Benjamin Skepper will perform “For Our Freedom” at the Australia Japan Business Council of Victoria’s 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner, at the Plaza Ballroom, Melbourne, on Friday 20 November 2026.
The performance honours his grandmother, Akie Igawa Brown, a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima who in 1952 was among the first Japanese war brides to make a home in Australia. Benjamin regards these women as pioneers who, at the most difficult point in relations between the two countries, helped lay the foundations of the friendship the Gala celebrates.
Benjamin composed “For Our Freedom” in February 2011, weeks before the Great East Japan Earthquake. In 2021 he performed it in Rikuzentakata, Iwate, before the 800-year-old sacred cedar of Imaizumi Tenmangu, on a cello made from wood recovered after the tsunami. The performance was featured in Forbes Japan.
Black tie. Tickets are open to the public via AJBCV. Film: For Our Freedom, Rikuzentakata. Press: Forbes Japan. Enquiries: contact@benjaminskepper.com
Photo: Hidemi Ogata