The legendary composer-conductor-pianist presents a new symphonic suite, reimagined from his Golden Globe-nominated score for Studio Ghibli’s Oscar-winning film The Boy and the Heron
Hisaishi is the soloist in this atmospheric work for piano and orchestra,
released on 6 November 2026
“Few Composers Can Sell Out Arenas. He’s One of Them” – The New York Times
14 AUGUST 2026 (TORONTO, ON) — The world premiere recording of Joe Hisaishi’s Symphonic SuiteThe Boy and the Heron for piano and orchestra will be released by Deutsche Grammophon this autumn. Recomposed from his Golden Globe-nominated original soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning Studio Ghibli-Hayao Miyazaki animated film, the Symphonic Suite is a standalone concert work for solo piano and orchestra. The album was recorded in April 2025 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, of which Hisaishi was appointed Composer-in-Association in 2024.
Symphonic Suite The Boy and the Heron for piano and orchestra will be released on 6 November 2026. Digital taster tracks from the album will drop on 14 August, 11 September and 23 October. Limited-edition coloured-vinyl and picture-disc versions of the LP will be available exclusively from the DG store.
Enigmatic and semi-autobiographical, Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron tells the story of Mahito, a boy whose mother is killed in a bombing raid on Tokyo during World War Two. Having left the city for life in the countryside with his father and new stepmother, Mahito struggles to deal with his grief. Drawn by a mysterious heron into a magical world inhabited by both the living and the dead, he ultimately chooses to return to reality and accept his changed family circumstances.
Miyazaki and Hisaishi’s legendary collaboration began with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), whose success led to the founding of Studio Ghibli. Unusually, when it came to The Boy and the Heron, the composer only saw the film when it was almost complete, and was given free rein by Miyazaki to write the soundtrack he felt would suit its mystical and poignant story.
On this occasion, rather than using the full orchestral palette, Hisaishi opted for an unobtrusive, minimalist style, full of repeated patterns – notably on the solo piano, supported at different times by an ensemble including strings, brass, tuned percussion and electronics. In so doing, notes Pitchfork, he created “his leanest work to date, giving [Miyazaki’s] pictures plenty of room to move”.
Speaking about the process of recomposing his original score, Hisaishi says: “I usually create a suite based on a soundtrack in the same year as a film is released. This time I waited a little longer, and then decided to entirely rewrite the music for the concert hall. The Symphonic Suite is therefore a standalone piece, completely independent from the film.”
Central to the Suite, as to the soundtrack, is the piano part, played by Hisaishi himself. As he explains, “The first half of The Boy and the Heron is about a child experiencing loneliness in the real world. In the second half he enters a dark fantasy realm. I decided to unify these two worlds musically by placing my own piano at the heart of the score.”
Many moments that fans of the movie will recognize are woven seamlessly into the new work, including the spiky, dissonant “Gray Heron” theme; the upbeat music representing the “Warawara”, human souls waiting to be born; and the heartfelt “A Song of Prayer”. The Suite is framed by the main theme, “Ask me why”, at first brief and questioning, then developed into a more optimistic extended version, offering a sense of resolution and hope, with Hisaishi’s solo piano patterns remaining prominent above the orchestral accompaniment.
Joe Hiaishi Live 2026
11th – 17th August 2026: – Radio City Music Hall Residency (as part of Joe Hisaishi NYC Takeover)
17th – 18th September 2026: – Japan Century Symphony Orchestra
2nd – 4th October 2026: – ‘Cinema Music Concert’ with Concertgebouw Orkest, at Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam
16th – 17th October 2026: – Colorado Symphony Orchestra at Boettcher Concert Hall at Denver Performing Arts Complex
22nd – 24th October 2026: – San Francisco Symphony at Davies Hall, San Francisco
12th and 13th November 2026: – Orchestre de Paris at Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore
14th November 2026: – Orchestre de Paris at The Star Performing Arts Centre, Singapore
23rd November 2026: – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall
25th November 2026: – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Munchen Isarphiharmonie
26th November 2026: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at KKL Lucerne
28th November 2026: – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Kultur und Kongresszentrum Liederhalle Stuttgart
30th November 2026: – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Berlin Philharmonie
2nd December 2026: – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Hamburg Elbphilharmonie
