{"id":141913,"date":"2021-05-19T11:56:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=141913"},"modified":"2021-05-19T11:56:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:56:14","slug":"hso-features-foumai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/19\/hso-features-foumai\/","title":{"rendered":"<span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Hawai\u02bbi<\/span> Symphony Orchestra features award-winning <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> West O\u2018ahu composer"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_73408\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kHx6qpVJ_2A?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Raise Hawaiki, H\u014dk\u016ble\u02bba symphony premiere, March 28, 2019\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure>Raise Hawaiki by Michael-Thomas Foumai had its world premiere in March 2019.<\/div>\n<p>To his students, <strong>Michael-Thomas Foumai<\/strong> is a lecturer with the <a href=\"http:\/\/acmsystem.hawaii.edu\/campus\/uh-west-oahu\/\">Academy for Creative Media<\/a> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/westoahu.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>&#8211;West <span aria-label=\"Oahu,\">O&#699;ahu,<\/span><\/a> imparting knowledge to them about the integration of music and sound with speech and image in creative media.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_93256\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-93256\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/manoa-foumai-m-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Michael-Thomas Foumai\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-93256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/manoa-foumai-m-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/manoa-foumai-m-130x73.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/manoa-foumai-m-630x353.jpg 630w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/manoa-foumai-m.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-93256\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael-Thomas Foumai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myhso.org\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Symphony Orchestra<\/a> (<abbr>HSO<\/abbr>), Foumai is the brilliant young composer featured in its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myhso.org\/starlight\">Sheraton Starlight Series<\/a>, showcasing a festival of Foumai&#8217;s music over the next few months with in-person, outdoor performances at the Waik&#299;k&#299; Shell. The series began May 14, and runs throughout the summer.<\/p>\n<p>In a first for a <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> composer, Foumai will have a total of seven of his orchestral works and new arrangements of mele by Queen <span aria-label=\"Liliuokalani\">Lili&#699;uokalani<\/span> performed by the symphony.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Related <em><abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> News<\/em>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/04\/06\/foumai-young-composers-award\/\">Michael-Thomas Foumai wins national young composers award<\/a>, April 6, 2017<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&ldquo;Orchestras do spotlight composers\u2019 works in a festival treatment, but that honor is often bestowed upon the likes of Mozart and Beethoven only, titan composers long passed,&rdquo; Foumai said. &ldquo;If one is lucky, a single performance of an orchestral work in a year, or even several years, is generally the experience today. So to have seven big works and new arrangements spread across seven concerts in a single series, the gravity of these concerts is immense.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>This speaks to the symphony\u2019s extraordinary commitment to new symphonic music and the composers of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii,\">Â鶹´«Ã½,<\/span> said Foumai, who teaches Creative Media\/Music 314 Music, Sound and Media at <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu.\">O&#699;ahu.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Our creative media and music students are truly fortunate to have such a dedicated and accomplished instructor,&rdquo; said Jon Magnussen, associate professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/westoahu.hawaii.edu\/music\/\">music<\/a> and chair of the <a href=\"https:\/\/westoahu.hawaii.edu\/academics\/degrees\/humanities\/\">humanities division<\/a> at <abbr>UH<\/abbr> West <span aria-label=\"Oahu.\">O&#699;ahu.<\/span> &ldquo;He makes our community proud.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>A decade of musical inspiration<\/h2>\n<p>The performances with the <abbr>HSO<\/abbr> over the next few months are monumental, Foumai said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I\u2019m floored, speechless and thrilled,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This really is unheard of and unprecedented.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The concert series features the following Foumai works, all composed in the last decade. Much of the music has a story to tell, Foumai said, and is inspired by cinema, cartoons, poetry, literature, history and <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Becoming Beethoven<\/em>&#8212;Music inspired by Beethoven\u2019s hearing loss, unfolding like a Hollywood superhero origin story.<\/li>\n<li><em>Raise Hawaiki: Kealaikahiki<\/em> (The Way to Tahiti)&#8212;A suite of music inspired by <span aria-label=\"HokUlea\u2019s\">H&#333;k&#363;le&#699;a\u2019s<\/span> maiden voyage to Tahiti in 1976 and the journey to reclaim and revive Polynesian wayfinding.\n<ul>\n<li>Related stories:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/03\/31\/raise-hawaiki-hokulea-symphony-concert\/\">Raise Hawaiki, <span aria-label=\"HokUlea\">H&#333;k&#363;le&#699;a<\/span> symphony by award-winning <abbr>UH<\/abbr> composer premiere<\/a>, March 31, 2019<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2019\/03\/21\/world-premiere-of-raise-hawaiki\/\">World premiere of Raise Hawaiki, <span aria-label=\"HokUlea\">H&#333;k&#363;le&#699;a<\/span> symphony by award-winning <abbr>UH<\/abbr> composer<\/a>, March 21, 2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Fullmetal<\/em>&#8212;Action-packed music that channels the energy of the hyper saturated visuals commonly found in Japanese anime.<\/li>\n<li><em>Music from the Castle of Heaven<\/em>&#8212;A musical journey through clouds.<\/li>\n<li><em>Overture on Themes from the Songbook of Her Majesty Queen <span aria-label=\"Liliuokalani\">Lili&#699;uokalani<\/span><\/em>&#8212;The premiere of a new overture based on themes from Queen <span aria-label=\"Liliuokalani\">Lili&#699;uokalani<\/span> featuring the mele &ldquo;Ka <span aria-label=\"Oiwi\">&#699;&#332;iwi<\/span> Nani,&rdquo; &ldquo;Ahe Lau Makani&rdquo; and &ldquo;He Mele L&#257;hui <span aria-label=\"Hawaii,&rdquo;\">Â鶹´«Ã½,&rdquo;<\/span> and new arrangements of <span aria-label=\"&ldquo;Hawaii\">&ldquo;Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Aloha&rdquo; and &ldquo;Aloha <span aria-label=\"Oe&rdquo;\">&#699;Oe&rdquo;<\/span> featuring Raiatea Helm with hula by Kanoe Miller.<\/li>\n<li><em>Rat Race!<\/em>&#8212;Inspired by &ldquo;Tom and Jerry&rdquo; cartoons, it\u2019s an overture of cartoon music on steroids that spares no expense.<\/li>\n<li><em>The Telling Rooms<\/em>&#8212;Sets music to three profound poems written by three students from Maine about their experience with color.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Foumai\u2019s insights<\/h2>\n<p>&ldquo;Almost all these works will be <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> premieres,&rdquo; Foumai added. &ldquo;Many of these works were written for and performed by orchestras across the country, so I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity to have these works performed for the first time right here at home with our own <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Symphony.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Foumai will also be framing each concert with program notes that will give the audience a composer&#8217;s perspective and a glimpse at the hidden musical messages and symbolisms in each work.<\/p>\n<p>For more information or to purchase concert tickets for the Sheraton Starlight Series, which is sponsored by Sheraton Waikiki, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myhso.org\/\"><span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Symphony Orchestra website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/westoahu.hawaii.edu\/kaloinews\/?p=14866\">Read more at Ka Puna O <span aria-label=\"Kaloi\">Kalo&#699;i<\/span>.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>By Zenaida Serrano Arvman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The symphony will feature seven of Foumai\u2019s orchestral works in its summer series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[112,133,59],"class_list":["post-141913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-academy-for-creative-media","tag-music","tag-uh-west-oahu","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141913"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141920,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141913\/revisions\/141920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}