From Coal Town to Concert HallsBorn in a small coal mining town near Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Hiroko Mina’s musical journey began at just 18 months old. Surrounded by her mother’s piano, her grandmother’s pedal organ, and the melodies of Dvořák music boxes, young Hiroko improvised freely on the keyboard, naturally developing perfect pitch and transforming…
The Herbie Hancock Institute International Jazz Competition will spotlight jazz vocals in 2026 and, for the first time in its history, will take place outside of the United States—in Paris, France, in partnership with the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Widely recognized as the world’s most prestigious jazz competition, the International Competition has played a pivotal role…
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Herbie Hancock (@herbiehancock) Stockholm, Sweden – March 19 Jazz icon Herbie Hancock has been named a 2025 Polar Music Prize Laureate, one of music’s highest honors, recognizing his unparalleled contributions to jazz and his lifelong dedication to peace and youth mentorship. Mr. Hancock’s musical journey began…
Alta, Norway — Although modes of communication have changed considerably over the millennia, the use of simple illustration continues in pretty much the same form it has since around the dawn of human evolution. The application of ancient art as communication is vividly on view in the form of rock art in this Northern Norway…
HIROSHIMA, Japan — Barack Obama, the first sitting U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, called for a “world without nuclear weapons” and offered respects to the victims of the world’s first deployed atomic bomb on May 27. In the Hiroshima Peace Park guest book, Mr. Obama wrote: “We have known the agony of war. Let us now…
[video_lightbox_youtube video_id=”9upB10NUgJ8&rel=true” width=”640″ height=”480″ anchor=”https://icapeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/jazzday-vid-still-e1475876356761.jpg”] See the video of the Jazz Day performance. The sounds of International Jazz Day 2016 blared from nearly every continent on April 30. The annual event actually kicked off on the evening of the 29th, with a multi-site celebration in Washington, D.C., and hundreds of locations around the world. At…
This year, 2016, marks the 71st anniversary of the end of World War II. During that global conflict, the Chamorro people — indigenous peoples of the Mariana islands — suffered terribly from unspeakable atrocities committed on the beautiful island of Guam. It was here that the Latte Peace Festival was first conceived and produced three…