So excited for this whole program!! ♡ #Repost @pacificnorthwestballet ・・・ The story of RAkU is set in Kyoto, but choreographer Yuri Possokhov wanted a symphonic score, not traditional Japanese music, and a friend recommended composer Shinji Eshima, a longtime double bassist in the @SFBallet and @sfoperaorch. The ballet’s score is written for full orchestra, without the addition of traditional Japanese instruments, yet it conveys a Japanese feeling. According to Eshima, that’s been said about his music before, and it makes him laugh. “My parents are both Japanese and I have a lot of that background in being raised Buddhist, but I’ve never been conscious of it,” he says. “But invariably people say that what I write sounds Japanese.” | @hulagurl and @sethorza rehearsing RAkU, which opens April 13 #pnbemergence #raku #yuripossokhov #noelanipantastico #sethorza #pasdedeux #ballet #shinjieshima 🎥 : @lindsaythomasphoto (at McCaw Hall)