On Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 7 p.m., the Sixth Station Trio performed music from the Ghibli Studio movies at the Administration Building Auditorium at the University of Idaho.
Based in San Francisco, California, the band consists of the members Katelyn Tan on piano, Anju Goto on violin and Federico Strand Ramirez on cello. They play a wide variety of music and are mostly known for their performances of video game and film music.
The Sixth Station Trio was formed only after the pandemic, despite having known each other since high school. Their first debut was in 2023, leading to many performances around the world, including the Asian Art Museum, Old First Concerts, The Game Developer’s Conference, Fanime and Grace Cathedral. They initially came together to play music together for fun, not knowing they would become this successful.
For their first performance in Idaho and at UI, they played songs from “The Cat Returns,” “Spirited Away,” “Porco Rosso,” “Ponyo” and “Princess Mononoke.”
The Sixth Station Trio arranges their own music to ensure that the music designed for their trio will sound just like the movies.
“We did our very best to capture how it sounded in the films,” said Tan. “I think that’s really important for us, especially because I think that music is a really important aspect of what creates the nostalgia and the world and the environment of these films, and so we did our very best to stick to the musician integrity of when you originally hear it in that film.”
AsiaPOP! is a week-long event designed to bring the experience of Asian pop culture to UI, presented by the Habib Institute for Asian Studies, with help from the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, the College of Art and Architecture, and the Lionel Hampton School of Music. Consisting of speakers from multiple fields, exhibits, film screenings, cosplay contests and concerts, AsiaPOP! brings a wide variety of 3events to attend each year.
Shelby Sandford can be reached at [email protected]