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Flutist Ron Korb (left) and cellist Rachel Mercer (right) on their connection to Kimiko’s Pearl and hope for the lasting impact of the album and ballet. Photo of Ron Korb courtesy of the artist. Photo of Rachel Mercer credit Bo Huang.

NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Ont. — Kimiko’s Pearl explored the Japanese Canadian internment and its generational impacts in a way it has never been told before—ballet. Music and dance brought a family’s story over four generations to life for two magical evenings at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in June 2024.

The magic of Kimiko’s Pearl continued with the album release in September 2025, featuring composer Kevin Lau’s original full-length score from the ballet. The album is nominated for two Juno Awards, Classical Album of the Year (Small Ensemble) and Classical Composition of the Year. The awards will be presented at the end of March.  

Commissioned and produced by Bravo Niagara, the ballet follows teenage Kimiko, who discovers a forgotten trunk with a diary and other precious keepsakes. Through music and dance, her family’s story appears before her, from immigrating to Canada in 1917 and settling as berry farmers in Mission, B.C., to surviving the internment and rebuilding their lives in Toronto after the war.  

The story, written by Emmy-winning Howard Reich, is inspired by the true story of the Ayukawa family—the family of Bravo Niagara co-founders and mother-daughter team Christine Mori and Alexis Spieldenner. To tell this story, Mori and Spieldenner assembled a world-class team of creatives, like award-winning Canadian composer Lau, sound designer Aaron Tsang, and a quartet of renowned musicians.  

The album features two Japanese Canadian musicians, flutist Ron Korb and cellist Rachel Mercer, who perform alongside harpist Mariko Anraku and violinist Conrad Chow.    

“It’s a great honour [to be nominated], and I really feel like this particular album is very significant to me because it’s about the Japanese internment, which is something that all of my family on my mother’s side experienced personally,” Korb tells Nikkei Voice in an interview.   

Born in Toronto, Korb is an award-winning flutist, composer, lyricist, and music producer whose work is often inspired by exploring his multicultural ancestry and a lifetime of global travel. Korb has extensively toured North America, Europe, Central America, Australia, and Asia.   

“The Junos are special because it’s your peers that vote,” says Mercer. “So that aspect is also very special, that you’re recognized by your peers and they’re acknowledging the work that you put in.” 

Born in Edmonton, Mercer is the Principal Cello of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across five continents. Mercer performs with the St. John-Mercer-Park Trio, among many other ensembles, including the Juno Award-winning Made In Canada Ensemble.  

When Mori and Spieldenner first reached out to the musicians in 2020, it was an easy yes for Mercer to step into the project. Mercer has known and performed pieces by composer Kevin Lau for over a decade. And it was clear that Mori and Spieldenner were passionate about this project; it was a story they wanted to tell, and they were going to do so without holding anything back.  

“I love the music; the story is part of me. There’s just no question that I would want to be a part of that. And I know Bravo Niagara. I know what they do. I understand that they have the passion, the means, and the will to make it happen,” says Mercer. “When there is that passion, you just know that everything that they’re doing is coming from such an honest place.”  

Kimiko’s Pearl brought together a variety of talented artists and professionals at the top of their careers, from composer to choreographer, musicians, dancers, and artists, down to the album cover, working with Grammy-winning graphic designer Jeri Heiden and featuring original artwork from Norman Takeuchi, C.M. Working with this team has felt like a “dream project,” says Mercer.  

The project also felt personal for many of the artists and creatives involved, who had either direct or indirect connections to the story, or left with a deeper understanding of Japanese Canadian identity.  

The beautifully crafted LP Record of Kimiko’s Pearl. Photo courtesy: Bravo Niagara.

“I think with each person that works on [Kimiko’s Pearl], they take away part of the story, and they understand in a deeper way…And it’s just very gratifying to work on something like this that’s been so much a part of you,” says Korb.  

For both Korb and Mercer, this project felt important to take on because of their Japanese Canadian identities and personal connections to the history explored in the ballet.  

