Saturday 10th June 15:00
Ryoki Yamaguchi
Ticket
Click here to purchase online
Program
J. S. Bach (1685-1750): Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr BWV 675
A. Schoenberg (1874-1951): Variations On A Recitative For Organ, Op. 40
J. S. Bach (1685-1750): "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele" BWV 654, 18 Choral Preludes
J. S. Bach (1685-1750): Prelude and Fugue in E flat, BWV 552
Schoenberg wrote, indeed, this variation and one unfi nished piece. It was
20 years ago that I chose Schoenberg as the theme for my master's thesis
and played it at the end of my studies. When I looked at the score again
at the end of last year, I found it very fresh and I had the urge to play it
again. Please enjoy this piece together with other organ pieces that are
related to the composer in many ways.
Profile
Born in Kagoshima, Japan in 1973, Ryoki Yamaguchi began playing the piano at the age of four and the electric organ at six. Ryoki won first prize at the Hammond Organ Competition in Japan in 1986 and 1988. At that time, one of staff members of Hammond Suzuki gave him a cassette tape of theatre organ music. The sound attracted him very much but there was no way for him to know more about it then. In 1996, after the Internet had begun to spread, his continuous interest in the theatre organ led him to visit the ATOS convention in Pasadena. That experience let him make the decision to become a professional organist.
After graduation from Waseda University in Tokyo, where he majored in economics, Ryoki played many organ concerts for Hammond Suzuki and Roland Corporation for promotion. Meanwhile, he studied pipe organ music with Yumiko Ohtsuki, Bryan Ashley and Tsuguo Hirono. In 2004, he got a master's degree at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. His repertoire includes various styles of music, classic, jazz and pops. He often appears at a lot of concert halls all over Japan. Ryoki has performed not only in Japan, but also the United States, France, Spain, Argentina, Korea, Malaysia and China.
These days, he often gives piano and organ lessons to actors for some TV drama series of NHK (Japan's only public broadcaster). Especially "Yell"(2020), a story about a composer of Japanese popular music named Yuji Koseki, was a big hit. Many scenes with Hammond organs made a lot of viewers interested in organs.