Duo YUMENO to Pay Tribute to Late Japanese Composer
Music of Changes: Tribute to Toshi Ichiyanagi
Saturday, January 27 from 7:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
Tenri Cultural Institute – 43A W. 13th Street (between5th and 6th Avenues)
Admission: $30
Duo YUMENO—Yoko Reikano Kimura on koto and shamisen and Hikaru Tamaki on cello—and special guest pianist Vicky Chow will pay homage to the legendary composer Toshi Ichiyanagi. Ichiyanagi, who passed away in 2022, was a protégé of John Cage during the 1960s and had a profound influence on the post-war Japanese music landscape.
Presented by Duo YUMENO, the program will explore Ichiyanagi’s music, written for both traditional Japanese and Western instruments, and will celebrate his six-decade-long career. Highlights include Paraphrase for shamisen and cello (2019), which was commissioned by the duo; Time Sequence (1976), a dazzling piano solo in the minimalist style; and Linked Poems of Autumn (1990), Ichiyanagi’s tribute to the Japanese koto-song tradition that features texts by the haiku poet Matsuo Bashō. It’s sure to be an evening of provocative and brilliant contemporary music at Tenri Cultural Institute.
To purchase tickets, please visit Eventbrite.com.
Support JapanCulture•NYC by becoming a member! For $5 a month, you’ll help maintain the high quality of our site while we continue to showcase and promote the activities of our vibrant community. Please click here to begin your membership today!
KAMMERRAKU PROMISE
Chamber music by Japanese composers featuring the Cassatt Quartet with James Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi and Yoko Reikano Kimura, koto
Arts at TCI and Kyo-Shin-An Arts Present Kammerraku Promise
Sunday, October 8 from 4:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.
Tenri Cultural Institute – 43A W. 13th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues)
Admission: $25 in Advance ($30 at the Door)
Celebrate the 15th anniversary season of Kyo-Shin-Ann Arts!
Kyo-Shin-An Arts and the Cassatt String Quartet are together again, performing a special program of contemporary chamber music by three extraordinary Japanese composers, including a second commission to American Prize winner, Masatora Goya.
Program
“Tree of Life” (2023) by Masatora Goya for shakuhachi and string quartet (World premiere)
“Ai for Shakuhachi and Strings” (1978) by Minoru Miki
“Between the Leaves” (2017) by Yoko Sato for shakuhachi, koto, and string quartet
Performers
Yoko Reikano Kimura – Koto
James Nyoraku Schlefer – Shakuhachi
Cassatt String Quartet – Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, violins; Rosemary Nelis, viola; Gwen Krosnick, cello
To purchase tickets, please visit Kyo-Shin-An’s Eventbrite page.
About Kyo-Shin-An Arts
Kyo-Shin-An Arts brings Japanese instruments—specifically koto, shakuhachi, and shamisen—to Western classical music by working with established chamber ensembles, orchestras, and great individual performers to bridge two musical cultures. It introduces composers, performers, and audiences to the beauty and versatility of Japanese instruments and the virtuosity of the musicians who play them. Concerts feature a blend of KSA commissions; other World, US, and New York premieres; and traditional and contemporary music for Japanese instruments and Western repertoire.
About Cassatt String Quartet
Hailed for its “mighty rapport and relentless commitment,” the Cassatt String Quartet has performed to critical acclaim around the world since its founding in 1985, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, the Kennedy Center, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Centro National de las Artes, Maeda Hall, and Beijing’s Central Conservatory. The group’s discography includes more than forty recordings, spanning the Koch, Naxos, New World, Point, CRI, Tzadik, and Albany labels—including three discs that have been named by Alex Ross to his “10 Best Classical Recordings” feature in The New Yorker.
Arts at TCI and Kyo-Shin-An Arts Present
The excellent acoustics and intimate gallery setting of the Tenri Cultural Institute create a superb setting for listening to chamber music and offer audiences the rare opportunity to hear both traditional and contemporary music from two cultures in a setting similar to the music rooms of the courts and castles of both Europe and Japan. More than 300 years of chamber music tradition are presented throughout this series. Performances feature piano trios and string quartets from the great composers of Europe; music from Japan’s Edo period written for shamisen, koto, and shakuhachi; and contemporary music combining Western and Japanese instruments.
Support JapanCulture•NYC by becoming a member! For $5 a month, you’ll help maintain the high quality of our site while we continue to showcase and promote the activities of our vibrant community. Please click here to begin your membership today!
Four Seasons in New York with Yoko Reikano Kimura
Four Seasons in New York: Gems of Japanese Music—Vol.28
Saturday, August 5 at 4:00 p.m.
Center for Remembering and Sharing (CRS) – 123 4th Avenue (between 12th and 13th Streets)
Admission: $30
Four Seasons in New York: Gems of Japanese Music continues with a summer installment. The event will take place in the award-winning White Room.
About the Event
Acclaimed vocalist and koto and shamisen player Yoko Reikano Kimura and CRS began this concert series in the fall of 2015. As a Japanese instrumentalist, she hopes to introduce the brilliance of traditional Japanese music, which is still being passed on to future generations after many centuries. Since the first concert, Kimura has introduced more than 50 works from the classical repertoire. To see summaries of past performances, please visit Kimura’s website.
On Saturday, Kimura invites visual artist Hiroko Ohno as her special guest. Ohno’s work Galaxy: Dedicated to Endeavor will be exhibited especially for this concert.
Program
Performer: Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto, shamisen, voice)
Special guest: Hiroko Ohno (visual artist)
“Sarahi” – Composed by Kitazawa Koto; arranged by Fukakusa Kengyo
“Niijio” (“New Wave”) – Composed by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima
And more
Seating is limited, so please RSVP in advance. To make a reservation, email info@yokoreikanokimura.com and include your name and the number of tickets you would like to purchase.
