Musica Poetica, a Tokyo-based music group specializing in the Protestant music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Heinrich Schuetz (1585-1672), will present a requiem concert Nov. 14 in Mitaka, Tokyo, for which members of the audience can have the names of their deceased loved ones printed free of charge in a program booklet.

The Requiem Gathering for the Consolation of Souls will consist of two parts. In Part One, Heinrich Schuetz Chor, Tokyo, will sing J.S. Bach's "Motette: Fuerchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir (BWV 228)" and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's "Trauergesang: Sahst du ihn herniederschweben? (Op. 116)" and "Vespergesang (Op. 121)," conducted by Taro Tanno.

Part Two will feature "Umi no Baiorin ga kikoeru" ("Hearing the Violin of the Sea"), a concerto for a three-part female chorus and piano. Nobuaki Ebata, an expert on J.S. Bach's music who will play piano during the concert, spent 10 years composing the 2002 piece to a poem written by Yuriika (Eureka) Suzuki, one of Japan's representative contemporary poets. The poem depicts a deceased father from the viewpoint of a daughter, including hatred of war, which destroyed the father's nerves, and a love-hate relationship between father and daughter.

Yumiko Tanno, leader of Musica Poetica, will conduct a 40-member chorus specially organized to perform Ebata's piece, which Tanno says has succeeded in logically and precisely connecting musical sounds with words.

Anyone interested is invited to fax the names of up to two deceased persons with the reading of their names in hiragana and, if possible, their occupation, to 03-3998-5238 or email them to [email protected] by next Monday.

The concert will start at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14 at Kaze no Hall inside Mitaka-shi Geijutsu Bunka Sentaa (Mitaka City Arts Center) in front of the Hachiman-mae/Geijutsu Bunka Sentaa bus stop, the third stop for buses starting from the No. 4 or No. 5 stops at the south exit of JR Mitaka Station. Tickets for the concert are ¥4,000 (¥2,500 for students) and can be reserved via fax or email.