The work, which she premiered in Gothenburg in 2019 and subsequently took on tour with Ensemble Musikfabrik, continues the Noh performer's streaming series HO NOH - Pray for an end to Covid-19, which began in May 2020. During the global suffering caused by the pandemic, Ryoko Aoki commissioned international composers to write pieces for Noh voice and premiered them in live streaming concerts with musicians from different countries. In doing so, she also refers to the origins of the Noh tradition: starting in the 14th century, Noh performers in Japan performed in religious rituals to pray for recovery from illness.
So far, works by Federico Gardella, Noriko Baba and Bruno Dozza have been performed. She has dedicated her prayers to Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands, and thus directly to the composers' countries of origin, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands, which were particularly affected by the pandemic. The new fifth part of the series is entitled "For Germany".
Peter Eötvös' melodrama Secret Kiss is inspired by a text by the Italian writer Alessandro Baricco. His famous novel Silk is about the journey to Japan of a young Frenchman who wants to explore the secret of silk production in the 19th century and meets a young woman. Only five instruments - flute, clarinet, violin, cello and percussion - accompany the text and create a dense atmosphere. After the premiere at Konserthus Göteborg, Ryoko Aoki performed the piece, accompanied by various ensembles, in Tokyo, Porto, Madrid, Berlin, Cologne and Budapest.