Galaxy: Dedicated to Endeavor by Hiroko Ohno
About Yoko Reikano Kimura
Yoko Reikano Kimura has concertized in about 20 countries and is based in New York and Japan. The New York Times described her playing and singing as “superb.”
Her awards include the First Prize at the prestigious 10th Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition, the First Prize at the 4th Great Wall International Music Competition, and a scholarship from the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan. Following her studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts, she studied at Institute of Traditional Japanese Music, an affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Japan, where she was a faculty member until 2010. Her teachers include Kono Kameyama, Akiko Nishigata, and Senko Yamabiko, a Living National Treasure.
As a koto soloist, Kimura has performed Daron Hagen’s Koto Concerto: Genji with the Wintergreen Music Festival Orchestra, conducted by Mei-Ann Chen. As a shamisen soloist, she performed Kin’ichi Nakanoshima’s Shamisen Concerto at the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center.
Her performances have been a part of renowned opera and theater works such as Michi Wiancko’s Murasaki’s Moon, Piestro Mascagni’s Iris by American Symphony Orchestra, Yokoshi Yasuko’s Bell, Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi, and Heiner Goebbels’ Hashirigaki.
Kimura is the co-founder of Duo YUMENO with cellist Hikaru Tamaki. The duo received the Kyoto Aoyama Barock Saal Award in 2015 and were featured at Chamber Music America’s 2016 National Conference. The duo held its tenth anniversary recital at Carnegie Hall in 2019. For more information, please visit her website.
About CRS
CRS is a healing center established by president and founder Yasuko Kasaki and director and co-founder Christopher Pelham. The healing is based on A Course in Miracles (ACIM). CRS is also an event space and art center, offering support to those who bear witness to the truth, which is something that everyone is capable of doing and sharing. CRS is a safe space where you can know yourself, be yourself, and express yourself honestly without being judged. To learn more, please visit CRS’s website.
Masayo Ishigure: Koto, Bass Koto, and Shamisen
Thursday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall – 57th Street and 7th Avenue
Admission: $40 to $50
Masayo Ishigure will perform a koto and shamisen recital to commemorate the 30th anniversary of her professional career in the United States. This program offers a glimpse into the history of Japanese music and can be enjoyed by a wide range of audiences.
Performers
Masayo Ishigure: Koto, Bass Koto, and Shamisen
Zac Zinger: Shakuhachi
Nathan Koci: Piano
Noriko Tsuboi: Koto and Bass Koto
Miyabi Koto and Shamisen Ensemble
Program
Tadao Sawai – "Sakura Sakura"
Tadao Sawai – "Ginga" ("Galaxy")
Zac Zinger – Untitled
Hikaru Sawai – "Gin-yu-ka" ("Minstrel Song")
Hideaki Matsumoto – "Chizuru / Whereabouts of the Wind"
Tadao Sawai – "Flying like a Bird"
To purchase tickets, please visit Carnegie Hall’s website.
Masayo Ishigure
About Masayo Ishigure
Masayo Ishigure began playing koto and jiuta shamisen at the age of five in Gifu Prefecture and later studied under Tadao and Kazue Sawai. In 1986 she became a special research student at Sawai Koto Institute. She moved to the U.S. in 1992 to teach koto and shamisen classes at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
In 2005 she was invited to play the koto on the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning film Memoirs of a Geisha with music by John Williams, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and others. Newsweek nominated Ishigure in the magazine’s 2007 issue of 100 Japanese People the World Respects. Late prime minister Shinzo Abe recognized her as one of five Japanese women active in New York. Ishigure taught koto classes at Columbia University from 2010 through 2021, and she gives private lessons in New York City.
About the Miyabi Koto and Shamisen Ensemble
Classical and contemporary Japanese koto and shamisen ensemble “MIYABI” was founded in 1996 in New York City as a branch of the Sawai Koto Academy of Japan. Led by Ishigure, repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary koto music. The founder of Sawai Koto Academy, Tadao Sawai, is known as one of the greatest players and composers of koto music in the 20th century.
The ensemble dedicates itself to playing Tadao Sawai‘s koto music. It has played many concerts in the New York Metropolitan area, the eastern United States, Hawaii, Australia, South America, and Japan.
Yumi Kurosawa Trio at Joe’s Pub
Yumi Kurosawa Trio: Metamorphosis CD Release at Joe’s Pub
Thursday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m. (Doors open at 6:00 p.m.)
Joe’s Pub – 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place)
Admission: $25 / $15 Students
Yumi Kurosawa is one of today's most exciting soloists on Japan's national instrument, the koto. Marking the debut of her new album Metamorphosis, Kurosawa creates a transformative listening experience through her new compositions.
The Yumi Kurosawa Trio blends the violin, percussion, and koto and draws upon many musical influences to reveal Kurosawa’s abundant curiosity and remarkable capacity. Latin percussion, shakuhachi, and alto saxophone add a variety of tonal colors. The idea of borderless music is reimagined to create something unique and special.
This album recording and the world premiere of several music pieces are commissioned by Chamber Music America’s Artistic Projects program funded through the generosity of Howard Gilman Foundation. Produced by Arturo O’Farrill and Kabir Sehgal. For more information about Yumi Kurosawa, please visit her website.
Photo by Gail Hadani
Performers
Yumi Kurosawa — 20-string koto
Naho Parrini — violin
Eric Phinney — percussion
Special Guests
Carlos Maldonado — Latin percussion
Zac Zinger — shakuhachi and alto saxophone
There is a minimum two-drink or one-food order per person. To purchase tickets, please visit Joe’s Pub’s website.
Photo by Gail Hadani