Osamu Kawakami

Osamu Kawakami (b.1979, Tokyo) holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in composition from Tokyo College of Music. There, he studied under Joji Yuasa, Shin-ichiro Ikebe, Toshio Hosokawa, Noriko Hisada, and Hiroyuki Yamamoto. His work is recognizable for its fresh diatonic and melodic resonance, as well as grooves pulled from outside the sphere of classical music. His pieces have been performed by such revered performers as Mayumi Miyata (sho), Toshiya Suzuki (recorder) and Vox Humana. In 2003, his composition TILT received the “JSCM New Composers Award.” In addition to being a composer, he also performs as an improviser on the cello and piano. Many of Kawakami’s pieces are named after living creatures, from which he derives much inspiration. These works have been performed internationally, including at the Takefu International Music Festival in Japan (2009/12), the Royaumont Composition Seminar in France (2010), Hiroshima Happy New Ear X (2011), and the Daegu International Contemporary Music Festival in South Korea (2014). A work for sho solo, written by Kawakami for Miyata, was presented by Music From Japan as part of their Festival 2015 in Washington D.C. He is currently a member of Ensemble Contemporary, Honkadori Project and Tokyo Ensemble Factory.

Sukeyasu Shiba (commissioned in 2008)

Sukeyasu Shiba (1935-2019) was a composer, gagaku performer and founding member as well as long time musical director of Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble. He was born into the Shiba family, a branch of the Koma clan of gagaku musicians associated with the temple-shrine complex of Kofuku-ji/Kasuga Taisha in Nara for more than a thousand years. He served as a gagaku performer at the Department of Music of the Imperial Household Agency for 27 years before leaving the post in 1984. While in the department, he specialized in the fue and the biwa, as well as bugaku dance. During his tenure with Reigakusha, Mr. Shiba was committed to the international performance of both traditional and modern gagaku music, as well as its performance in Japanese primary and junior high schools. His 2010 concert entitled Sukeyasu Shiba: The Gagaku Universe, was presented by Music From Japan for its 35th anniversary, and garnered great praise.

Throughout his life Mr. Shiba participated in numerous international music festivals such as the Festival d’Autumne in Paris, the Lincoln Center Festival” in New York, the Tanglewood Festival, the Vienna Modern, and the Ultima Festival in Oslo. The Ministry of Music designated him a leading artist of traditional Japanese music and he was honored with the Idemitsu Music Award in 1997. In 2003, he received the Japan Art Academy Prize, as well as the Imperial Award from the same organization. In 2009, he was awarded with Japan’s oldest award, The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays. In 2017, he received the extremely prestigious Order of Culture Award.

As well as performing, Mr. Shiba devoted his energies to education and was a professor of music at Tokyo University of the Arts and Kunitachi Music College. He dedicated much of his research to reviving ancient Japanese musical forms and was an important composer and scholar in the reconstruction of lost parts of the gagaku repertory.

Tetsuya Yamamoto

Tetsuya Yamamoto was born 1989 in Nagano and currently lives in Tokyo. He holds masters’ degrees in Composition from the Kunitachi College of Music and the National Conservatory of Lyon, and an additional masters in Orchestral Conducting from the Royal Conservatory of Mons ARTS². He has studied with Motoharu Kawashima, Michio Kitazume, Philippe Hurel and Laurent Goossaert, among others. He is a recipient of many composition awards, including First Prize at the 34^th Young Musician International Competition in Italy, the 4^th Andrée Charlier Composition Competition in Belgium, and the composition category of the 9th International Piano Competition in Smederevo. His works have been performed in several festivals, including the Japan Saxophone Festival (2017), Festival Osmose in Belgium (2022), and Avanti! Summer Sounds Festival in Finland (2023). In addition, his work was presented by Music From Japan as part of their Festival 2017. Currently, he is a member of the Association Franco-Japonaise de la Musique Contemporaine and a faculty member of composition and music theory at Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo.

