20100125 Adam Rapa and Naoki Ishikawa (1)

Adam Rapa and Naoki Ishikawa

What do you get when you combine the bold and majestic sound of a trumpet with the fluid, rhythmic beat of a drum? You get none other than dynamic musical duo Adam Rapa and Naoki Ishikawa. Musicians from the start Adam and Naoki both discovered a love for music while young. As a child in Boston, Adam came under the early musical influence of his music enthusiast parents. After years of gaining appreciation for music through activities like singalongs with is mom, Adam picked up the trumpet at the age of 11. As soon as he began playing, it was full steam ahead.

Two years later, he was already performing as a professional and gaining the respect of seasoned trumpeters from far and wide. Music first intrigued Naoki while he was attending elementary school in his native Japan. There, he and his classmates learned to play the recorder and harmonica, but it wasn't until Naoki moved to America as a teenager that his interest in music turned into a full-blown zeal. Unable to communicate in English. Naoki began playing a flute his aunt had given him and decided to join his high school band.