New and upcoming Israel-related cultural events in Japan
Michael Seltenreich selected as finalist of Toru Takemitsu Composition Award 2016
Screening was done with the anonymous scores having only their titles. These 4 nominated works will be performed on 29 May 2016 at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall “Takemitsu Memorial” for Mr. Ichiyanagi’s final judgment.
＜[COMPOSIUM 2016] Toru Takemitsu Composition Award 2016 Final Concert＞
Date: Sun. 29 May, at 15:00
Place: Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall “Takemitsu Memorial”
Judge: Toshi Ichiyanagi,
Conductor: Kentaro Kawase,
Play: Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Admission：1000 yen（not reserved seat）
Inquiry：Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation TEL:03-5353-0770
Michael Seltenreich
Born in Tel-Aviv, Israel in 1988. Native of Israel where his works are regularly performed by some of the country’s finest orchestras & ensembles, among them, The Israel Philharmonic, The Israel Opera and The National Radio Orchestra. Until he left for Paris to continue his studies he has been employed by the Israel Opera as their lead orchestrator. He is the recipient of several domestic and international awards and is the youngest composer ever to be awarded the 1st prize in the Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award, and most recently he won the Arthur Friedman prize for “an outstanding orchestral work” and The Frank Robert Abell Young Composer Competition for New Chamber Music. Completed his Bachelor’s degree at Tel-Aviv University; This is his debut year in New York city where he is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at The Juilliard School under the direction of Matthias Pintscher.
http://www.michaelseltenreich.com
Index of June
１． Shai Maestro Trio @ Cotton Club
２． Israeli ECO Film “Earth” in Short Shorts Film Festival
３． “Bait” Contemporary dance performance by Un Yamada inspired by Yehuda Amihai
４． Exhibition of Survivor and children in Holocaust “Truth of Auschwitz”
５． New books & DVD（Etgar Keret 『The Seven Good Years』 / Hilla Medalia 『The Go Go Boys, Inside Stories of Cannon Films』/Salam Unagami 『Meyhane Table』）
＊Other news
① Japan Society for Jewish Studies in Kobe/ Lecture Series / 「Jews after Holocaust」by Prof. Mari Nomura (Kanazawa Univ.)
② Peace Study Tour to Auschwitz for university students 2016
１． Shai Maestro Trio @ Cotton Club
Shai Maestro,talented 27-year-old pianist and a composer, has earned his spurs being a part of Avishai Cohen's band. Now he has a band of his own—Shai Maestro Trio (although he says it's not "his" band but "theirs": Shai, Jorge Roeder and Ziv Ravitz). The group has released two albums so far—in 2012 Shai Maestro Trio, in 2013 The Road to Ithaca, and in 2015 Untold Stories.
＜Shai Maestro Trio＞
Date：Sat.Jun.11～ Mon. Jun.13
Place：Cotton Club（Marunouchi）
■6.11.sat & 6.12.sun
[1st.show] open 4:00pm / start 5:00pm
[2nd.show] open 6:30pm / start 8:00pm
■6.13.mon
[1st.show] open 5:00pm / start 6:30pm
[2nd.show] open 8:00pm / start 9:00pm
Music Charge：￥6,800
【Reservation】TEL 03-3215-1555 (11:00am - 10:30pm ※Sat.& Sun.11:00am - 9:00pm)
Member： Shai Maestro (p), Jorge Roeder (b), Ziv Ravitz (ds)
Shai Maestro
Shai Maestro (born February 5, 1987) is an Israeli jazz pianist. He has been a member of Avishai Cohen's band from 2006 until 2011.
In 2011 he formed the Shai Maestro Trio together with Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder and Israeli drummer Ziv Ravitz.They released three albums: Shai Maestro Trio (2012),The Road to Ithaca (2013) and Untold Stories (2015).
It’s the first time for Shai to play in the Cotton Club with his own trio first time. This year, he will come to Japan once again in September as duo with Camilla Meza, beautiful singer from Chile.
2. Israeli Eco Film “Earth” in Short Shorts Film Festival (Save the Earth ! program)
The 18th edition of Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA), Academy Awards® accredited and one of Asia’s largest international short film festivals, will be held from June 2 (Thu) to June 26 (Sun). This year the festival received a record number of around 6,000 submissions from more than 100 different countries and regions. With the Rio Olympics this summer, and the countdown to 2020 gaining momentum, it will be addressing diversity via the richness of short film, whilst encouraging cultural exchange through this unique media, all under the banner Cinema Carnival～Explore Your Emotions～. Film commentator LiLiCo will remain in place as Festival Ambassador this year and ensure that audiences are in the festival spirit! In 2015 the festival received 17,206 attendees. This year, with an extended screening period of almost one month, hope to welcome many more audience members. Approximately 200 films will screen across the seven competition categories and special programs. The film selected as the Grand Prix winner will be eligible for nomination in one of the short film competitions at the Academy Awards® in 2017.