For Mercer, a Yonsei, mixed-race Japanese Canadian, she learned about the internment and her family’s experience during the war directly from her family. Her family was forcibly uprooted and interned in New Denver and Slocan, but her grandfather and great uncles, who spoke out against families being separated, were sent to the prisoner of war camp in Angler.  

“Growing up as a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian, my family talked [about the past]. I know a lot of the stories because I would sit with my grandmother in her last 10 years and hear her stories. We all knew the story in my generation [of the family],” says Mercer.  

Working on Kimiko’s Pearl was a chance to learn about another family’s experience. Mercer found similarities and throughlines between the stories, but also discovered how different some families’ experiences were. While her family openly shared their stories, there were other families that did not or could not share their stories with younger generations.  

“It’s always a chance to go a little deeper into that side, especially knowing that people maybe didn’t grow up hearing about things or don’t have boxes full of letters or photos from the time,” says Mercer.   

For Korb, who is a Sansei, mixed-race Japanese Canadian, he grew up hearing his mother, aunts, and uncles talk about the war and internment during family gatherings. His maternal family had two restaurants and a three-story house in Vancouver until their property, businesses, and possessions were taken, and the family was forcibly uprooted to New Denver.  

“Every Thanksgiving, every Christmas, the uncles and aunties would be talking about their experience of the internment. There were happy times too, sometimes they could sneak away and go fishing and this and that, they made their lives,” says Korb. “The story is something that I think still is not really known by the Canadian public at large.”  

For Korb, he hopes that as listeners explore the music, they will be inspired to learn more about Japanese Canadian history. Korb can trace his family tree in Japan back generations to the year 614; his grandmother comes from a samurai lineage, but working on this project sparked the inspiration to explore his family history and Japanese roots even further.  

While Korb’s mother openly shared her wartime memories with him and the family, he realized she didn’t share her story with her non-Nikkei social groups. The internment left a legacy of collective pain seen in the loss of stories, language, culture, and traditions, he says. Seeing Kimiko’s Pearl being told on a mainstream stage, and the album receiving national recognition from his peers, has felt healing and cathartic.  

While the events of Japanese Canadian internment happened over 80 years ago, the story and themes of injustice and resilience continue to ring true today. Kimiko’s Pearl feels like a warning call of how quickly human rights can be taken away.  

“My mother was born in Prince Rupert. And it shows you how rights can be taken away so easily,” says Korb.  

While Kimiko’s Pearl explores a very dark moment in Canadian history and the lingering effects it had on a family and community, using art, like music and dance, makes these histories more approachable. Art has the potential to connect to people in different ways and spark compassion and empathy.  

“Getting on the stage and playing music, you’re not a doctor saving lives, but you still have the power and potential to move people,” says Mercer. “We’re hopefully moving people or putting them in a state where they feel more generous, or they feel better, they feel happier, they feel some connection. And then when we go out into the world, we’re just a little more sensitive, which seems like a good thing.”  

While the music of Kimiko’s Pearl tells listeners a powerful story, the music itself is also just beautiful to listen to, weaving together Japanese and Western elements. Lau created music that tells a story, but can also just be enjoyed.  

Kimiko’s Pearl explored the Japanese Canadian story, not just through the direct experience, but in how the trauma trickles down through generations of a family. The ballet, presented on a main stage, and now the album, available on major music streaming services, shares this story with the wider public.   

The Juno nominations introduce new audiences to Kimiko’s Pearl, if not the deeper story behind the ballet, then the beautiful music created by an incredibly talented group of musicians, artists, and creatives. The Juno nominations highlight Kimiko’s Pearl on a national level, to hopefully become a part of the collective Canadian story and understanding.  

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To learn more about Kimiko’s Pearl, visit www.kimikospearl.com. 

Learn more about Ron Korb at www.ronkorb.com.

Learn more about Rachel Mercer at www.rachelmercercellist.com.