Award-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, despite a long battle with cancer, is due to perform in public for the first time in three years when the Tohoku Youth Orchestra of which he is music director performs a series of concerts in March.

Sakamoto, who is 70 and first came to prominence with the Yellow Magic Orchestra, will play the piano.

He was diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer in 2014. He later returned to work, but then discovered in 2020 that he also had rectal cancer.

The musician announced in January 2021 that he would undergo surgery followed by a long recovery. He is still under treatment.

The orchestra is made up of students from areas devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Some are still in primary school while others are already in college.

Sakamoto, who composed the soundtrack for the 1983 film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence,” in which he starred with David Bowie, has dedicated himself in recent years to performing with the Tohoku Youth Orchestra.

The orchestra performed regularly, but was forced to cancel concerts in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The orchestra will perform in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the regions hardest hit by the 2011 disaster, from March 22 to 24 before taking the stage at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall on March 26.

The orchestra will also collaborate with Sayuri Yoshinaga at the halls of Miyagi, Fukushima and Tokyo, and with Non at the hall of Iwate.

The two actresses will perform recitations.

For more concert information, visit the official website at (http://tohoku-youth-orchestra.org/).