As a Japanese cellist, Michiaki Ueno wants to introduce the world to the remarkable music of his home country. At first glance, this may seem like a conventional statement. However, when you look at his background, these words take on a different weight. Born in Paraguay in 1995 and raised in Spain, Michiaki Ueno saw a video of Yo-Yo Ma at the age of four and was fascinated. At the age of five, he received his first cello as a Christmas present - and that was the start of his musical journey. For someone like Ueno, Japan was both his home and a distant, unfamiliar place. "I never really thought about Japanese culture," he says. "When Europeans spoke kindly about Japan, I was embarrassed to realize how little I actually knew." As he grew up, Ueno felt increasingly challenged to think about and engage with his cultural identity. Unlike someone who grew up in Japan and takes his surroundings for granted, Ueno viewed the country as something foreign that must be consciously examined and understood, and that he consciously chooses to explore. The performance of works by Japanese composers in particular is the consequence of this realization.
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