Michael W. Pannell, for The Telegraph
It was a familiar but unexpectedly long trip from Japan to Georgia earlier this week for conductor Keitaro Harada.
Heavy snow and ice kept his plane in Tokyo way beyond takeoff time, and the extra hours meant an unplanned landing in Seattle for a fresh flight crew instead of flying direct to Atlanta.
That meant extra deplaning and customs checks and more delays.
Instead of a leisurely arrival the day before, Harada got to Savannah on Tuesday morning just in time for a 10 a.m. meeting and graciously keeping a scheduled phone conversation with me.
A former student at Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music, Harada now leads the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra as its music and artistic director. He’s also associate conductor for the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor and artistic partner of the Aichi Chamber Orchestra. All that plus his rigorous schedule of guest conducting prestigious symphonies worldwide.
Harada will come “home” to Macon as guest conductor of the Macon-Mercer Symphony at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Grand Opera House.
“It very much is a homecoming to me and a very happy one at that,” Harada said. “I’m so glad to be back and, for me, it’s also very much a ‘thank you’ concert. Macon and Mercer and people there have played such a key role in my life and career.”
Harada grew up in Tokyo and took the saxophone as an instrument. A teacher giving him a shot at conducting changed everything. He has said the experience was thrilling, complete with goosebumps, and brought the knowledge that that was what he truly wanted to do.
Harada’s musical abilities brought him to the U.S.’ Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, then the University of Illinois. At the same time, he studied conducting in Russia, and, along the way, a seemingly chance occurrence had yet another profound impact on his life.
“I met Adrian Gnam, who is a Mercer distinguished artist-in-residence who teaches orchestral conducting, oboe and bassoon and was conductor of the former Macon Symphony Orchestra,” Harada said. “He became a mentor to me and because of him I transferred to Mercer.”
Diligently focused on learning his craft, Harada also found time to have a job assisting a professor in the Business Department and made time to found the Mercer/Macon Symphony Youth Orchestra. Doing so allowed him to organize an orchestra, rehearse it weekly, conduct it regularly and mentor/manage its members while building relationships within the orchestra and with its Macon audience.
Harada told Andrea Honaker in a story for Mercer University’s “The Den” that Gnam “opened the very first door professionally for me. Had he not done that, I would be so many years behind from where I am now. I owe him a lot for what I have achieved.”
Harada got his bachelor of music in performance in 2007 and continued graduate studies at Mercer, being one of the first graduates of its then-new master of music in conducting program in 2008.
He said Mercer not only provided him with strong musical training but added a well-rounded and balanced academic education.
And, of course, on the other hand, he was just another student in Macon.
“I went to basketball games — there was no football then,” he said. “I enjoyed typical college life with a group of friends and did what most do.”
He said he enjoyed Macon’s entertainment and nightlife and during the day often hung out with friends at what was Joshua Cup Coffee, now the home of Mary Pinson Flowers.
“Mercer was good to me,” he said. “My professors, my friends, the town. I embraced every minute. At the time, there weren’t many Asians around that I could see but I was always treated so well.”
Though Harada’s trajectory toward success was secure and there were offers from more well-known schools and conservatories, he said Macon and Mercer were the right choices.
“Macon did seem an offbeat choice but meeting Adrian, his humbly welcoming and mentoring me with such open arms and Macon providing such tremendous opportunities — it was by far the right choice and triggered the start of my career. No regrets at all.”
Having trained in the West, Harada said most of his repertoire reflected Western classical composers until recent years when he decided he needed to begin introducing Eastern composers to Western audiences. Monday’s program includes one of his favorite contemporary composers, Takashi Yoshimatsu, 70, and his Atom Hearts Club Suite No. 1.
Notes on the piece say it comes from a series of works paying homage to young Yoshimatsu’s favorite rock groups like Emerson, Lake and Palmer, The Beatles and Pink Floyd. It is written for a string orchestra and Harada said he also chose it to show off the students of Mercer’s McDuffie Center for Strings, who comprise the string section of the Macon-Mercer Symphony.
The full name of the piece is actually “Dr. Tarkus’s Atom Hearts Club Suite,” so if you get it, the name refers to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Tarkus progressive-rock masterpiece, Pink Floyd’s “Atom Heart Mother” and Fragile by Yes, all blended with Osamu Tezuka’s comic-book hero Mighty Atom, a.k.a. Astro Boy.
Yoshimatsu scored the popular 2003 anime series “Astro Boy.”
“He has always loved progressive rock and introduces those elements into his work,” Harada said. “The piece is a lovely mish-mash of influences audiences enjoy immensely.”
Also included in the program is Ravel’s “Bolero,” considered a romantic piece suitable for the just-before Valentine’s Day concert. “It showcases all the colors available on the orchestral palate and highlights the beautiful interplay between the student players and the principal players of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra who make up the remainder of the Macon-Mercer Symphony. It’s such a wonderful, unique collaboration of artistry.”
The Grand and MMSO offer a special Valentine’s Day date package for the concert that includes two tickets, two drinks and two Grand Opera House commemorative tumblers for $60. If you want to make the evening your Valentine’s date night, special tickets for the package are at www.tixr.com/e/92474
Amy Schwartz-Moretti, internationally acclaimed violinist and director of the McDuffie Center for Strings, said the evening will include a surprise or two along with offering the pleasure of seeing such an acclaimed conductor as Harada at the podium, who, by the way, recently received the highly prestigious 2023 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award. It’s essentially the highest international honor a young conductor can receive.
For overall ticketing, visit www.thegrandmacon.com.
For more on Harada and to see his highly entertaining Instagram account, go to www.kharada.com and www.instagram.com/khconductor. For more on the McDuffie Center and the MMSO, there’s www.mcduffie.mercer.edu.
Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with The Telegraph.
