Symphony Kukai Returns to London, Bridging Cultures through Music

▲Symphony Kukai is performed at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre in London on Friday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Symphony Kukai returned to London on Friday at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, following its European premiere in the city in August 2024.

Performed by one of the world's leading ensembles, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and conducted by renowned Japanese conductor Takuo Yuasa, the concert marked the largest-scale presentation of the work since its world premiere on Aug 1, 2023, in Lanzhou, China.

The 2,700-seat Royal Festival Hall was filled to capacity, with audiences of different nationalities and age groups in attendance.

Expanded from a 25-minute soundtrack originally composed for a documentary about the influential Japanese Buddhist Master Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi, the 90-minute symphony tells of the scholar-monk's extraordinary life.

Kukai traveled to China in 804 during the Tang dynasty (618–907), where he studied under Master Huiguo and brought the Dharma back to Japan, along with advanced culture and technologies from the Tang dynasty, promoting and applying them widely across Japan.

"Throughout Kukai's life, there is a spirit—compassion, selflessness, and a dedication to benefiting all beings," said Yue Yongde, representative of the producer Tianguzhiyin Culture Media Co. Ltd.

"We hope that through this music—its melodies and the voices of the choir—this spirit can reach people around the world, move their hearts, and awaken the goodness and light that already exist within them."

"In this shared experience, people can meet one another in a state of peace and gentleness, and engage in genuine exchange through mutual understanding," he added.

▲Japanese conductor Takuo Yuasa conducts during the performance at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, in London on Friday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Compared with earlier versions, the participation of Yuasa as conductor brought a new depth to the work.

Yuasa was born on the same day as Master Kukai and grew up beside a temple that revered Master Kukai, absorbing his stories from childhood.

"He was really (integrated) into Japanese society for over a thousand years," Yuasa said. "Everybody knows him, and those who don't know him are also doing what he taught, because it's already in our manner, our ethics, and our beliefs."

Zou Ye, the symphony's composer, believes Yuasa understands his intentions and can take the music further.

"Although I am Chinese, the conductor could find in my music feelings that are shared by Japanese people and the wider Eastern culture—and our common devotion to Master Kukai," he added.

Japanese culture, Yuasa noted, has been closely connected with China for thousands of years. "We use the same characters—some kanji. China and Japan share a great deal," he said.

"Symphony Kukai is one of the best things that has happened," Yuasa added. "This is really at the people level. It is about spirit, about our lives, and very fundamentally about life itself. It's a very common subject among Chinese and Japanese."

A cross-cultural collaboration

Composed by Zou, conducted by Yuasa, and performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra alongside the London Philharmonic Choir and the Choir of the Central Conservatory of Music (China), the concert highlights a cross-cultural collaboration.

"I'm performing Chinese music written by a Chinese composer about Japan, played by an English orchestra," Yuasa said. "It's wonderful, isn't it?"

For Mark Templeton, a past board member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and its current principal trombonist, the motivation to perform the work was straightforward.

"We have no prejudices and no political axes to grind," he said. "We like music, and music is the one thing that brings all of us together in the world."

Madeleine Venner, chorus director of the London Philharmonic Choir, echoed that sentiment. "It's been a wonderful opportunity to learn about Mandarin, about Buddhism, and about this incredibly important figure in Japanese, Chinese, and Eastern culture," she said. "It's also been a lovely coming together of these two cultures."

Audience members expressed similar reactions. Catherine Wilmers, who previously toured China as a cellist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, described the concert as familiar. "We played side by side with Chinese musicians, and that same feeling of crossing the continents and sharing came through very strongly tonight," she said.

Another audience member, Deborah Baines, a former violinist with the Royal Opera House, drew parallels with Daniel Barenboim's West–Eastern Divan Orchestra. "Daniel Barenboim has done the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra and it was with Muslims and Jews, and initially they were a little bit worried," she said. "And then in the end, they realized we're all the same. And it didn't make any difference, and it was a wonderful orchestra."

"When you're playing the music, you're doing the same thing. You don't have to be able to speak the same language, you just sit down and play music together," she added.

▲A Japanese taiko drum measuring 1.5 meters in diameter is seen on stage at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, in London on Friday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"It's unique"

Among both musicians and audiences, one description was repeated frequently: Symphony Kukai is unique.

