The 1883rd Toyota Community Concert in Kurashiki

The dynamic performance by a full orchestra of Bolero and Beto 7 will be accompanied by a collaboration of classical and contemporary creative dance.

Dance choreography is by Yudai Fukuoka for classical and Keigo Fukuda for contemporary. Both are top dancers of the New National Theatre Ballet Company, and their creative direction and choreography, which makes the most of the dancers' personalities, have attracted attention from around the world.

For the main program, Beethoven Symphony No. 7, the company has invited Koichi Omae, a dancer with an artificial leg, to play the role of Beethoven and express his life and music using three themes (indomitable spirit, power in music, and message of hope).
In "The Spirit of Fortitude," Beethoven's spirit of perseverance in pursuing his musical career despite the adversity of his hearing loss is juxtaposed with Koichi Omae's success as a dancer after overcoming his disability of having an artificial leg.

In "Power in Music," the dancer will express the power, grace, and heartrending emotion of Beethoven's music through dance.

◯ "Message of Hope" will deliver to the audience a message of courage and hope in the face of difficulties through the lives of Beethoven and Koichi Omae.

These themes will be danced to music in four movements.
The orchestra performance will be led by local treasure Shiori Sawada as concertmaster, NHK Symphony Orchestra special concertmaster Fuminori Shinozaki (nicknamed "Maro-san") as conductor, and NHK Symphony Orchestra principal timpanist Toru Uematsu as timpanist, bringing the empowered Kurashiki Orchestra to its full potential! This is a special 50th anniversary performance of a lifetime.