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Udine Far East Film Festival 17 Special Gala Concert with JOE HISAISHI,  for the very first time in Italy, Miyazaki and Kitano’s composer!

On Thursday April 23^rd, at 8.30 pm, the one and only Japanese musician will officially open the 17^th Far East Film Festival! On stage at “Giovanni da Udine”, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra.

Everything is ready, at Teatro Nuovo “Giovanni da Udine”, for the double (historical!) Far East Film Festival 17 opening event: on Thursday April 23^rd at 8.30 pm, lights will be on the very first ever Italian performance by the amazing Joe Hisaishi, who will also be presented with the Gelso d’Oro (Golden Mulberry) lifetime achievement award, and on Friday April 24^th the film section will be opened by the legend, Jackie Chan! But, now, let’s go back to the Special Gala Concert. An event destined to make history…

Truly worshipped back home in Japan, and a cult figure all over the world, mister Hisaishi is not just an artist, he is more like a sum of different artistic souls: composer, pianist, conductor, director, writer. An icon who the social imaginary permanently links to the amazing film scores he wrote for Miyazaki and Kitano’s masterpieces, as well as for the marvelous Departures by Takita Yojiro (winner of the 2009 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, distributed in Italy by Tucker Film).

The Special Gala Concert, arranged exclusively for the Far East Film Festival, will have Hisaishi conduct the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra and also perform on the piano, leafing pages in a perfect balance between cinema and solo production. An extraordinary journey, stretching from the sophisticated colors of minimalism to those more solid and joyful, the absolutely unmistakable ones that made Hisaishi into one of the last (great) composers of symphonies for the big screen. A rich and structured program, divided in two sets, switching between the past and the present.

Here’s the playlist: Water Traveller: Main Theme, Water Traveller: For You, Kiki’s Delivery Service for Orchestra, MKWAJU 1981-2009, Links, Symphonic Variation Merry-Go-Round + Cave of Mind, Departures, One Summer’s Day and Oriental Wind. 

Though every concert represents the star’s self-portrait, mister Hisaishi’s self-portrait is obviously impossible to condense in a one night only time frame, not only because of the breadth of his stylistic horizons, and that would be enough, but also because of how complex his biography is. An enviable adventure with plenty of room for rounds of applause and awards, among them six Japan Academy Awards for Best Music, triumphs and legendary partnerships, like the one with Studio Ghibli, celebrated by the super live album Joe Hisaishi in Budokan – 25 years with the Animations of Miyazaki Hayao.

FEFF 17’s Special Gala Concert is a co-production between the Far East Film Festival and Teatro Nuovo “Giovanni da Udine” with Newbility Arts & Entertainment Limited (China) and Azalea Promotion, presented by AMGA - Energia & Servizi, Città Fiera,  Credifriuli – Credito Cooperativo Friuli, Demar Caffè, GLP - Intellectual Property Office, H.I.S. - Specialisti dei viaggi in Giappone, IDEAPROTOTIPI - Prototypes for the Industry and Nonino Distillatori.