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Early Music America, Fall 2009 Boston Early Music Festival 2009 Review "Some of the most engaging chamber music playing came from the well-matched violins of Sarah Darling and Laura Gulley in a program by Les Bostonades of works by Handel and Monteclair that enacted the death of Lucretia. The generous, voluptuous sound of soprano Teresa Wakim in the rich acoustic of Emmanuel Church's Lindsey Chapel contributed to the poignancy of emotion, well delineated in the continuo playing of Kate Bennett Haynes, cello, Justin Haynes, gamba, and Akiko Enoki Sato, harpsichord." Music tuned by illness By Denise Taylor Boston Globe/May 25, 2006 Her hair has grown back, her health has returned, and her tumor is no more. But the aftereffects of Akiko Enoki Sato's battle with breast cancer remain with her in unexpected ways. For one, her husband, Toshi , who shaved his head in solidarity, is still bald. ``He kept it because he likes it that way," she laughed. Then, there's the matter of the golfing. ``I never, ever thought I would like golf, but I need the exercise now, and I really like it," she said. But most important, her music has changed. She now plays with more gusto than ever before. ``I feel and appreciate everything more than before. It changed my playing very much. I play with so much more energy now," said Sato, who performs a free concert at The Morse Institute Library in her hometown of Natick this Sunday. On the program is music from the court of King Louis XIV, which Sato will play on a reproduction French double harpsichord, accompanied by Justin Haynes of Belmont on viola da gamba. ``The flair of French baroque music is just so fantastic. So I want people to hear it," said Sato, who, with a group of five other musicians, passionately promotes early music through a local and international concert series called Les Bostonades. The concert is, however, no triumphant return to performing for Sato. She played straight through nearly two years of cancer treatment that included chemotherapy, radiation, and, ultimately, a double mastectomy. ``My surgeon organized my surgeries around my schedule. I did one side, played a concert, and then did the other side," said Sato. ``Having the responsibility of having to play made it easier to keep going. . . . You need energy to create music, and I believe this helped me maintain my energy level and kept me from sinking into a depression as so many cancer patients do." Not that it was easy. Beside the usual fatigue, the chemo caused her to lose sensation in her fingertips, a big problem for a harpsichordist. But Sato, who began studying piano at age 3 at her home in Japan, remained at the keys. ``I just had to really increase my focus while I was playing." That newfound intensity remains, as well as a fervor that she said comes from facing death. Sato is playing more concerts, and accompanying more student performances at Longy School of Music and Boston University, where she works. And for the Natick show, she chose what she calls ``one of the most technically difficult pieces from the French baroque period." ``I just wanted the challenge," she said. ``I want to make use of all of my time. I want to do as much as I can." That difficult piece is two suites by Antoine Forqueray (1672-1745). ``Everybody knows Bach from that time, but not Forqueray. But he was a prodigy just like Mozart. He could play everything from a very young age, and Louis XIV discovered him when he was 5 and made him a court musician," said Sato. ``Later, he composed some very tough pieces," continued Sato. ``Everybody wants to try them, but not everyone can play them. We have been rehearsing for two months." As at all Les Bostonades concerts, the music can be heard on the instruments it was actually written for. ``People don't get to hear these instruments much. But if I played this piece on a piano, it's a completely different sound," said Sato. Sato and Haynes perform from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday at The Morse Institute Library, 14 East Central St., Natick. Free. Instrument show-and-tell follows the performance. Call 508-647-6520. For more info, visit www.bostonades.org. Heartfelt music Metrowest Daily News By Jennifer Lord/ Daily News Staff Thursday, May 25, 2006 Akiko Enoki Sato is fascinated by Baroque music. It is a relationship that has colored her music career, leading her to the harpsichord as her instrument of choice. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, it was the music that helped her through the difficult chemotherapy treatments. Sato, a Natick resident, will perform a free concert Sunday with the group Les Bostonades at the Morse Institute Library. The concert offers a rare opportunity to hear Baroque music as originally written on historically accurate instruments. "Everyone has heard Bach on the piano," Sato said. "But we didn't have piano back then -- everybody was playing the harpsichord. Everyone learns to play Bach on piano, growing up, but he didn't have a piano. The music was actually written for the harpsichord, but very few people have heard it as it was meant to be played." The concert will feature pieces from the Baroque period -- roughly 1600 to 1800 -- with a focus on the work of Antoine Forqueray, a child prodigy in the court of Louis XIV. Sato will play her replica French double harpsichord accompanied by Justin Hayes on his period viola da gamba, a bowed stringed instrument similar to the cello. The performers will also give a short talk about their instruments and allow the audience to get a close look. Sato plans to demonstrate her harpsichord's inner workings -- unlike a piano, which has hammers that strike the strings, the harpsichord has a mechanism inside that plucks the strings for a completely different sound. "When I hear someone play Baroque music on the piano, it doesn't fit for me," Sato said. "It's not the same for me to hear Baroque music on the modern instrument. It's a completely different articulation and phrasing." Music has been part of Sato's life since her childhood in Japan. She started piano lessons at the age of 3. Her mother was a pianist and her aunt, Fukuko Kobayashi, is a famous Japanese composer. Sato earned master's degrees in organ performance and sacred music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Southern Methodist University. She received advanced training in harpsichord and fingered bass at McGill University's Early Music Program and now works with the music departments at Boston University and the Longy School of Music in Boston. "Boston is at the very center of Early Music -- there are so many schools," Sato said. Sato had been living in Natick for about a year when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. A professor at the Longy School of Music, a breast cancer survivor, took her under her wing and Sato also found solace in her music. "Sometimes I didn't even want to go outside, because I was so tired," Sato recalled. "But making the music -- I was so excited. When I'm playing the music, just for that short time, I forget the treatment and just focus on making music." Her doctors at MetroWest Medical Center in Natick were also supportive and even adjusted her treatment schedule to fit around her music after realizing its positive effects on her. "If I was alone, sitting in the house, I was feeling despair," Sato said. "But being able to go out and make the music -- I even played a concert during the chemotherapy. I don't know how I could do it, but the music made me feel better." Akiko Enoki Sato will perform on Sunday, May 28 at 2 p.m. with Les Bostonades at the Morse Institute Library, 14 East Central St., Natick. Admission is free. |