Music for Japan

Manila, Philippines - Music soothes. Music Heals. Music lifts the heart and spirit.And music also reaches out to help others  even total strangers  rebuild their lives.

Last Sunday, the Toyota dealers in the Philippines sponsored a benefit concert to raise funds for rehabilitation efforts in earthquake and tsunami-ravaged Japan.The disaster in Japan of course hits very close to home for the Toyota dealers, since any adverse effect of the disaster on suppliers has a direct bearing on the supply and sales of vehicles in the country. Fur- thermore, there is an affinity that goes beyond buThus the concert was, in many ways, a “Toyota family” affair. For one thing, the concert artist was pianist Kao Sug- ata, the 14-year-old daughter of Toyota Motor Philippines president Michinobu Sugata. Kao was, in fact, born in the Philippines when her father was first as- signed here in the mid-1990s. She began playing the piano at age 4, and contin- ued her lessons when the family moved

back to Tokyo, then to Singapore and Bangkok. Since their return to the coun- try in January 2010, Kao has been study- ing under Cecille Basilio-Roxas, under whose tutelage she won first prize in the under-21 category of the Beethoven Concerto competition sponsored by the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines.

Teacher Cecille Basilio-Roxas

The concert venue was also part of the family – the showroom of Lexus Manila, the luxury car brand of Toyota, an iconic building in the Global City in Taguig designed by Yuji Hirata that has an indoor garden and excellent acoustics.

Kao performed a repertoire that showed off the dexterity of her hands, missing not a beat or a note in the bra- vura selection of pieces by Bach, Liszt, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

Together with the Philippine Phil- harmonic Orchestra’s Dino Decena, associate concertmaster, on violin and Yuka Sta. Ana on cello, Kao played the Grand Trio Opus 49 of Felix Men- delssohn, to great appreciation of the audience. Her encore piece by Chopin was, in contrast, gentle and lilting, quite fitting for the shy and pretty teenager.

Basilio-Roxas tells STARweek that aside from talent, Kao is a very disci- plined and dedicated artist for whom practice does not seem to be a chore or a duty. She has performed with the UST Conservatory of Music Orchestra

and has guested at the Concert at the Park at the Luneta.

Her parents Michinobu and Atsuko, sister Akira and brother Mitsuki

Kao’s father shares that as a way to celebrate Kao’s graduation from middle school (she is a student at the International School), the family considered holding a piano recital. Then the March 11 earthquake and tsunami happened, and the world mourned the tragedy that struck Japan and its people. Plans for the recital transformed into a benefit for the victims of the disaster, and the Toyota Dealers Association as well as the Wives of the Toyota Dealer Principals joined the effort. Lexus Manila also jumped in by providing the venue and logistics.

Thus, last Sunday afternoon, in a bright and airy garden setting amidst cars that are the epitome of precision machinery, music moved hearts and by the end of the event, over P2.3 mil- lion was raised for the Japan Rehabili- tation Fund, which will be turned over to the Japan Red Cross through the Philippine National Red Cross.

Toyota Dealers Association members Doyong Tan, Betty Lu, William Li and Ray Oben hand over a check for P1.5 million to Sugata for the Japan Rehabilitation Fund