Hawai`i Composers

Composer Logyn Okuda returns to Classical Pacific with updates on his career, orchestrating for composer Michael Giacchino on Butterfly, The Fantastic Four, and most recently, the upcoming Zootopia 2. Okuda will back home in the islands this week as one of 5 Hawai`i composers featured in the Hawai`i Symphony Orchestraʻs Symphony of the Hawai`i Seas. https://www.logynokuda.commyhso.org

Composer in Residence of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Michael-Thomas Foumai brings his favorite music for the Ocean as we celebrate our Hawai`i Symphony Orchestraʻs Symphony of the Hawaiʻi Seas. The multi-media concert features Hawaiʻi Composers Takuma Itoh, Justin Park, Logyn Okuda, and Foumai.

Justin Park is a composer based in California, and is one of five Hawaiʻi Composers featured this week with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra. The Kamehameha Schools - Kapalama and Berklee College of Music graduate says that writing music is rewarding, and hopes that as we listen to the "Symphony of the Hawaiʻi Seas," that we will remember our experiences being in the ocean, and that it will spark inspiration to make our environment a better place to live in.

Composer and Educator Herb Mahelona talks with Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba about Symphony of the Hawai‘i Seas, the upcoming free concert of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra that combines local composers, storytelling and animation. Mahelona lives in Hilo and is a composer of operas, most recently for his students at The Kamehameha Schools Hawaiʻi Campus.

Classical Pacific's Thursday segment, "Staff Picks," was created to get to meet our friends who work in the arts, and hear what music balances their lives. Composer Mieke Doezma is the Community & Education Coordinator of the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra and a graduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi-Mānoa.

Composer, Jazz Bassist, HSO Musician, ʻukulele master, University of Hawai`i Professor of Music, Emeritus Dr. Byron Yasui visits Classical Pacific to help kick off a weekly spotlight on Hawai`i composers. Yasui talks about his surprising start in music and academia, and his natural ability to play string instruments. Dr. Yasui is on the Board of the ʻUkulele Hall of Fame Museum https://www.ukulele.org and will be at the International `Ukulele Festival this weekend.