On 23 May, we held our first two concerts in Belfast — and both evenings passed beautifully at Waterfront Hall Studio. For our debut in the city, we brought Hayao Miyazaki’s Dreams by Mystery Ensemble, a programme where music becomes a doorway into the tender, strange and luminous worlds of Japanese animation.
The concert was dedicated to the atmosphere of Hayao Miyazaki’s films and the music closely associated with them. At the heart of the programme were works by Joe Hisaishi, whose melodies have become inseparable from My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Laputa: Castle in the Sky and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.
This double concert evening became a meaningful first step in Belfast. Waterfront Hall Studio gave the programme an intimate focus, allowing every delicate phrase and every nostalgic theme to reach the audience closely.
