On November 17, 2023 the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan will perform at Uzbekistan Palace of International Forums with the participation of Japanese musicians – conductor Hajime Hama and pianist Yukio Yokoyama.

Hajime Hama and Yukio Yokoyama are well-known both in Japan and overseas.

Pianist Yukio Yokoyama is a member of dynastic musicians. From early childhood he began demonstrating his musical skills. He performed the plays of his own composition and conducted the orchestras both in Japan and abroad. Herbert von Karajan and Mstislav Rostropovich were among his mentors. At the age of 19, he achieved impressive success – he became the youngest Japanese performer to take the 2^nd place in the finale of the Chopin International Piano Competition.

Yukio Yokoyama is known for his musical marathons during which he played most of Chopin’s works. In 2010 he performed 166 pieces in one concert which was listed in the Guinness World Records. In 2011 as part of a charity event after the earthquake off the coast of Honshu, he played all 212 Chopin piano compositions in 18 hours.

Hajime Hama was the finest conductor in his music class. He started receiving awards in a variety of competitions already in his childhood. He started conducting the orchestra after finishing his French horn studies, and in 1997 he decided to test himself as a conductor. He successfully led the orchestra in Mozart Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus two years later.

He has directed the Suva Symphony Orchestra for 25 years and in 2012 founded The HAMAKUN and Friends Orchestra which brings together amateur and professional musicians.

The audience during the concert in Tashkent will be given a colourful, varied concert programme. The works of Uzbek composer Suleiman Yudakov “Khorezm Festive Procession”, works by Japanese authors, the Symphonic Ballad of Akira Ifukube and Rhapsody for orchestra by Yuzo Toyama as well as Concert No. 3 for piano and orchestra by Sergei Prokofiev will be performed.

The concert will be held with the support of Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation and is intended to demonstrate that the language of music is comprehensible to everyone without translation and art can unite people.