A 40-member group blasts out the anthem on baseball's most storied diamond.

October 5, 2007—When Red Sox pitcher Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka made his playoff debut against the Angels in the 2007 division series, Berklee trumpet professor Tiger Okoshi reprised his April performance of the national anthem (read below). Okoshi's group featured 30-plus Berklee brass players and a complement of Japanese taiko drummers.

April 24, 2007

Ted Williams, Manny Ramirez, Dwight Evans, and . . . Tiger Okoshi? Well, when you think of all the great talents who have patrolled the outfield at Fenway Park, go ahead and add trumpeter Okoshi to the list. The Berklee alumnus and faculty member led a 40-member group—composed of faculty, students, staff, and six Japanese taiko drummers—in a rendition of the national anthem unlike any other performed on the Red Sox home turf. While anthems are usually performed at home plate, Sox officials positioned the Berklee group on the dirt warning track in deep center field, a spot that gave it more room to make its music.

While the group tuned up, pitcher Curt Schilling and catcher Jason Varitek stood just a few feet away, throwing warm-up tosses on the outfield grass. Okoshi—one of the greatest jazz musicians to emerge from Japan—and the Berklee group were helping kick off the 2007 edition of sports' most heated rivalry: the Red Sox vs. the Yankees, featuring two of Japan's greatest players, Boston pitcher Daisuke "Dice-K" Matsuzaka and New York outfielder Hideki Matsui. Neither played, but after the Sox scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 7-6 lead, Boston pitcher Hideki Okajima (a Kyoto, Japan native) recorded the last three outs to preserve the hometown win. From Berklee's  booming beginning to Okajima's game-ending strikeout, the Red Sox-Yankees face-off highlighted some serious Japanese talent.

Tiger Okoshi (center) leads a Berklee group in a performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park on April 20. Photo by Phil Farnsworth Tiger Okoshi's Arrangement • "The Star Spangled Banner" (Francis Scott Key) Watch (October 5, 2007)

Related Links

Media Coverage

• Japanese Band Parktakes in Dice-K Mania (New England Cable News, April 20, 2007)
• Japanese music professor set to conduct special anthem for Sox game (WHDH-TV, April 19, 2007)
• Oh, say can you cheer to a different drummer? (Boston Globe, April 19, 2007)

Berklee at Fenway

• Berklee at Fenway Gallery
• PHOTO: Sabreen Staples '07 sings anthem at ALCS opener (Yahoo! Sports, October 12, 2007)
• Berklee Hits Fenway (Berklee.edu, October 5, 2007 and April 24, 2007)
• ANNOUNCEMENT: Berklee group will play Fenway (Berklee.edu, April 12, 2007
• Oh Say Can You Sing? – Sabreen Staples at Fenway in 2006 (Christian Science Monitor, June 9, 2006)
• Faculty member Wayne Naus plays Fenway (2006)

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