment camps around the USA during WWII.



Accompanying the concert was the short film multimedia experience at the nearby Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center called “Pictures of Executive Order 9066”.



The multimedia experience was more emotional than I thought it would be. It was just over ten minutes long with images, video clips, and narration that gave a brief glimpse into the world of the internment camps. The narration was from various survivors of the camps and the images in particular were upsetting.



For those with no personal connection to EO9066, the experience shown should have still elicited an emotional response of some kind - disbelief, anger, sadness, etc. For those with a personal connection, ugly wounds may have been re-opened or, in my case, anger bubbled to the surface. Seeing the horse stalls, the manure, the blatant racism - all of it, while not new, was hard to look at. But it was necessary to look at it for sure.



Kudos to filmmaker JJ Gerber, musician Kishi Bashi, photographer Dorothea Lange, and oral histories by Densho. They created a powerful multimedia experience that honestly set the tone better than the concert that was to follow.



The program for the evening consisted of Japanese American composer Paul Chihara’s world premiere of “Beyond the Hills:, Seattle born musician Kishi Bashi performing his “Improvisations on EO9066”, and ending with Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4”.



“Beyond the Hills” was a Seattle Symphony commission with Mr. Chihara in attendance Saturday evening. It was a strong, moving piece that reflected Mr. Chihara’s own experience being in the camps at the age of 4. I really appreciated this piece as it touched on all of the bases of the program.



Kishi Bashi’s “Improvisations on EO9066” was performed in 6 chapters or movements. While stating that he did not have the direct connection to the internment camps like some did, his parents getting together in the mid 60’s post war, he approached the material from a social justice angle along with one of assimilation for immigrants (loss of native language and customs for example).



Using the violin, guitar, and voice through the movements, the music really brought the listener along on the horrible rollercoaster of the start of the internment camps up to the end where the music ended on a brighter note.



After a brief intermission, Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4” concluded the program.



While the multimedia film was a focused and clear affair, the concert program was a bit off. I personally would have loved to have heard something by another Japanese American composer (or even Japanese composer) after the intermission. Even as a stretch, something from a Japanese band would have been more fitting than the “Symphony No. 4” that was performed. Perhaps having the Seattle Symphony perform one of Yoshiki’s many classical interpretation pieces would have been a perfect addition.



Due to the current conductor situation, guest conductor Norman Huynh stepped in and did a fine job. He was energetic with his conducting and perhaps a bit rushed at times but overall he was a fine choice to lead the Seattle Symphony.



The Seattle Symphony itself sounded stunning. When they are in the right conductor’s hands, magic is simply created. We are lucky to have such an excellent symphony in our backyard so to speak.



Kishi Bashi is a multi talented performer. I appreciated his care in doing the initial research into EO9066 and my understanding is he has a documentary coming out about the same subject matter. It has clearly impacted his work and I’m looking forward to the upcoming film.



Overall, I thank the Seattle Symphony for putting on such a program. Art must confront and educate at times and EO9066 was one of those times.



Best,
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts

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