(orchestra music) (orchestra music) - [Susanna] I learned about Jun Kaneko really soon after my arrival in Omaha.

He is Omaha royalty and highly respected In the art world.

And once I became aware of his art, I now can spot it everywhere I go in the world.

I mean, it's so distinctive.

I have many friends who are visual artists or just active in the art world in general.

And when they find out that Kaneko is based in Omaha, their minds explode.

They're really excited.

(orchestra music) - [Ankush] To actually visit him in person was a fantastic opportunity to get to know a really beautiful human being and artist.

It was truly breathtaking to see the number of pieces and different works that exist in his studio.

What he's able to accomplish even over decades was mind blowing, the breath and the prolific nature of his art.

(orchestra music) - [Jennifer] The initial concept for this collaboration actually came from Sue Morris, one of our community leaders who shared with us that Jun was receiving the International Sculptors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award and suggested that maybe the Omaha Symphony should find a way to honor Jun and his incredible commitments to Omaha and to his art.

- [Ankush] And we said, "Great.

How do orchestras honor somebody like a Jun Kaneko?"

And we thought maybe the logical thing is to make a commission for him, find a composer and write a piece to honor Jun Kaneko and his artwork.

(orchestra music) - [Dani] We knew we had to involve them in the process from day one, and that meant potentially introducing them to a composer who could be just as thoughtful and intense as Jun was.

And that ended up being Andy Akiho.

(orchestra music) - [Jennifer] Jun and Ree take collaboration really seriously, and they listened for hours and hours to all of the composers that Maestro Bahl offered to them.

And I think part of Andy's appeal is they resonated with the types of work that he was doing and how different that work was.

And I think this, in some ways, his out of the box thinking resonated with them.

(contemporary music) - [Andy] This is next level collaboration, 'cause still collaborating with musicians, the percussionists, the whole orchestra, but it's also the collaboration with the actual sculptures.

I feel like they have a life of their own too, so I'm getting to know them.

And the inspiration started from day one.

The first time we came in here, it was just like instant.

And then from there, that was like the visual, like the subconscious kind of influence.

This is my ultimate type of dream projects.

These multidisciplinary, completely collaborative and good vibes.

(orchestra practicing sounds) - [Jennifer] We did not anticipate the depth of the relationship, the depth of the creativity.

And I think as an organization, that really started to come to light in the late summer of '22, where Andy is here, he is clearly in an environment that is feeding him creatively.

We're watching this relationship between Andy and Ree and Jun develop in beautiful ways.

And we're watching the ideas that he has develop.

- [Andy] I found so much inspiration in the actual sculptures that I could have created a piece, a symphony just from the sculptures, 'cause they had so much to say.

So I wanted to exhaust everything I possibly could with that and take my favorite 1% of that from the actual sculptures.

And so there's so much material that's not in there.

And that was hard to let go of, 'cause it would've been a 20-hour long piece if I would've used every idea of every sculpture that I worked with.

Then when I actually got in the weeds with the symphony part, the actual full orchestra, there was so much in me already from these sculptures that it was just flowing out for the orchestra.

Even though I was gonna try to, and this is where it was a little bit different too, I thought all the melodic material would come directly from that, but I didn't wanna force that.

I just wanted to inspire it.

So it's there, but it's not literal.

And same with the feeling of every movement.

That's what I'm saying, for me, that's how these feel, each individual movements and what they relate to and I show the pictures or whatever the pieces that inspire that, but it might not be the same for everybody, or it shouldn't be, but that's what it was for me.

- [Dani] We knew Andy was going to be inspired by Jun.

We did not necessarily anticipate, though we should have, how much that inspiration would go both ways.

So the moment these two met, it wasn't just, "Oh, this is an artist that happens to like, the composer that we suggested to him."

It was, "Oh, the artist is suggesting specific pieces that he should try and play on."

"Oh, the composer is suddenly given carte blanche to pick different pieces of art and incorporate them into the piece."

We didn't really expect that aspect of it, and it became possibly the coolest part of the work.

- [Susanna] The way that this piece was so integrated into the art and inspired by the art, the sound came from the art, the structure came from philosophy that is involved in the art.

It was just a very successful marriage.

(orchestra music) - [Jennifer] I have so much respect for his creativity.

I have so much respect for his out of the box thinking.

Not only is he an incredible musician, but he's an incredible video artist, and he has unbelievable vision that he is able to make come together in truly unique and powerful ways.

(contemporary music) - [Andy] I didn't know I was gonna be playing on the actual sculptures.

And that actually took over most of the year.

And it was crazy 'cause for several months, I didn't even think about the orchestra parts.

The music's takes me way longer to orchestrate just 'cause there's so many parts.

It just takes a lot of hard work and dedication, experimentation, all that.

(orchestra music) I hope like this experience inspired me, and Jun's work and that the energy that we brought here, I wanted it to inspire other people, too.

(contemporary music) - [Susanna] It was really inspiring to see Kaneko's art on the video screen and the head being performed, to watch Andy and the physicality that he plays with.

It was inspiring to take that to all the movements that we played.

(orchestra music) - [Dani] Andy just keeps doing this thing, where you think you know how things are going to go, and then he flips a script on you a little bit.

And I didn't expect supreme sublime beauty from Andy Akiho.

I expected groove, I expected fun, I expected a percussion like extravaganza.

I did not expect beauty.

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