The Swiss music festival, Lucerne Festival, has launched the Lucerne Festival Ark Nova Project with the aim of spreading hope through music to areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The first of these, the Lucerne Festival Ark Nova Matsushima 2013, will be held in Matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture, from September 27th to October 13th. Architect Arata Isozaki and British sculptor Anish Kapoor collaborated to create the Ark Nova Hall, a mobile concert hall with a capacity of approximately 500 people. Various programs are planned for the hall and its surrounding area. On October 12th, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra will return to Japan for the first time in seven years. Claudio Abbado, one of the orchestra's founders, will conduct the concert (8,000 yen). On the final day, October 13th, the "Apeto Peppe!" program will be held, directed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. "Apeto Peppe!" means "Let's do something incomprehensible!" in the Matsushima dialect. Sakamoto and Otomo Yoshihide will join the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, formed by children from all over Tohoku, to perform their own songs. The finale will be Sakamoto's first solo piano concert in Tohoku. He will also perform an improvisation with Otomo as a special guest. (The Ryuichi Sakamoto solo piano concert is 3,000 yen; all other performances are free.) In addition, on September 27th, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, a graduate of the Venezuelan music education program "El Sistema" and supported by orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, will hold his first children's workshop in Japan (free of charge). On September 28th, there will be a concert by the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Gimeno (4,000 yen), and on September 29th, Sakata Tojuro, Wakayagi Kichizo, Onoe Kikunojo, and Hanayagi Motoi will perform the kabuki play "Shima no Chitose" and the nagauta dance "Kanjincho" (3,000 yen).

On October 5th and 6th, the "Jozenji Street Jazz Festival Encore Live in Matsushima," a jazz festival that has a 23-year history and is held on the streets of Sendai every September, will be held (free).

All of the above programs, including the free ones, require reservations, except for the Jozenji Street Jazz Festival. Tickets can be pre-ordered by phone or on the official website until 6:00 PM on August 9th. The lottery results will be announced between August 20th and 22nd.