Mariko Endo

Born in Tokyo in 1994, Mariko Endo began studying piano at age 6 and composition at age 11. Over the years, she studied composition with Naoto Ohmasa, Osamu Katsuki, Teruaki Suzuki, and Ikeda Tetsumi and received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In addition, she studied piano under Naomi Mukae and Iku Miwa. Endo is the recipient of a number of awards, including the top prize awarded in the 22nd TIAA Competition Solo Division (2017) selection for the 43rd ICMC in Shanghai (2017) 1st Prize for the Piano Arrangement Audition held by PTNA and music magazine Monthly Piano (2019) and Finalist in the Yuji Koseki Composition Competition, Fukushima City (2022). In 2016 she was honored as a scholarship participant in the 16th International Takefu Composition Workshop. Endo currently serves as a lecturer at the Toho Gakuen School of Music and is a member of The Japan Federation of Composers.

Noel Hiyamizu

Born in 1997 in Wakayama, Japan, Noel Hiyamizu has both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Tokyo University of the Arts. He has studied composition with Takayuki Morikawa and Junmei Suzuki. His extensive knowledge of Japanese traditional instruments has led him to feature them in many of his compositions. A finalist in the 30th Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition and second place winner in the 89th Music Competition of Japan, Orchestra Division, Hiyamizu’s piece Nurse Log (for 17-string koto and chamber ensemble) garnered the Grand Prize at the Tokyo University of the Arts Festival.  In 2021 and 2022 he was awarded the Hashimoto City, Wakayama Cultural Prize. In 2023, one of his pieces was chosen to be used as Air Japan’s new boarding music. Hiyamizu’s 2022 work for koto ensemble was played on the Japanese public television show Performing Arts of Japan. He is currently a part-time lecturer at Showa University of Music and Showa College of Music.

Makoto Ohata

Makoto Ohata was born in 1993 in Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture. At a very young age he became familiar with Japanese traditional music through his grandfather, a flute player and mask-carver. He began studying piano at age 11 and received an undergraduate degree in Music Education from Saitama University followed by a graduate degree in composition and musical research from Tokyo University of the Arts, where he graduated with honors. Ohata has studied composition with Seiya Suzuki, Kunitaka Kokaji and Misato Mochizuki. He has won several composition prizes, including the TUA Miyata Ryohei Prize (2019), TUA Yoshio Hasegawa Prize (2020), and TUA Acanthus Prize (2022). In addition, his composition “JINK,” which is based on the folk performances of his home town of Tome City, was performed by the New Japan Philharmonic, conducted by Yoichi Sugiyama. The piece was nominated for the 32nd Yasushi Akutagawa Musical Composition Prize. Ohata’s current compositional explorations are focused on synthesizing folk performance traditions with contemporary forms of electronic and improvised music. His work has been presented throughout Japan, including at the Sai no Kuni Saitama Arts Theater, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo University of the Arts Performing Hall, and Iwate Kokaido.

Mayumi Miyata, ensemble director and sho solo

Mayumi Miyata was one of the first to introduce the sho to a global audience. After graduating from the Kunitachi College of Music, she began to study gagaku and in 1979 began performing with the National Theatre of Japan. She has since performed sho recitals throughout the world, including New York, Paris, Milan, Vienna, and has been invited to several festivals including the Darmstadt International Summer Course, Festival Extasis (Geneva), Festival d’automne de Paris, and Akiyoshidai International Contemporary Music Seminar & Festival. Miyata has premiered works by preeminent composers including John Cage, Tōru Takemitsu, Paul Méfano, and Toshio Hosokawa. In 1992, she premiered each of John Cage’s pieces for sho and percussion in Perugia, Italy. That same year, she performed Takemitsu’s An Autumn Ode with the Saito Kinen Orchestra under the conduction of Seiji Ozawa. In 1997 she performed in the premiere of Helmut Lachenmann’s powerful Das Mädchen Mit Den Schwefelhölzern in Hamburg. In 1998, Miyata performed the Japanese National Anthem at the opening for the Nagano Olympic Games and in 2005 she performed on three songs for Bjork’s soundtrack to Matthew Barney’s film Drawing Restraint 9. That same year, Miyata was appointed as cultural emissary by the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan, as which she toured Europe and gave concerts and workshops, as well as collaborated with local artists and composers. In 2012, to celebrate his centennial, Miyata performed John Cage’s composition One⁹in its completion, a performance which earned her the Keizo Saji Award. In 2018, she received a Purple Ribbon Medal of Honor, an award given out by the Japanese government that celebrates excellence in the arts and academia. In 2021, she received the Japan Foundation Award.

