Performed live during Musica Intimae: The Plain of Dreams 夢の広野 (2018) at Victoria Concert Hall
Kentaro Sato, an award-winning Los Angeles-based Japanese composer, wrote and composed this piece in memory of the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. “Forward” in English, the repetition of the phrase “Oboete-iru” (I remember) in the heartfelt piece honours the memory of the casualties and recognizes the grief of the survivors. The concluding lines, “Ippo ippo mae-e” (One step at a time, I walk forward), however, emphasises the difficulty, and the necessity, of keeping our eyes on tomorrow.