What’s「Save the Earth！Program」?
This competition was launched with the Ministry of the Environment (Japan) in 2008. It gathers a wide variety of films that approach environmental issues and offer enlightening ideas about protecting the environment through the medium of film.
『Earth (Japanese Title: Energy Bar)』
2013/ Israel/ 02:02 min /Animation / directed by Stav Levi, Gal Haklay
Humanity's hunger for energy-resources takes the form of a luxurious new restaurant!
＜Date & Venue＞
Fri. Jun. 3 at 15:30-17:10 @ Space O(Omotesando Hills)
Sat. Jun.4 at 19:30-21:10 @ Brillia Short Theater (Yokohama Minato Mirai)
Thu. Jun. 16 at 13:30-15:10 @ Brillia Short Theater (Yokohama Minato Mirai)
Thu. Jun.23 at 17:30-19:10 @ iTCOM STUDIO & HALL （Futakotamagawa Rise）
Admission free but need reservation ↓：
Stav Levi & Gal Haklay
Stav and Gal are director-animators from Israel who have been studying and living in Jerusalem for the last four years. They graduated from the Bezalel Academy for Arts and Design. Their graduation films have travelled the world, and now they are working in the film industry, hoping to grow as professionals and artists.
3. Contemporary Dance performance “Bait” by Un Yamada, inspired by Yehuda Amihai
"Bait “, the new production of Un Yamada, Japanese choreographer, means " house " in Hebrew. It’s idea came from the poem of Israeli poetry of Yehuda Amihai. " Body " and " thinking " , " you " and " I " , standing on the boundary of things like " native " and " foreign country " , while suffer from uncertainty , they are superimposed explore the horizons for co-existence. It is the exclusive performance of Kobe only .
（Photo：Makiko Miyagawa）
Dance Box Solo Dance Series
＜Contemporary Dance Performance “Bait” by Un Yamada＞
Date: Sat. Jun 25 at 17:00 / Sun. Jun.26 at 15:00
Venue: Art Theater dB (Kobe)
Admission: General 3000yen (ad) / 3500yen (spot), student & residents 2500yen / 3000yen
*500 yen discount for reservation before May 31 (First 50 people)
Un Yamada
Coming from a background of training in apparatus gymnastics, ballet and butoh, Un Yamada became active as a choreographer from 1996. She is an artist who uses music, art, literature, scholarship, fashion, and the bodies of varied dancers as resources for creating dance that is rich in intelligent wit. In 1995 she studied in the United States. Yamada won the French Embassy Prize for Young Choreographers and a scholarship to study in France in the solo and duo dance competition of the Yokohama Dance Collection in 2000. In 2002, she formed her own company Co. Yamada Un and has worked ambitiously presenting works as one of Japan’s few and unique contemporary dance companies. Also, in cooperation with local public halls around the country, she has been a pioneer of community dance, conducting many workshops for children, citizen groups, the elderly, people with disabilities and other groups, while creating works for public performance. Other activities include choreographing movement for theater and opera productions and creating children’s books.
4. 『Truth of Auschwitz』 Exhibition of the paintings of survivor and children in Holocaust
Exhibition of paintings from Auschwitz /The 12th Theater-X International Dance + Theater Festival IDTF 2016
（painting by MIECZYSŁAW. KOSCIELNIAK）
The exhibition is composed by paintings of the Holocaust survivors and the children who secretly drawn them in
extermination camp.
Date：Sat.Jun.4 ～Sun. Jun.1212:00ー19:00
Place：Gallery X（Cai） （Sumida-ku, Ryogoku）
Inquiry ：Theater-Ｘ（Cai） TEL:03-5624-1181
*Gallery Talk: Sat. Jun.4 and Sun.Jun.5 at 13:00 by Michiko Nomura (writer, editor and owner of the collection) / Admission 500yen
5. New books & DVD
Shincho Crest Books, translated by Takafumi Akimoto : ￥1,700+tax
brilliant, life-affirming, and hilarious memoir from a “genius” (The New York Times) and master storyteller.
The seven years between the birth of Etgar Keret’s son and the death of his father were good years, though still full of reasons to worry. Lev is born in the midst of a terrorist attack. Etgar’s father gets cancer. The threat of constant war looms over their home and permeates daily life. What emerges from this dark reality is a series of sublimely absurd ruminations on everything from Etgar’s three-year-old son’s impending military service to the terrorist mind-set behind Angry Birds. There’s Lev’s insistence that he is a cat, releasing him from any human responsibilities or rules. Etgar’s siblings, all very different people who have chosen radically divergent paths in life, come together after his father’s Shivah to experience the grief and love that tie a family together forever. This wise, witty memoir—Etgar’s first nonfiction book published in America, and told in his inimitable style—is full of wonder and life and love, poignant insights, and irrepressible humor.
