“Our piano collaboration brings together seven fellow pianists performing our rendition of the orchestral piece Etupirka (エトピリカ), composed by Taro Hakase (葉加瀬太郎) and arranged for piano by Masahiro Saito (斎藤雅広). In our recorded performance, each pianist’s performance has been stitched together to create a flowing, complete piece that showcases both the beauty of the music and each performer’s interpretation.

The video concept was inspired by the H.O.P.E. Project (Instagram: @hopepianoorg), an international collaborative piano project bringing together pianists from around the world to create recorded performances. The H.O.P.E. Project was created during the COVID-19 pandemic, and helped instil unity through music during a challenging time. I had the opportunity to participate in two H.O.P.E. Project performances during the summer of 2020.

Joining forces with the Hibiki Project, I was inspired to create a piano collaboration video featuring Japanese music and composers. Our performance strives to reflect values of togetherness, joy, and hopefully bring you a moment of tranquility as you listen/watch. Michelle, Sunny, Vivian, Jonah, Yu-Pin, Jayne, Chihiro, and I are so excited to share our music and video with you. We hope you enjoy our virtual collaborative performance of Taro Hakase’s Etupirka! ”