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Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022 On December 11, 2022, Ryuichi Sakamoto’s solo piano concert will be streamed to the world. Two years ago, with a difference of one day—in other words, on December 12, 2020— Sakamoto played a solo piano concert when the world was in search of light within the dark tunnel of the coronavirus pandemic. He played from a studio in Tokyo with no audience present. The performance was live-streamed but was not archived for future release. This means that on December 11, Sakamoto will be returning for the first time in two years to show us “Sakamoto in performance.” What we will watch and listen to on this day is carefully recorded footage of Sakamoto performing a few pieces of music each day over the course of a week. It will be thoughtfully edited into a solo piano concert to be streamed on December 11. Sakamoto says, “I don’t have the energy to do live concerts… This might be the last time that you will see me perform in this manner.” Perhaps he has accepted and sat with the reality that he is currently unable to do things that he once used to. Planting himself firmly on the ground of this new reality necessitated by his physical condition, Sakamoto seems to have found a new drive and positivity. In fact, this concert will better showcase his new musical horizons than ever before for the following reasons: Firstly, they used the legendary 509 Studio in NHK. Sakamoto does not hesitate in calling this studio located inside NHK Broadcasting Center in Shibuya, Tokyo, “The best in Japan.” Plenty of time was given to record his performance in this space. Additionally, key crew members were brought in from New York on this occasion as part of the film production team. They filmed Sakamoto’s performance with the intention of not only streaming the footage but to put together a concert film to be released in theaters in the future. Neither of these circumstances would have become a reality if Sakamoto happened to have the energy to do a live concert. The streamed version will be about 60 minutes of his performance at the 509 Studio. On the same day, 109 Cinemas’ Premium Sound Theater “SAION” will be screening it twice. There, I am sure that you will be able to enjoy Ryuichi Sakamoto’s performance in highest-quality sound. Text by Masafumi Suzuki Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022 First stream date(JST) Sunday, December 11, 2022, 12:00 p.m. (JST) Streaming schedule (1) Sunday, December 11, 2022, 12:00 (JST) (2) Sunday, December 11, 2022, 18:00 (JST) (3) Sunday, December 11, 2022, 24:00 (JST) (4) Monday, December 12, 2022, 06:00 (JST) You may view each of the performance streams with a single streaming ticket. Each session is of the same performance content. Host commmons / Kab Inc. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 2022 Special Site
