The Aurora-Japanese Language Scholarship Foundation holds major benefit concerts for twenty years to raise funds for scholarships of Japanese language teachers in the U.S.
In 2019, the Aurora Foundation features flower artist and flower business owner Nicholai Bergmann and pianist Makiko Hirata for a piano concert and a flower arrangement performance as a substitute for annual Aurora Benefit Concert.
The Benefit Awards Luncheon, Auction & Mini Concert / Performance will be held on Sunday, October 27, from 12:00pm at the Riviera Country Club, 1250 Capri Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.
Benefit tickets are $200 per seat, $2,000 per table. For ticket information, call Jeff Yamazaki at (310) 291-1177, Akiko Agishi at (323) 243-3243, email aurorafoundation@usa.net, visit http://www.jlsf-aurora.org.
Denmark-born Nicholai Bergman is one of Japan’s most recognizable flower artists, whose name is synonymous with floral design. Originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, Bergmann’s work in Japan has given floristry a new dimension, pushing it further the fashion and design worlds.
His exceptional eye for color, form, and balance has allowed him to collaborate on a range of design projects with some of the world’s most prominent design houses.
His business entity Nicholai Bergmann Flowers & Design is now an internationally sought after name for design collaboration projects, product launches, event architecture and consultancy, as well as special events and wedding design.
Bergmann came to Japan for the first time in 1998 when he was 19 years. A few years later, he was working at a small flower shop in Omote Sando, Minami Aoyama area in Tokyo. When this flower shop received an order to provide 600 stocks of rose at a promotional event, Bergmann invented flower boxes to save a space to store flowers in the small flower shop.
Today, flower boxes are ubiquitous in Japan. But 20 years ago, Bergmann was the first provider of these kind of flower boxes. The sale of his flower boxes was the first step of his success in flower business in Japan.
Preserved flowers are also highlight in Bergmann’s boutiques. Grown and processed in Columbia, South America, preserved flowers last at least three years. One stock of preserved flowers costs $50 – $70.
Nicholai Bergmann Flowers & Design operates 12 boutiques in Japan, 1 boutique in Seoul, South Korea, and the company opens its 14th and the flagship store in Los Angeles near Beverly Hills. His company hires 250 people worldwide.
Makiko Hirata is an international pianist and recording artist. Hirata calls herself “Doctor Pianist” for a mission to promote music and musicians as healing agents in this world.
As a consultant to Houston Methodist Hospital’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine, she collaborates with researchers to quantify the benefit of music. Believing in the power of music to encourage empathy, she serves a US-Japan Leadership Program’s Scott M. Johnson Fellow.
Hirata is currently authoring a book on her triumph over a fifteen-year battle against stage fright, stereotypes, and sexual harassment as a young Japanese pianist navigating the classical music industry. Hirata is a Shigeru Kawai artist. https://MusicalMakiko.com