On 17 July, Japanese pianist Yusuke Ishii gave a recital "Lithuania-Japan: a Modernist Dialogue" at the Takanawa City Hall in Tokyo. The original concert programme by pianist and musicologist Y. Ishii included works by Vytautas Bacevičius, Osvaldas Balakauskas, Jeronimas Kačinskas, Toru Takemitsu and Kishio Hirao. This is the first time that works by these three Lithuanian composers have been performed in Japan.

Radvilė Buivydienė, director of the Music Information Centre Lithuania, greeted the audience and briefly presented the story of the creative collaboration with the Japanese pianist, which was crowned by the Centre's specially published Japanese version of Vytautas Bacevičius, Selected Piano Works (MICL, 2023). It is now also available for order on the Japanese music retailer diskunion.

Y. Ishii (b. 1980) graduated from Kunitachi College of Music in Japan and entered the Paris National Conservatory of Music and Dance, where he studied music theory and composition and obtained a diploma in music theory in 2006. In 2010-2011 he studied piano at the Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt. In 2019, he came to Lithuania to study at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, where he graduated with a Master's degree in Musicology in 2021. He is currently living in Vilnius, studying for a PhD in Art History at Kaunas University of Technology. Y. Ishii has performed in various European countries and has appeared at major contemporary music festivals, including Musica in Strasbourg, Darmstadt Festival in Germany, Printemps des Arts in Monte Carlo and others. To date, he has released four albums of recorded music. Ishii is currently considered to be the foremost specialist in the music of V. Bacevičius, actively researching 20th-century Lithuanian music.

In order to introduce Japanese audiences to 20th-century Lithuanian music, Y. Ishii has chosen three composers – V. Bacevičius, J. Kačinskas, who promoted the modernisation of Lithuanian music between the two world wars, and O. Balakauskas, who represented Lithuanian music of the second half of the 20th century. According to the pianist, he was attracted by the progress of interwar Lithuanian composers. The modernity of the music of Bacevičius and Kačinskas is simply astonishing in the context of the art of that time. Balakauskas is distinguished not only by his theoretical precision but also by his harmonious consonances, which give pleasure to listeners – something that is often lacking in 20th-century music.

Ishii is convinced that the composers he performs could be included in the repertoire of a wider range of pianists than just Lithuania. "With this concert, I wanted to break the preconception that Lithuanian music is difficult and contemporary music is complex. This is partly true, but deep-thinking, sensitive performers can perfectly convey the composers' thoughts and the secrets of their work. Lithuanian music is no exception in this sense", said pianist and musicologist Y. Ishii.

V. Bacevičius (1905-1970) and J. Kačinskas (1907-2005) were the most famous modernist composers of interwar Lithuania. Both had to flee the Soviet occupation regime and lived and worked in the USA after World War II. Bacevičius, who was also an accomplished concert pianist, was influenced by late Romanticism and Expressionism in his earlier works. Later, from around 1950, he was influenced by spiritualist ideas, Eastern philosophy and "cosmic music". In the first half of the 20th century, Kačinskas composed quarter-tone music. In the second half of the 20th century, his work changed, but he remained faithful to the principles of his earlier work – "athematic", non-repetitive music.

O. Balakauskas (b. 1937) consistently adheres to the harmonic system he developed, which he called dodecatonics (not dodecaphony!) and which can be compared, for example, to the great systems of Paul Hindemith or Olivier Messiaen. The introspective music of the Japanese classical composers T. Takemitsu (1930-1996) and K. Hirao (1907-1953) may seem like a contrast to the far more extroverted works of Lithuanian composers. However, Y. Ishii argues that Takemitsu, Hirao and Bacevičius' music share a certain "French tinge" and some ideas of "musical cosmology".

Ishii's concert in Tokyo was organised by the Lithuanian Culture Institute, Music Information Centre Lithuania and the Japan-Lithuania Friendship Association, in cooperation with the Embassy of Lithuania in Japan and the Minato International Association.

Based on materials from the Music Information Centre Lithuania, by Gabija Čepulionytė, Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to Japan.