EMBRACINGMUSICAS AN INDISPENSABLE TOOLFOR SOCIAL CHANGE

HIROTSURU Sumire is not only an accomplished violinist, but also a next-generation leader addressing social
issues through music. Here, she reflects on the qualities necessary for musicians in the new era, as well as how she has
been leveraging her music through what she learned at Harvard College.
There is a saying that goes, “If you chase two rabbits,
you will catch neither.” Yet, violinist HIROTSURU
Sumire has proved herself to be the exception to therule by pursuing varying goals with great success.
Graduating with honors from both Harvard Collegeand The Juilliard School—a private performing arts
conservatory in New York—now, at the age of 29, she
is fully demonstrating her talents as a musician, while
also wearing the hats of educator and entrepreneur,among others. “As a child, I hated to lose. When it
came to studying, I felt wholly compelled to achieve
perfect scores, and if I was in a music competition, I
just had to win first prize. It’s that simple,” she laughs.
But underlying her broad range of activities is adistinctive sense of identity and perception of music.

Besides her socially oriented
work, violinist HIROTSURU
Sumire has been taking on newchallenges in music as well,such as improvising music for
YouTube distribution andperforming game music. Oneof her future goals is to findways to break away from theconventional form of classicalconcerts, such as incorporatingaudience interaction within
performances. TETSUO OHARA“I want to become a violinist who not only pursues
new heights in music, but also uses music as a toolto find solutions to social challenges and takes oninitiatives that will benefit others.”
Hirotsuru’s values were largely influenced by worldrenowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who is also a Harvard
graduate. She first performed with him and his
multicultural musical ensemble Silkroad Ensemble
during her time at Harvard College. “While one of
the world’s top musicians, he has contributed to awide range of causes. These include his involvementin the making of a film—featuring musicians ofSilkroad Ensemble from diverse backgrounds andhis performance at a refugee camp—and educational
projects. He has not stopped at merely giving

Left: A backstage shot with world-renowned cellist
Yo-Yo Ma (center) in 2015. Ma addresses social
challenges through music, and her encounter with himchanged the way Hirotsuru (far right) perceives music.
Right: Hirotsuru graduated from Harvard College in2016. At first, she didn’t seriously consider attending
the world-class university. However, at age 16, while ontour in the U.S. including a performance at Carnegie
Hall—as a reward for winning the grand prize at aninternational competition—she had the chance to visit
the university, and sensed something in common with
the Harvard students, namely, their passion for boththeir studies and such extracurricular activities astheater and sports.

performances, but also has a great mission going
beyond that, and this has left a very large impression
on me,” Hirotsuru recalls.
Inspired by Ma, she became determined to pursue a
professional career in music and entered the master’s
program at The Juilliard School to hone her musicalsensitivity and skills. After graduating, she steadily
built up her career as a musician flying around theworld giving performances, while also finding thetime to found a music consulting company in New
York as the first step in her social endeavors. Using thebusiness perspectives and connections that she had
developed at Harvard, she supported musicians who
were highly skilled as performers but not quite so adept
at promoting themselves. According to Hirotsuru, oneof the key elements of success for today’s musicians is
the power of words. “It’s not enough to just provide
good music, because people are exposed daily tovast amounts of information, and their attention
spans are short. Musicians need the ability to put astory behind the music and their own thoughts andfeelings into words, and convey that to others.”
Since transferring her base of activities to Japan,Hirotsuru has been investing energy into education.
In addition to serving as a member of the Council
for the Creation of Future Education, established by
the government of Japan, and as a university lecturer,
she has been operating a summer school program,“Summer in JAPAN,” in her hometown of Oita on
the island of Kyushu, since 2012. For the program,foreign college students—mainly from Harvard—areinvited to teach elementary, middle, and high school
students a wide range of subjects, including essay
writing, computer science and critical thinking. The
student teachers also perform in concerts together
with Hirotsuru. Behind the program is the hopethat direct contact with students from prestigious
universities will encourage children to become
interested in studying abroad, no matter theirbackground, and to balance an energetic pursuit ofboth their studies and non-academic activities.
Hirotsuru believes that such initiatives havea positive impact on her own music as well. “At
Juilliard, I was very impressed by the fact that manyof the more accomplished musicians, in addition tomusic, valued activities outside of the field. I felt thatin order to stride forward musically, it was crucial
not only to hone our musical skills but also to learn
through various experiences.”
One incredible musician achieving this goal is
Yo-Yo Ma. Although he will always be an aspiring rolemodel for her, Hirotsuru says that she does not wantto simply copy him. “Since the situation and normsof the world are always changing, you will fall behindthe times by just imitating someone else. That is why
I want to carry the torch of people such as Yo-Yo Ma,
passing along the core of his and others’ work, whilecarving my own path.”

“Summer in JAPAN,” organized by Hirotsuru, provides children with theopportunity to directly engage with college students from overseas—mainlyfrom Harvard—through a two-week program.