George Takei's MY LOST FREEDOM: A MEMORY Comes to Portland Japanese Garden

Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) and Portland Japanese Garden will present a special event on May 31 at 7: 00 pm at the Garden’s Mount Hood Overlook Plaza in their first-ever collaboration. Celebrating Japanese American heritage, the event will feature actor, author, and activist George Takei’s My Lost Freedom: A Memory set to music by composer/violist, Kenji Bunch. The program also includes music and performance by composer/percussionist Andy Akiho, including his 2025 Grammy-nominated work, Longing. This event is sold out. However, CMNW will offer a free Open Rehearsal with Kenji Bunch’s music for Lost Freedom at 11:00 am on Friday, May 30 at Kaul Auditorium, Reed College.

Inspired by autobiographical accounts of the incarceration of Japanese American citizens in World War II, Lost Freedom: A Memory weaves together music and spoken word in a profound exploration of a chilling time in American history. Actor, author, and activist, George Takei (Star Trek), narrates his own story as one of the many American citizens forced from their homes and incarcerated in desolate prison camps thousands of miles away. Oregon composer/violist Kenji Bunch created the music for Lost Freedom, and this poignant program will also include music by Oregon-based Japanese American composer/percussionist Andy Akiho.

Lost Freedom: A Memory is a co-presentation with Portland Japanese Garden, and is part of a weekend-long festival remembering and celebrating the rich legacies of Portland’s Japanese and Vanport communities through visual art, music, theater, and dance, in collaboration with the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, Resonance Ensemble, and The Vanport Mosaic.*

Portland Japanese Garden Executive Director Lisa Christy: "Portland Japanese Garden is proud to partner with Chamber Music Northwest to close our celebration of Asian American Native Hawai'ian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We are honored to welcome George Takei—an artist, activist, and respected member of our International Advisory Board—back to the Garden. Our organization was established in 1963 to heal the wounds from World War II and stands as a place to cultivate peace. His personal story, in which he overcame the trauma of WWII-era incarceration to become a pioneering artist and champion for cross-cultural understanding, resonates deeply here. This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to honoring the lessons of the past, strengthening our community, and moving toward a future rooted in harmony and peace."

Chamber Music Northwest Executive Director Peter Bilotta: “It is a great honor and privilege to partner with Portland Japanese Garden, George Takei, Kenji Bunch, and all of these incredible artists to share Lost Freedom with our community. Never has it been more important to remember and acknowledge this dark chapter in our shared history in order to ensure it is not forgotten, and to let the lessons learned guide us today and in the future. To do this work together, through living music and story, makes this project all the more powerful.”

Lost Freedom: A Memory was made possible by The Ronald W. Naito MD Foundation and Mr. Samuel T. Naito & Marcia Allen Naito, and concert sponsors Marlene Burns & Jon Dickenson, as well as Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portland Arts & Culture, Arts Access Fund.

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