Hello Everyone!
While Japan’s summer has been breaking heat records and the country enters the 7th wave of COVID with record breaking case numbers, Tokyo Repertory Singers (TRS) has been hard at work building our numbers and participating in choral festivals and competitions.
On Saturday, July 16th, performed at the Tokyo Choral Association’s annual choral festival. Our performances of Stephen Paulus’s “The Road Home” and Morten Lauridsen’s “Dirait-on” from Les chansons des roses received high praise from the panel of evaluators as well as from the people in the audience.
Since the festival we have been preparing to perform at the Karuizawa International Choral Festival’s very first choral competition.
Last year, TRS made it’s debut at the Karuizawa International Choral Festival’s Harunire Concert with a total of 6 members. This year we are excited to be able to return with 16 of our 26 active singers!
Performing in these events has help us get the word out not just about the group but also our mission to perform music as diverse as our membership.
While we have been rather successful in attracting new members, we still have some work left before we can meet our 40 singer goal (10 people per part). As with many choirs around the world, the recruitment of tenors, baritones, and basses is proving the most difficult. That being said we are doing a lot better than we had planned at the beginning of the year.
What sets us apart from other groups in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, is not only our multinational membership but also the fact that our rehearsals are conducted in both English and Japanese (Bilingual) which makes it easier for non-Japanese speaking members as well as non-English speaking members to take the leap into exploring repertoire that they have always been interested but could never approach in a traditional Japanese choir or a choir in their home country.
Our foreign members join us for opportunities to explore Japanese repertoire, make friends (both Japanese and foreign), and improve their Japanese skills.
Our Japanese members join us for opportunities to explore foreign music and practice foreign language skills in a fun and welcoming setting.
Moving forward we hope to become Tokyo’s most ethnically and gender-diverse choir that accepts people of all sexual orientations, religions, and economic backgrounds.
While, our group is primarily aimed at experienced singers, new singers are also welcome and should feel free to contact us if our mission resonates with them.
We hope to hear from you soon!
Regards,
Brian Munguia
Artistic Director
Tokyo Repertory Singers
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