Sachiko Miyashita's Reverie

Japanese Classical Guitarist Sachiko Miyashita performed at three venues recently for her “Reverie” concert tour.
During her performance at the Ayala Museum in Makati last June 23, she performed popular classical pieces including Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Francisco Tarrega), Asturias (Isaac Albeniz), La Catedral (Agustin Barrios Mangore), and “Legend of Hagoromo (Keigo Fujii), which is a particularly difficult solo guitar piece for its scoradatura (alternate) tuning of D-A-D-G-A-D. It also includes extended techniques of creating sounds with the guitar including brushing the strings with the right hand while playing a left hand melody, reverse rasqueado, scratching the string in a koto-like manner, left hand strumming, and the Bartok pizzicato.

Guests in attendance could not get enough of Miyashita’s performance and asked for an encore. Miyashita then performed her version of the popular Visayan song “Usahay” by Col. Gregorio Responso Labja of Davao City.

Early in the evening, Triple Fret, a local Classical Contemporary guitar trio consisting of Jenny De Vera, Iqui Vinculado, and Marga Abejo opened for Miyashita.

Miyashita completed her concert tour with performances at the University of the Cordilleras Auditorium and at The Manor Camp John Hay in Baguio.

Miyashita is a Prize winner in the Andres Segovia International Guitar Competition and Tokyo Classical Guitar Competition. She is also a Recipient of Sapporo Outstanding Artist Award and Hokkaido Award for Culture.

Miyashita is a recipient of the Sapporo City Outstanding Artist Award, and also a recipient of the 20th Hokkaido Bank Art Culture Award. Her latest CD Le Depart was selected as "choice CD" in Record Geijutsu Magazine and topped the Yahoo! Japan sales rankings.

This is her second time to perform in Manila and she says since coming in 2013, she has made a lot of friends in the Philippines and that she loves coming here because of the music loving audience’s warm appreciation for her performances.

She is an instructor at Sapporo Otani University - Department of Arts, and is a member of the Japan Federation of Guitarists.

The event was made possible by the Independent Philippine Art Ventures, Inc. (IPav) with support from Japan Foundation Manila. This year commemorates 60 years of Philippines-Japan Friendship.