Music provides comfort for Japanese visitors at VU

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

VALPARAISO — Members of the Bach Collegium Japan who left their native country Monday, just days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami, said they are grateful none of their members’ families suffered ill effects from the catastrophe.

“But we’re still hearing the news,” Masaaki Suzuki, director of the 40-member group, said Friday, the day before the musicians were scheduled to perform in the Chapel of the Resurrection on the Valparaiso University campus. “It’s still sort of hard for us.”

Suzuki and his brother, Hidemi Suzuki, a cellist, were in Tokyo at the time of the earthquake. They felt strong tremors, but nothing like other parts of the country.

Organist Naoko Imai was in Sendai, epicenter of the earthquake, attending a meeting at a local university when the quake struck.

The community is 350 kilometers, or about 217 miles, north of Tokyo. Imai spent the night in her car, since the trip back to Tokyo, usually a few hours, would have taken 13 hours because of road closures.

“In the city of Sendai, it didn’t look so bad,” she said, adding the coast of the community was destroyed.

Members of the Baroque orchestra and choir are making five performance stops while in the United States. Valparaiso University, with its Bach Institute and Lutheran association, was a natural for a stop on the tour, members said. They also will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City before returning home March 28.

The trip is difficult but necessary, as the music provides some comfort when its performers are so far from home.

“It’s very hard for us to leave all of the family behind us. We can’t escape the news,” Masaaki Suzuki said. “On the other hand, we are grateful to concentrate on music and share this feeling.”

The compositions of Bach, he continued, are the best music to find oneself, especially with feelings of desperation. After a 1995 earthquake hit Kobe, he said he gave several concerts.

“At that time, we experienced how well music can help us after that kind of damage,” he said.

His brother said his family experienced a smaller quake last year while at a friend’s house. He thought he would die, he said, and his daughter was frightened; it took several days to recover mentally.

But music, Hidemi Suzuki continued, can be as necessary as food, blankets, fuel and other provisions after a crisis.

“It’s not only those physical things, but mentally, we need our music or art. It’s very true,” he said.