One of the most vigorous young composers in Japan today, Yagisawa writes a variety of orchestral, choral and chamber music as well as works for concert band. Focused on the shrine at the center of Machu Picchu, this piece portrays the peak of the Incan empire and its tragic encounter with the Spanish conquistadors. The three dominant ideas in this piece "describe the shimmering golden city of Cuzco set in the Andes, the destructiveness of the violent invasion, and the re-emergence of Incan glory as the City in the Sky again reached for the sun." --James Huff 04:53, November 22, 2009 (UTC) (from the program notes of The Claremont Winds, submitted with permission)