The Los Angeles Philharmonic is currently in Tokyo with Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel as part of the global tour celebrating the orchestra's centenary.
"We are very happy to be back," Dudamel said at a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
This is the ninth time for the LA Phil to visit Japan and its second time with Dudamel, the orchestra's music and artistic director since 2009.
Founded in 1919, the LA Phil is one of the top orchestras in the United States.
The centenary tour started in Seoul on Saturday. The Japan leg of the tour includes four performances in four days in Tokyo, starting with a chamber music concert on Tuesday. The two remaining concerts, at NHK Hall on Thursday and at Suntory Hall on Friday, are already sold out.
Dudamel, 38, is one of the most exciting talents in the world of classical music today.
"This is my 10th anniversary as the leader of this wonderful musical institution. I'm very happy to be part of the 100th anniversary celebrations," he said.
After Tokyo, the tour will continue with stops in Edinburgh, London, Mexico City, Boston and New York later this year.
In addition to a standard classical music repertoire featuring the works of composers such as Mahler and Dvorak, the tour also features works by two contemporary composers with long-standing working relationships with the LA Phil: John Adams and John Williams.
The Tokyo concert on Wednesday saw the Japan premiere of Adams' "Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?" while the program on Thursday is to feature "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" by Williams and his film scores for Hollywood blockbusters, such as "Jaws," "E.T." and "Star Wars."
"His music is like the soundtrack of our lives," Dudamel said of Williams' music.
Dudamel, who also performed in Japan with the Vienna Philharmonic in 2014, is one of the illustrious contemporary classical music artists whose talent blossomed through El Sistema, Venezuela's widely renowned music education system for underprivileged children. The excitement he brought to Japan with the country's famed Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in 2008 is still fresh in the memory of many classical music fans in Japan.
"It is an amazing project. For almost 45 years, El Sistema has been giving children opportunities to change their lives through music," Dudamel said. The LA Phil's youth program is collaborating with El Sistema, continuing to teach and offer music to children in Venezuela as well as in low-income areas of Los Angeles.
Asked about the politically turbulent times that his country is currently experiencing, Dudamel said: "There are children learning music, there are young people playing, rehearsing and making music in this unacceptable and terrible situation ... I think the music will heal the country when the current crisis passes."
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
