Instruments of a Beating Heart” follows a group of first graders in Japan who form an orchestra to play Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” as part of a welcoming ceremony for the incoming class of 6-year-olds.

Japan had lived in relative isolation from the outside world. American gunboat diplomacy, instigated by Commodore Perry in 1853, opened up Japan for trade with the West. The Japanese did not wish to ...