{"id":5853,"date":"2026-03-10T12:29:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/?post_type=news&p=5853"},"modified":"2026-05-26T12:33:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T16:33:35","slug":"ids-silence-strauss","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/news\/ids-silence-strauss\/","title":{"rendered":"“Bloomington Symphony Orchestra blends traditional Japanese music with western composers”, IDS article"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Stella Klaus<\/a>, Mar 9, 2026 8:53 pm\u00a0\u00b7 Updated Mar 9, 2026 8:55 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(link to IDS article)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 50 musicians filled the stage at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Sunday for \u201cBetween Silence and Strauss,\u201d a cross-cultural performance by the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra.<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show was in partnership with the IU Asian Culture Center and highlighted Japanese instruments and composers. It also included numerous songs from early composer Richard Strauss, mixing western music with traditional Japanese music. Throughout the show, five special guests performed with the orchestra.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first musician was 17-year-old Ella Hightower, making her Bloomington Symphony Orchestra debut. Highwater was the 2026 Bloomington Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition Winner. She performed a section of \u201cViolin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53<\/a>\u201d by Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlighting the Japanese composers and traditional instruments was guest Shawn Tairyu Head. The musician also participated in a pre-show talk with Bloomington Symphony Orchestra music director Ryo Hasegawa about the show and instrument, the Shakuhachi, a Japanese flute made from bamboo.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Head, who is American, talked about his background and how he got interested in Japanese music through old samurai movies and anime. He spoke further about the show and a song he would perform with the orchestra called \u201cAutumn Wind<\/a>\u201d by Toshio Hosokawa, one of Japan\u2019s leading composers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song includes use of the Shakuhachi, and, during the pre-show talk, Head said the song was an expression of nature. The song doesn\u2019t have the traditional melodies of western music either, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the song by Hosokawa doesn\u2019t have traditional melodies, Head said the composer was still inspired by western composers, such as Strauss, after studying in Germany. During the show Head discussed how Hosokawa\u2019s music often bridges the gap between Japanese traditional music and western composers, which is why the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra chose to include both Japanese music and Strauss\u2019s music for the show.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe connection between some of the cultural Japanese music and Richard Strauss that they were talking about, and how Strauss influenced musicians who traveled from Japan, I thought that was incredibly interesting,\u201d audience member 28-year-old David Sexton said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sexton came to the performance because his girlfriend, Rachel Spodek, was one of three vocalists alongside Danielle Long and Siyi Yan, who performed with the orchestra in the final trio of the show, which included opera elements unlike the rest of the show. The trio performed a selection from \u201cDer Rosenkavalier<\/a>,\u201d an opera written by Strauss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opera, which is in German, is about a Marschallin, who is an older woman that Spodek played. The character has an affair with younger man named Octavian, played by Long. Octavian eventually meets Sophie, played by Yan, and they fall in love.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, in this finale trio, a lot of the text of what they\u2019re saying is Octavian and Sophie celebrating this love that they have together and realizing that it\u2019s kind of happening thanks to the Marschallin,\u201d Spodek said. \u201cThe Marschallin is letting go and sort of passing the torch along to this younger woman, so it\u2019s beautiful and bittersweet.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spodek has a master\u2019s degree in voice performance and is currently at IU to get a performer diploma in voice performance. She got involved in the show after one of the soloists reached out to her, knowing she sang a lot of songs from Strauss\u2019 catalogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is some of my favorite music in the whole world,\u201d Spodek said. \u201cLike the \u2018Rosenkavalier,\u2019 especially this finale trio, is truly, like, one of my favorite pieces of music ever.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Witters, an IU alumnus who studied harpsichord performance, came to the event after one of the clarinetists, who Witters also sings with in a choir, told him about it. Voces Novae, the Bloomington-based chamber choir Witters is part of, will perform with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra on May 16 for its performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9”<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a musician himself, Witters thought the show was impressive. His favorite part was when the orchestra performed \u201cFlower of Mandala\u201d by Kosaku Yamada. He said that being a tone poem, which is an orchestral piece that tells a story, the conductor tried to evoke a certain imagery which he thought was beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think art at all levels is really important because if we don\u2019t make art, we don\u2019t have an inspiration to keep going in our day-to-day life,\u201d Witters said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t get out and support people who are making art, then they might stop and that would just be a tragedy for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Bloomington Symphony Orchestra plays March 8, 2026, at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in Bloomington. The cross-cultural performance was called “Between Silence and Strauss.”

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Stella Klaus, Mar 9, 2026 8:53 pm\u00a0\u00b7 Updated Mar 9, 2026 8:55 pm (link to IDS article) Nearly 50 musicians filled the stage at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Sunday for \u201cBetween Silence and Strauss,\u201d a cross-cultural performance… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-5853","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/5853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/5853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5856,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/5853\/revisions\/5856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5853"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloomingtonsymphony.com\/staging\/6573\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=5853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}