The Bridge of the Soul Choir, of Tokyo, Japan, will travel to Rome and the Vatican State with Incantato Tours and MCEC International from November 21 to 26, 2010. Under the direction of Maestro Akiyasu Fukushima, the Bridge of the Soul Choir will present a concert of sacred choral music for women’s voice, featuring works from Italy, Germany, and Japan. The ensemble’s highlight performance will take place at the Basilica de Santi Giovanni e Paolo al Celio on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 8:30 in the evening.
The Bridge of the Soul Choir is comprised of experienced vocalists, ranging in age from 30 to 80 years, from many of Maestro Fukushima’s other pre-existing ensembles. The Tokyo-based choir specializes mainly in sacred music and is instructed to not only learn the music but also study the composition as well. Critics praise the ensemble’s unique attitude toward performing the music in its purist existence. In 2005, the Bridge of the Soul Choir performed in the Vienna International Choral Festival, followed by a feature performance of the Dvorak Mass at Prague’s Smetana Music Hall in 2006. The choir presented Mozart’s Requiem once in 2007 at Vienna’s Musikverein Concert Hall, and again in 2009 at Vienna’s Stephensdom. The Bridge of the Soul choir looks forward to thanking their supporters with their very best performance yet.
Mr. Fukushima is an acclaimed choral and orchestral conductor and classical music critic. He studied vocal music at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan and conducting under the tutelage of F. Berrius in Namur, Belgium. Throughout his professional career, Mr. Fukushima has conducted the Tokyo Singverein, the Fuji Beethoven Chorus, Nagaoka Chorus, Voice 2001, HANA Chorus, and Kobinokuni Choir. Mr. Fukushima has traveled throughout Europe and Asia, conducting Saburo Takada’s “Mizuno-Inochi” in the 2004 World Choral Festival in Salzburg and Vienna. He conducted the same piece as well as the Dvorak Mass in Prague’s Smetana Hall the following December. He conducted the Czechoslovak Chamber Orchestra’s presentation of Mozart’s 40th Symphony and Requiem in Musicverein Vennia in 2006. His 2008 performance of the Mozart Requiem at Vienna’s Stephansdom was renowned as a “highly sophisticated performance full or prayer.”
As a classical music critic, Mr. Fukushima received the 1994 Arion Award. His publications “Masterpieces of Classic CDs” and “Masterpieces of Classic CDs by Great Performers” are best-selling books in Japan. He has successfully published three additional books entitled “Studying Mozart from CD,” “The Absolute Masterpieces of Symphony,” and “Mozart Encyclopedia.”
