• Source: Toshiko Sekiya

Toshiko Sekiya (March 12, 1904 – November 23, 1941, in Japanese 関屋敏子, in kana せきや としこ), also written Sekiya Toshiko, was a Japanese singer and composer.




Early life and education


Sekiya was born in Tokyo, the daughter of businessman Yonosuke Sekiya. Her maternal grandfather was French-born American diplomat and Union Army veteran Charles Le Gendre. Her uncle was a kabuki actor, Ichimura Uzaemon XV. Matsudaira Yoshinaga was her great-grandfather.
Sekiya began studying and performing music as a small girl, including an event where she sang two songs for the Empress Shōken. She studied at Tokyo University of the Arts and with opera singers Tamaki Miura, Rosina Storchio, and Adolfo Sarcoli. She moved to Italy for further studies. In 1928, she earned a diploma from the Royal Academia Filarmonica di Bologna.




Career


Sekiya had a lyric soprano voice. She sang on opera stages and gave recitals in Spain, Germany, Italy, England, and the United States. A Los Angeles critic in 1931 described her as possessing "an indescribable sweetness and charm", and Sekiya's own compositions in the program as "oddly beautiful and fascinating." Her clothing, hairstyles, shoes, and skin were described in press reports.
Sekiya made several recordings as a singer, in 1929 for the Gramaphone label, and in 1932 for the Victor label. She appeared in one of the first Japanese sound films, Komoriuta (1930). She wrote and published an opera, Onatsu Kyoran (1933). She starred in the first production of the opera; she also designed the sets and contributed to the choreography. Her second opera, Futari Kuzuba, was first produced in Japan in 1935. In her later years, she mentored a young American singer, Elizabeth Misako Russell, and encouraged a young Canadian singer, Aiko Saita.




Personal life


Sekiya married Goro Yagiyu in 1937. She died by suicide in 1941, at the age of 37, in Japan.




References






External links


"Toshiko Sekiya: Eternal Primadonna", a compilation of her recordings and photographs, on YouTube
A compilation of Toshiko Sekiya recordings, on Internet Archive
An autographed 1931 photograph of Sekiya, online at Densho Digital Repository
Toshiko Sekiya at IMDb

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• 20th Century Boys
• Kaguya-sama, Love is War
• Sunset on Third Street
• After the Rain (manga)
• Kaiji Kawaguchi
• Hakozume: Kōban Joshi no Gyakushū
• Toshiko Sekiya
• Sekiya
• The Drifting Classroom
• Kishichiro Okura
• Lin Hau
• Toshiko Ueda
• Hanayamata
• 20th Century Boys
• Blue Giant (manga)
• Kaguya-sama: Love Is War