Joe Hisaishi brings Studio Ghibli magic to San Francisco

I love the music of Studio Ghibli. Actually, I think that “love” is an understatement. Joe Hisaishi, the composer and longtime collaborator of Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki, was the number two most streamed artist of my 2023 Spotify Wrapped. As a student, I worked on my problem sets with “Ghibli Winter Jazz” and “Ghibli Piano Medley” on YouTube in the background, playing them on repeat until I had them memorized. If you picked a random song from a Ghibli score, I’m fairly certain that I could tell you which movie it came from ...