Benefit Concert at Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel

On December 20, “Benefit Concert” was held at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, and was attended by Ambassador Shimokawa and his spouse. This event was organized to support the partnership between the Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima and the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, on the occasion of the signing of the agreement on student exchange between these schools.
The history between the Elisabeth University of Music and Belgium is long. In 1947, in the wake of the calamity of the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima, Jesuit Father Goossens started a music class in order to ignite a cultural light in Hiroshima. The class developed into the Hiroshima Music School, and when the institution became a university, the school’s patron, the late Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, gave her name to it.
During the concert, violinist Ms. Yuzuko Horigome played the piece “Jyumon”, composed by visiting professor at the Elizabeth University of Music Mr. Toshio Hosokawa as a dedication to her. Japanese musicians teaching at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, together with teachers of the Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, performed various ensemble songs by composers such as Saint-Saens, Debussy, Stravinsky and Ravel.
On behalf of the Elizabeth University of Music, President Kawano came from Hiroshima to attend the event, congratulating the partnership with the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, and expressing his gratitude. Ambassador Shimokawa said in his speech he wishes that through this concert, the ties between the two schools would deepen, and that the opportunities for young Japanese musicians to study in Belgium would broaden.