"We've been playing a lot of very active, very difficult music, where you sometimes feel like a mathematician because it's so complex that you have to keep counting," said Lasma Taimina, sub-principal first violin of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. "And yet, this makes you feel like a musician."

She added that while much contemporary repertoire can be difficult to grasp, this music "speaks directly—you don't have to pretend to understand it."

Templeton highlighted that the composer's sound is very unique: the colors he gets, the way that he uses intervals, the way he spreads the chords, and the way he uses the instruments together.

Visually, a drum measuring 1.5 meters in diameter was a notable element of the performance.

"The composers required the Japanese drum for the first version, then he changed it to the Chinese drum because it wouldn't be so available everywhere," Yuasa explained. "However, I felt this music should include a real Japanese taiko."

After consulting a close friend who is a world-renowned taiko player, Yuasa was able to locate and rent the instrument in London.

"I also asked the flutist to play a little bit like a shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute, and she really managed it wonderfully," Yuasa added.

For audience member Wilmers, the sonic landscape is very unusual. "There are so many Chinese and Eastern sounds in the music—it just transports you to the East."

"It's beautiful"

Emotional responses were common by the end of the performance.

"I cried at the end," Baines said." I know it was a bit filmy, but I just thought it was beautiful and varied, and the end was so incredible. So I cried."

Venner described the work as "hugely lyrical and melodic", noting that singers particularly enjoyed its long, expressive phrases. She singled out the sixth movement as especially powerful, "It takes you on a real journey, and there are lots of different colors and characters in it. And by the time you get to that climactic ending, I think everybody is feeling very much involved in it."

Since its European premiere in London in August 2024, Symphony Kukai has toured Auckland in New Zealand, as well as Osaka and Kagawa in Japan.

Rosie Taylor, chief executive of Orpheus Sinfonia—the orchestra that performed the work during its previous London appearance—said the piece continues to evolve. "It's grown so much in terms of its recognition amongst the audience. And the piece itself has developed. It is evolving rather than standing still," she said. "That's exactly how it can be a living legacy of Master Kukai. "

"I can't name you a single other musical piece that is being utilized in such a way to share a belief, a story, a way of being, and that is being taken around the world to reach audiences in such a way," Taylor added.

Behind the scenes

Bringing the London performance to fruition was both challenging and, in hindsight, serendipitous.

"We had confidence in this work—not only in its artistic value, but also in the spirit it carries," said Yue.

"At the same time, we knew that audiences often respond first to reputation. Having an orchestra like the London Philharmonic Orchestra perform the piece would allow it to be more readily recognized."

Yue approached a local agency in early 2025, hoping to stage the performance before the Chinese Spring Festival of 2026, which falls in the middle of this month (February).

"Given the limited time, we expected serious difficulties," he said. "To our surprise, the agency made it happen."

Matthew Freeman, consultant and project director for the production, recalled his first meeting with Yue in London. "He was only in the city for a very short time. I happened to be in central London on the day he was flying out, and through a Chinese colleague who said, 'I've got someone you should meet in London—can you do it now?' I raced across the city and met him in Paddington on his last day," Freeman said. "That was when he unpacked his vision for Symphony Kukai—to attract high-profile artists and high-profile musicians and prestigious venues to perform the work."

Turning that vision into reality within less than a year proved challenging.

"With a city like London, there are only three concert halls suitable for works like this, and just five or six orchestras capable of performing it, but Yue was very particular about choosing the best and world-class," Freeman said.

He added that, while top orchestras and conductors typically schedule two to four years in advance, aligning an orchestra, a venue, and a leading conductor within less than a year was like "solving a jigsaw puzzle".

He also described the production approach as unconventional. "In Western classical music, the normal process is that a composer gets a commission from an orchestra or an arts body. An orchestra pays the composer and often brings in other orchestras as co-commissioners. Before the piece is written, the music already has life, with multiple premieres built in," he explained.

"Yue did it completely differently. He got the music made, that's it. Now we look for performance opportunities."

"It's a bold move to do it," Freeman added. "To work that way, you have to have real belief in what you're doing."

While explaining this belief, Yue said that the spirit of Kukai—compassion, selflessness, and a dedication to benefiting all beings—is not only a teaching of Buddhism, but also reflects the wisdom and philosophy of the Chinese people: the pursuit of kindness within the human heart rather than confrontation, and agreement rather than argument. He added that this philosophy should be shared with the world and can contribute positively to it.