Toshio Hosokawa, border award for the extraordinary reach of his music

On this occasion, the simultaneous translation receiver was not an option. Before the jury’s decision of the XVII edition of the Border Borders of Knowledge in the Music and Opera category, all seats in the Assembly Hall of the Assets of the Assets of the Assets of the Acts Palacio del Marqués de Salamanca They had their corresponding headphones. What, somehow, reduced the options as much as it away, in the last round of pools of journalists and musicians gathered, the country of origin of the possible award -winning. And this confirmed it Gabriela Ortizpresident of the jury, when she announced the name of Toshio Hosokawa.

“The Japanese musician,” said the Mexican composer of the jury’s act, “is one of the most creators original and acclaimed of our time. “The test is in” the extraordinary international reach of his work, “he said later, but above all in the profusion and wealth of a catalog” that covers All genres“. Inspired by Zen philosophy and owner of a Timbral language As original as already recognizable by the public, for Ortiz the great merit of Hosokawa’s works lies in his unusual capacity for “Tell bridges Between the Japanese musical tradition and Western contemporary aesthetics. “

By videoconference from Yokohamathe composer, born in Hiroshima 69 years ago, he confessed that he felt as surprised as grateful for the news of the award, endowed with 400.000 euros And that last year he fell to the British George Benjamin. “I know this award very well and its enormous impact, among other things because, when my teacher granted it in 2011 Helmut LachenmannI met him in Berlin. “There, in Germany, where he moved in 1976 to receive South Korean classes That’s ahe learned to look at Japan from the West.

Since the Hosokawa family was deeply linked to Japanese culture (their mother and grandfather played the kotowooden instrument with 13 strings of different size), took advantage of its stay in Europa To look back to his country of origin: “I discovered the music of Japanese court or the music of the bonzoslos Buddhist monksand those music that were part of the ritual ceremonies, which had not caught my attention before, “explained the composer, whose name began to acquire relevance in the nineties, after the premiere Landscapes and the oratory Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima.

Another essential aspect in Hosokawa’s compositions is the influence of the Japanese theater of noh in their operas. For example, in Vision of Lear adapt to the tragedy shakesperiana with elements of this Japanese ancestral dramatic genre. One of the characteristics of these theatrical performances is that the characters are ghostpeople who have died in another life, and who arrive on stage from another world. There they sing, lament, dance and comfort, before returning to the plane of the spirits. “I try to do something similar: Tell bridges between two worlds“Hosokawa runs.

During your speech, Víctor García de Gomarsecretary of the jury and artistic director of the Liceu, stressed that Hosokawa gives continuity to a line initiated by Toru Takemitsubut that in this case goes further, especially in regard to experimentation. “Hosokawa makes a construction of sound landscapes full of timeless beautythat cross some horizons of innovation and creativity, of much more developed sound architectural structures, “said García de Gomar.” It is never visceral, but it does present the characteristics of something that is born from a Internal force expressive and deep. “