The Art and Culture Development Foundation holds various concerts and musical projects that contribute to the development of cultural exchange between Uzbekistan and foreign countries.

On November 17, 2023, a concert of the National Symphony Orchestra of Uzbekistan will take place at the Palace of International Forums “Uzbekistan” with the participation of Japanese musicians – conductor Hajime Hama and pianist Yukio Yokoyama.

The Japanese pianist Yukio Yokoyama took up the piano in early childhood, showing an early talent for the instrument and composition. He played already as a child pieces of his own compositions and performed with orchestras both in Japan and abroad. At a young age, he was introduced to Herbert von Karajan and Mstislav Rostropovich, who announced that the child should dedicate himself to music. At 12, he studied piano under Jun Date and composition under Masayuki Nagatomi. At the age of 19, he realized the impressive achievement of becoming the youngest-ever Japanese entrant to become the second finalist in the Chopin International Piano Competition and winning 3rd prize (no first prize was allocated this year) from the Chopin International Piano Competition and also the Sonata prize.

Yukio Yokoyama is currently carrying out a series of concerts of F. Chopin, the composer whose two hundredth birth anniversary is being celebrated in 2010, in various cities of Japan. In 2010, he played 166 solo works of F. Chopin in one concert, including all of the published pieces plus the major posthumous works, mainly in written order. The Guinness Book of World Records granted him the World Record in the category ‘Most pieces of music performed by a solo artist in 24 hours’. In 2011, the 20th anniversary of Yokoyama’s debut, he performed all 212 solo works by F. Chopin at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, taking 18 hours daily as a charity concert for “Tohoku region Pacific Coast earthquake 3.11”. 

Hajime Hama was at the top of his music class. Already in childhood, he began to win prizes in various competitions.

After completing his studies in playing the horn, he began leading an orchestra, and in 1997, he tried himself as a conductor. Two years later, he successfully conducted the orchestra in the Mozart Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus.

For 25 years, he has been directing the Suva Symphony Orchestra, and in 2012, he founded the creative group “The HAMAKUN and Friends Orchestra”, uniting amateur and professional musicians.

At the concert in Tashkent, listeners will be presented with a bright, diverse concert program. The work of the Uzbek composer Suleiman Yudakov “Khorezm Festival Procession”, “Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra” by Sergei Prokofiev, as well as works by Japanese authors – “Symphonic Ballad” by Akira Ifukube, and “Rhapsody for Orchestra” by Yuzo Toyama will be performed.

The concert will be held with the support of the Art and Culture Development Foundation under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The event is designed to demonstrate that the language of music is understandable to everyone without translation, because art can unite people around the globe.

Nazokat Usmanova, UzA