Photos and reactions: Joe Hisaishi conducts the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall
On Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 November Joe Hisaishi conducted his first concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London since being appointed as the Orchestra's Composer-in-Association earlier this year. For two nights in a row, a packed crowd at the Royal Albert Hall gave a thunderous welcome to the globally-renowned composer as he conducted a selection of his own music, with guest soprano Grace Davidson, as well as a performance of Britten's classic Four Sea Interludes.
Read on to see photos and reactions from the weekend.
All photos © Tim Lutton/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The concerts began with Joe Hisaishi's Symphony No.2, which first premiered in Vienna's Musikverein in March 2023.
Incredible evening getting to see Joe Hisaishi / @official_joeh at the Royal Albert Hall performing an array of Miyakazi classics. Absolutely worth braving a storm for pic.twitter.com/M0DE3wpy5A
— T.W. Burgess (@manoghosts) November 24, 2024
After the interval was Benjamin's Britten's Four Sea Interludes from the opening of his opera Peter Grimes, telling the tale of a fisherman on the Suffolk coast who is accused of murder by his village community.
I was at Joe Hisaishi on Saturday and the playing was absolutely stunning. The string sound was gorgeous - especially in the Britten - the wind solos were ethereal and basically everything was incredible. Thank you 🙏 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
— Meriel (@meriela.bsky.social) November 27, 2024 at 7:08 PM
What a privilege to see a living legend conduct the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra — at the Royal Albert Hall, no less! Lucy and I’s first time there and we must’ve looked like goldfish to anyone watching us, just constantly gasping at Joe Hisaishi and his musicians. Wonderful! pic.twitter.com/tKndV0AzMj
— Jordan King (@JordanMBKing) November 23, 2024
Following this was a Symphonic Suite from the 1997 Studio Ghibli film Princess Mononoke, featuring soprano Grace Davidson and a starring role for the Orchestra leader, Zoë Beyers.
Joe Hisaishi with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall last night.
Hearing the Princess Mononoke score played live made my heart soar. ❤️@RoyalAlbertHall @royalphilorch @official_joeh pic.twitter.com/eLhh8UGRGn
For an encore, Joe played One's Summer's Day from Spirited Away to instant gasps of recognition from the audience from the opening chord.
Joe Hisaishi is a legend. When he started playing“One summer’s day” from “Sprited Away”, we audience couldn’t stop crying out in awe.
ロンドンのRoyal Albert Hallで聴く久石譲さんのピアノは本当に美しくて、子供の頃の心が蘇って涙が出た。あらゆる世代人種の方がいた。音に国境はないね pic.twitter.com/5PJH8PJGDN
For a final send-off, Joe conducted the Orchestra with World Dreams.
Facebook and Instagram comments
A truly amazing and magical night to see JOE HISAISHI - HISAISHI SYMPHONIC conducted in London. 🎀🎫✨
Amazing performance! Really enjoyed
It was amazing!! Really enjoyed it 🥹
Thank you! What an unforgettable performance
Thank you to everyone who joined us! Stay tuned for more projects in the future with our Composer-in-Association.
Tim Lutton