Let's express Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with Photos and Sign Language!
Workshop related to KYOTOPHONIE Exhibition: Visible “An die Freude” White Hands Chorus NIPPON × Mariko Tagashira

Lecturer

• Mariko Tagashira

  

  Born in Onomichi, Hiroshima. Studied under the photographer Yoshihiro Tatsuki. After her experience as an exclusive photographer for the cruise ship Asuka of NYK Cruises, she enrolled in the photography department of Tokyo Polytechnic University. She became a freelance photographer in 2006. She has a track record of working with Japan Post, Suntory and universities, along with commercial shoots such as commissions for portraits of politicians, artists and business executives.
  She was greatly impacted by the performance of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and its conductor Gustavo Dudamel on their first visit to Japan, and started to hold interest in the social movement of music ‘El Sistema’ that has its origins in Venezuela.
  In March 2011, she was moved by the vitality of the people living in severe conditions after the Tohoku earthquake and decided to make it her life's work to pursue and express people’s energy when facing and fighting difficulties. She became involved in the El Sistema movement that started in 2013 in Soma-shi, Fukushima. In 2017, she encountered the El Sistema educational program ‘White Hand Chorus’ which is led by the soprano singer Erika Colon, and with the inspiration, she gained through the connections with visually / hearing-impaired children, she started to work on ‘Daiku no Kiseki - The Ninth Miracle.’

• Erika Colon

  

  Erika Colon is a soprano singer born in Venezuela and raised in Japan.
  After her graduate studies at the Sacred Heart University in Tokyo (Master in Education), she completed her Master’s degree with distinction at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2009. The same year, Ms. Colon made her debut at the prestigious Wigmore Hall. Her engagements as a soloist include Mozart Festival in Brussels, “Requiem” by Mozart for Sacred Music Festival and Handelʼs “Messiah” for the Japan-U.K.150th Anniversary Concert in London. On the Opera stage, she has performed Despina (Cosi fan tutte), Norina (Don Pasquale), Marie (La Fille du Regiment), and the title role of Venus (La Purpura de la Rosa) by Torrejon in the Baroque Music Festival, in Privas, which was broadcast by Radio France. Ms Erika Colon has performed with distinguished musicians such as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Kent Nagano and Joan Baez. Ms. Colon released a CD with King Records titled Bridge. She is the founder of El Sistema Connect, focusing on Social Programs through music. She is the founder and the Artistic Director of the White Hands Chorus designed for challenged children, with activities in Tokyo, Kyoto and Okinawa. The choir has performed at the New National Theatre, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre with Bach Collegium Japan, NHK TV Programs and the Tokyo Paralympic Games Closing ceremony.