『The Go Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films』by Hilla Medalia 2014/Israel/89min/English, Hebrew, French/Japanese subtitled / 3800 yen +tax NIKKATSU
THE GO-GO BOYS: The Inside Story of Cannon Films is a documentary about two Israeli-born cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who in pursuit of the American Dream turned the Hollywood power structure upside down, producing over 300 films and becoming the most powerful independent film company in the world. Up close and personal, the film examines the complex relationship between two contradictory personalities whose combined force fueled their success and eventual collapse.
Hilla Medalia
Hilla Medalia is one of Israel’s top directors. A Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, Hilla has received three Emmy® nominations.
Her projects have garnered critical acclaim and screened internationally in theaters and on television including HBO, MTV, BBC and ARTE.
Among her range of titles include ‘To Die in Jerusalem’ 2007 (HBO), 'After the Storm’ 2009 (MTV), 'Numbered’ 2012 (ARTE), 'Dancing in Jaffa’ 2013 (Tribeca, IFC Sundance selects), 'Web Junkie’ 2014 (Sundance Film Festival, POV (PBS), BBC) and 'The Go Go Boys’ 2014 (Cannes Film Festival).
Her latest film, 'Censored Voices’ 2015, has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlinale and was released in theaters in the US, France, UK and Germany.
She lives in Tel Aviv with her husband and daughter.
『MEYHANE TABLE 』 by Salam Unagami LD & K BOOKS, 1600 yen + tax
" lemon , garlic , parsley , olive oil" . Hummus , Tabbouleh , couscous , falafel , cherry kebab…
The Japanese 's first all-color Middle Eastern recipe book a collection of 56 items from Turkey , Lebanon , Morocco , and Israel . Various vegetarian menus are also introduced .
Takuya (Salam) Unagami
Indian & Middle Eastern Music researcher and personality of World Music Radio Program "Asian Cruise" on NHK FM. Lecturer at Asahi Culture Centre Shinjuku
Often travel arround the Indian sub-continent & the Middle East (Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, etc) www.chez-salam.com
＊Other news
① Japan Society for Jewish Studies in Kobe / Lecture series 「Jews after Holocaust」
Jewish situation immediately after the end of World War II is generally not well known .
Where the survivors of the Holocaust were trying to find a place to live reconstruction , how the international community corresponded to them ?
Date： Sat. Jun. 4 at 14:00 ～ 17:00
Admission ：general＝ 500 yen、members and students are free（ ※ need student ID）
Lecturer： Prof. Mari Nomura ( Kanazawa University )
② Peace Study Tour to Auschwitz for university students 2016
With professional guide , visiting not only Auschwitz , also the tourism spots in Warsaw and Prague . The second half of the journey is divided to two different destinations as “ Munich course ( August )” and “Berlin course ( September )” . The Berlin course includes the visit to the site of walls which collapsed in 1989, such as Checkpoint Charlie. The Munich course is to visit " White Rose Memorial” which was the center of the non-violent anti-Nazi movement in the Munich University during the war.
Departure：Fri. Aug. 26/ Fri. Sep. 9 (11 days)
Visiting cities：Warsaw , Krakow , Prague , Munich or Berlin ( choice)
Number of passengers：minimum 4 people / maximum 22 people
Price：468,000 yen (August) / 458,000 yen (September)
＜Mini News＞
＊「Amit Berlowitz」photo exhibition is extended by Sun. May 29 at VACANT (Omotesando) http://www.vacant.vc/
＊The photo in the catalogue “Rauchenberg in Israel”(1975) is used as a main visual of the exhibition “Hisachika Takahashi by Yuki Okumura” at Ginza Maison Heremes Le Forum（Jun.4～Sep.4）
Condolence
Our deepest sympathy to Mr. Yukio Ninagawa (died on May 12, 2016 in age 80) , directed the international co-production “Trojan Women” by the Cameri Theater (Tel Aviv) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Theatre cerebrating 60 years anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between Japan and Israel.
(photo：Cameri Theater)
「In "The Trojan Women" played in Israel from December 2012 through January 2013, Ninagawa underlined the significance of "tolerance and coexistence" amid the ongoing conflict between Israeli and Palestinian people. The play was performed in three languages -- Hebrew, Arabic and Japanese.」 (May 13, 2016 Mainichi Japan)
Thank you always for your constant support to our cultural activities. See you in the events !