Joe Hisaishi Is One of the Greats – Conductor and Composer Nicholas Buc Tells Us Why

Joe Hisaishi’s imprint on popular culture is deep and wide. With more than 100 film and concert credits to his name – including for the recently released A Big Bold Beautiful Journey – the Japanese composer’s work has found ears and hearts the world over.

His deceptively simple, emotive melodies from the likes of Spirited Away , My Neighbour Totoro and Howl’s Moving Castle have long enjoyed a life beyond the cinema screen. Now aged 74, Hisaishi has achieved a cultural impact shared by few other living composers, like his contemporaries John Williams and Hans Zimmer.

Coming to Melbourne from November 6 to 8, The Music of Joe Hisaishi celebrates the composer’s life and work. First performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the Opera House, the upcoming show features the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Arts Centre. With commentary and reflections by Andrew Pogson and Dan Golding, co-hosts of film music podcast Art of the Score , the concert is conducted by another of the pod’s co-hosts, Nicholas Buc. Specialising in live concerts of film music, Buc is well-equipped to present the work of such a beloved composer.

“First and foremost, the music is just beautiful,” he says. “It’s life-affirming, it is transformative. When we did the shows in Sydney, you could just feel, every night, the serene and captivating grasp that the music had on everyone in the audience.”

The potential for discovery is one of the concert’s appeals, aided by educational addresses by Pogson and Golding. Buc recalls audience members at the Opera House being brought to tears by pieces they had never heard before, among other iconic themes from Studio Ghibli titles.

When it came to selecting the pieces, Buc says it was all about “the three of us breaking down the barrier between just listening to music and actually getting some insight behind it. Just really enjoying it and learning something along the way, in a way that is engaging and sometimes a bit humorous.”

Approaching a body of work as expansive and varied as Hisaishi’s demands an understanding of his evolution as a composer. The team from Art of the Score approached it with a clear mandate: to share an overview of the composer’s career.

The program extends beyond collaborations with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, with the trio selecting music from Hisaishi’s concert works as well as his collaborations with other well-known Japanese directors.

“Obviously we do some selections from Ghibli,” Buc says. “You know, the most well-known ones … Then on the other side, things like DA.MA.SHI.E , which is a minimalist piece he wrote for an electronic album in the ’80s and then orchestrated a decade later. It really shows a different side of his music that film-lovers might not know.”

The audience engagement extends to the performers themselves, with solo pianist Aura Go sharing more secrets of the hidden complexities of Hisaishi’s dreamy melodies. Her input among the podcasting trio adds to the communal feel of the show, as though the proceedings onstage were taking place around a pair of sofas in your living room.

“She demonstrates stuff on the piano about Hisaishi’s music and shows us how it works, and again gives that behind-the-scenes insight into this particular composer,” Buc says. “It’s that mix of friendly, accessible, laid-back interactivity – combined with just really beautiful music – that I think makes the show a unique offering.”

The Music of Joe Hisaishi, presented by Art of the Score is being performed by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne on November 6, 7 and 8. Get more information and tickets at mso.com.au.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.