Program Notes

A NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the Music of Studio Ghibli, and to YOUR Butler County Symphony Orchestra.

One of the things I love most about this organization is its ability to bring people together who’ve all come for different reasons. Some of you are here because this Symphony has long been a part of your life, while others are here because these films and their music hold a special place in your heart. Tonight, we have the pleasure of sharing something meaningful with each other.

To our patrons returning for our 2026-2027 season, who may be discovering Studio Ghibli or Joe Hisaishi’s music for the first time, you do not need to have seen the films to find a connection to what you’re hearing. Let the melodies, the musicians, and Maestro Doh be your guide. There is room in your own imagination for emotions and stories this music provokes within you. The opportunity to discover one of the world’s greatest film composers is a particular joy of live music.

To the fans of Studio Ghibli who are joining us for the first time: you belong here. The affection you bring for these stories is something to celebrate. The melodies that bring you back to the first time you saw one of the films, or maybe shared it with a loved one, are the reminder of what wonder and imagination can do for your soul. Hearing this music performed live also offers the chance for something new: to share these discoveries with those around you. We’re delighted that your love of these films has brought you here with us tonight.

When we say that the Butler County Symphony is your Symphony, this is what we mean. This orchestra is not reserved for a particular audience, generation, musical background, or tax bracket. It’s a place for our community to gather, encounter something new, share it with neighbors, and enjoy something familiar. Your curiosity and enthusiasm are what make this organization possible.

I hope that everyone leaves tonight with something they did not have when they walked in the door. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for being here and ask that you please share your experiences with your friends, family, and neighbors.

This is YOUR Symphony.

Best Regards,
Edward DeSantis
Executive Director

All music on this program is composed by Joe Hisaishi.

Princess Mononoke: The Legend of Ashitaka

The film Princess Mononoke (1997) places a deeply human struggle within a world of ancient forests and powerful spirits. Seeking relief from a deadly curse, the young warrior Ashitaka encounters a conflict between Lady Eboshi’s industrial settlement and the forest’s inhabitants. Among the forest’s defenders is San, a young woman raised by wolves. Ashitaka’s journey brings him between opposing communities whose needs and convictions resist a simple division into heroes and villains.

The piece you will hear, The Legend of Ashitaka, gives this sweeping story a musical identity that is both noble and troubled. Its broad melodic gestures suggest courage, while the music’s weight and urgency leave room for uncertainty and sorrow. Listen for the relationship between the melody’s spacious unfolding and the energy supporting it: the effect is not merely of a hero advancing, but of someone carrying a difficult responsibility. Heard apart from the film, the theme can become a portrait of resolve—not the certainty of victory, but the determination to keep searching for understanding.

Castle in the Sky Suite

Released in 1986, Castle in the Sky was Studio Ghibli’s first feature film. Filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s (b. 1941) adventure follows Pazu and Sheeta, two young people drawn into a search for the legendary floating city of Laputa. Pursued by competing forces interested in Sheeta’s mysterious pendant, they discover a world in which machinery, nature, danger, and wonder exist side by side. Their friendship provides an intimate center for a story that continually reaches toward the skies.

Hisaishi’s score answers that contrast with music capable of both forward motion and expansive lyricism. Among its central themes is the melody associated with “Carrying You,” also incorporated into his later symphonic treatment of the score. Its singing quality offers an emotional counterweight to the adventure surrounding it. Listen for the difference between music that seems to propel a journey and music that seems to open a view: the score’s sense of flight can be heard not only as excitement, but also as longing for something just beyond reach.

Orchestra Stories: My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro (1988), is a story where wonder is discovered close to home. Sisters Satsuki and Mei move with their father to the countryside while their mother is hospitalized nearby. Their new surroundings introduce them to mysterious creatures, including the enormous, gentle forest spirit Totoro and the extraordinary Cat Bus. Beneath the film’s playful discoveries lies a recognizable family experience: children finding comfort and courage while someone they love is ill.

Hisaishi revisited this music in Orchestra Stories: My Neighbor Totoro in 2002, creating an eight-movement concert work conceived to welcome both children and adults into the sounds of the orchestra. This is what you’re hearing tonight. Its musical episodes encompass cheerful exploration, the atmosphere of the forest, moments of anxiety, and the excitement of the Cat Bus. The result offers more than a collection of familiar tunes: it invites the orchestra itself to become a storyteller. Listen for how changes of pace, texture, and instrumental color can transform a simple musical idea into a place, a character, or a feeling.

Kiki’s Delivery Service

Based on Eiko Kadono’s novel of the same name, Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) follows a young witch learning to make a life of her own. Accompanied by her black cat, Jiji, Kiki settles in a seaside town and turns her ability to fly into a delivery business. Her most difficult challenges, however, are not magical enemies. They are the ordinary uncertainties of growing up: finding useful work, making connections, and recovering confidence when a once-reliable gift suddenly fails her.

Hisaishi gives Kiki’s world a light, often European-inflected musical character, a contrast to the more imposing sound of Princess Mononoke. The dance-like energy and graceful melodies suggest curiosity and independence rather than conquest. Its charm need not conceal its emotional stakes: the brightness can be heard as the exhilaration of setting out, while the more reflective side leaves space for vulnerability. Listen for the balance between buoyancy and tenderness, which serves as a musical reminder that becoming independent does not mean never needing encouragement.

Spirited Away Suite

In Spirited Away (2001), an ordinary family move transforms into an iconic journey through an unfamiliar spirit world. After her parents are transformed, Chihiro must work in a bathhouse controlled by the witch Yubaba while seeking a way to rescue them and return home. The story’s supernatural setting surrounds a very human challenge: learning how to act with courage when familiar protections have disappeared.

Hisaishi’s music gives this strange world an emotional point of entry. The lyrical tones offer an intimate contrast to the score’s more mysterious and animated episodes. In his later symphonic suite, Hisaishi reshaped music from the film into an extended orchestral narrative. Listen for the contrast between outward activity and inward reflection: the orchestra can suggest an overwhelming new environment, while a simple melodic line keeps our attention on the person finding her way through it. The music’s quietness can be as expressive as its most dramatic moments.

Merry-Go-Round of Life

From the 2004 film Howl’s Moving Castle, “Merry-Go-Round of Life” is one of Hisaishi’s best-known themes. The film, adapted from Diana Wynne Jones’s 1986 novel of the same name, follows Sophie, a young hatmaker transformed into an elderly woman by a witch’s curse. Her search for help brings her into the wandering castle of the wizard Howl, whose fantastic household exists within a world threatened by war. The story joins romance and adventure with questions about identity: how much can change on the outside while the person within remains recognizable?

Merry-Go-Round of Life approaches that changing world through the turning motion of a waltz. Its melody combines elegance with an emotional openness that feels both affectionate and wistful. The dance rhythm offers a useful way into the music: beneath the melody’s expressive freedom, the pulse keeps the carousel moving. That combination invites an interpretation suggested by the title itself—life moving onward, bringing familiar feelings back in new circumstances. The piece’s appeal lies not simply in its beauty, but in the way warmth and uncertainty can inhabit the same musical phrase.