A Vintage Performance

Krug invites Ryuichi Sakamoto to create a symphony about its favourite vintage.

- Hannah Choo

IT'S NOT EVERY day you receive an invitation to see Ryuichi Sakamoto perform live. The composer, actor and singer, whose prolific 41-year career includes writing music for The Last Emperor (1987) and The Revenant (2015), had just created another musical masterpiece. This time, it was a stirring three-part symphony scored for a 36-piece orchestra and piano, commissioned by Krug. This is what incredible champagne would sound like, and to have Sakamoto on the piano would be the cherry on top of an already fantastic symphony.

Except that day didn't come. A week before the launch, Sakamoto had a relapse of cancer. He needed to rest and his live performance was cancelled. Nevertheless, at the Tokyo premiere of Seeing Sound, Hearing Krug, Sakamoto's presence was felt at Terrada Warehouse. A congregation of journalists, his friends and family and other VIPS had gathered to listen to Suite for Krug in 2008 for the first time.