Composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto decided the date for his final concert of 2020. Titled Ryuichi Sakamoto: Playing the Piano 12122020, the performance is planned for 12 December 2020. In addition, it has been announced that this will be broadcast live, making this an exclusive livestream.
Back on 2nd of April, Sakamoto performed a live stream with the heartfelt notion, “If music can help to relieve the tension even just a little…” to support everyone who started to stay at home to help fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, Sakamoto will close out 2020 with a special piano concert broadcast live from a studio in Tokyo. This will be Sakamoto’s first piano solo concert performed in Japan since 2013.
For this concert, he will collaborate with Rhizomatiks, a multimedia art group led by visionary Daito Manabe, and MUSIC/SLASH, a video streaming platform. The concert can be viewed live from Japan, United States, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Canada and Australia. Unfortunately no Europe. It is limited to these countries, due to payment restrictions. Tickets are 5,000 yen (excluding taxes) a piece and are already on sale. Sales will end on 7 December at 23:59 Japanese time.
When purchasing a ticket, viewers much first watch a test video to confirm their setup is working correctly. Details can be found on the official MUSIC/SLASH website. A special site for the livestream event can be found here, featuring a message from Sakamoto.
Ryuichi Sakamoto, born January 17 1952, is a Japanese composer, musician, actor and activist. He became famous as member and co-founder of YMO (Yellow Magic Orchestra). In 1980 he released the album B-2 Unit, with the track Riot in Lagos, which was an inspiration in the development of electronic and hip hop music. He made his debut as actor and film-score producer in 1983, with the movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. He also collaborated with many artists, by either producing their show or albums. Ryuichi Sakamoto has a lot of awards and nominations on his name, including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, 2 Golden Globe awards and he was awarded an Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture for his contribution to music.
To symbolise 2020, Ryuichi Sakamoto will release an art box named 2020S. The box will contain various items to describe this year for Sakamoto and everyone who was involved in this year’s projects, a year of drastic change. A special site containing details for 2020S (as well a description of what was in the first art box in 2019!) can be found here.
