Two Nations Come Together
By Suzy Paluzzi
The night of March 14 marked the Santa Clara International Exchange Concert at Santa Clara University’s Mayer Theater. Japan’s Okayama Gakugeikan High School Symphonic Band, The Ambassadors-Santa Clara Symphonic Youth Honor Band, and Déjà Vu and Déjà vu II all performed to an appreciative audience.
The theater was filled to capacity. Among the attendees were Counsel-General of Japan, Yasumasa Nagamine and his wife; Consul Takanori Okuda, State Assembly Member Paul Fong; City of Santa Clara Vice-Mayor Jamie Matthews, and Santa Clara Council Member Will Kennedy. The Sister Cities Association of Santa Clara and San Jose, along with Sister Cities International and Buscher Music Association, are among those who sponsored the event.
The music, which ranged from toe-tapping big band and a cappella singing to operatic overtures and Japanese favorites, is a way to bring the two countries together and “an example of the rich exchange between Santa Clara and San Jose and their sister cities of Izumo and Okayama, Japan,” according to the Counsel-General. The talent and dedication of the musicians and the enthusiastic leadership of the conductors, David Ladd Anderson and Shigenori Nakagawa, was exhibited by the fun everyone was having, as well as the quality of the performance.
The Okayama Gakugeikan High School Symphonic Band has been in existence for 34 years and consists of 113 members. The band received the Gold Prize in Japan at a prestigious national contest there, after competing with about 3000 other bands. Déjà vu is set to go to Europe this July and participate in world-known jazz festivals. “They were very well-received last year,” says Mike Boockholdt, parent of one of the bass trombonists. And the Ambassadors visited Japan last year and played at Okayama Symphony Hall.
The concert concluded with the Okayama Band and the Ambassadors playing “Stars and Stripes Forever,” complete with Japanese and American flags waving in the background.
When asked what was the highlight for him, the Counsel-General remarked, “While every tune is great, I liked the last one the best. It was very touching and all about heart-to-heart across the Pacific with the Sister Cities.”
Local families open their homes for the Japanese students to stay and, when our students visit their Sister Cities, the hosting country’s citizens do likewise. This is another example of the way the “two nations come together”, as Music Director and Conductor of the Déjà vu Bands and The Ambassadors so aptly phrased the relationship in the concert program.
Sister Cities International is a non-profit organization, which teams individual U.S. cities with a partner city overseas to promote peace and cultural exchange. For more information, see www.sister-cities.org The Santa Clara website is www.santaclarasistercities.org