Hanako Nakamura, sho

Hanako Nakamura studied at the Kunitachi College of Music. She studied the shō with Mayumi Miyata and Tadaaki Ōno, gakubiwa with Kahoru Nakamura and gagaku ensemble performance with Sukeyasu Shiba. She has been a member of the Reigakusha ensemble since 2001 and in 2006 was a trainee in the program for upcoming artists sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. As a member of Reigakusha she has performed at the National Theatre in Tokyo and overseas. She is a member of the gagaku ensembles Zanmai Nakamura Sanchi, and Shogirls, the latter of which aims to convey the beauty of gagaku to a wider audience. Nakamura has recently begun to engage in multimedia collaborations, including working with leading visual artists Jun Kurumisawa and Yoshihito Nakanishi. She also performed as one of the three featured wind instrumentalists in a ballet composed by Maki Ishii and choreographed by Jiří Kylián. In 2017, Nakamura organized and produced a concert entitled Hanamiyabi, which featured sho, ryūteki, shamisen and koto performers. The program was distinctive for its inclusion of both classical and contemporary works. In September 2018 she travelled to Seoul at the invitation of Ensemble TIMF, one of Asia’s leading contemporary music ensembles.

Moriyuki Shimeno, ryuteki

Born in Oita Prefecture, Moriyuki Shimeno began his ryuteki studies at an early age and later studied yokobue under Sukeyasu Shiba. Shimeno went on to attend Tokyo University of the Arts, studying gagaku in the music department and graduating with proficiency in yokobue, fue, samai dance, Nara and Heian period song, and biwa and tsuzumi drums. Shimeno has received the Ataka Prize, the Acanthus Music Prize, and the Tokyo Dosei-Kai New Performers Prize. He has performed in concerts at the National Theatre and with famed musician Hideki Togi, both domestically and internationally. In addition, he has worked with several educational institutions as a performer and a director. More recently, he has performed as a classical dancer and biwa player. Shimeno has presented introductions to gagaku and done performances on gagaku instruments on programs such as NHK ETV’s Japanese Performing Arts and Tae Kimura’s Ima Sara Desu Ka. Not limiting himself to classical music performance, he has also worked as a composer of computer game music.

Sakura Kido, koto

Sakura Kido learned koto as a young child from her mother. At age 10, she began taking lessons in Ikuta style koto and at the age of 14 began studying Jiuta Sangen, under Mika Noda. At an early age, she appeared on NHK ETV’s Japanese Performing Arts. Kido graduated in 2022 from the Tokyo University of the Arts Department of Traditional Japanese Music, with a specialization in Ikuta style Koto. While still in university, she received the Miyagi Prize, and was able to go on to pursue a research-based postgraduate degree, which she used to study works for koto and gagaku, with a particular focus on elements of gagaku used in the traditional Ikuta style. Upon graduating, she was awarded the Mayor of Toride prize. Kido presently teaches at Miyagi Sha and is an active member of ensembles Miyagi Kai, Shido Kai, Mori no Kai, and Dosei Kai.

Yoshie Kunimoto, hichiriki

Yoshie Kunimoto is a graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts Department of Traditional Japanese Music, where she majored in Gagaku. Her hichiriki instructors included Susumu Miura, Kenji Takakuwa, and Hideki Togi. She’s recorded on several multimedia scores including Super Kabuki II’s Shinban Oguri and the video game Monster Hunter Wilds. She has also performed internationally, including in China, Mongolia, Cambodia, and South America, as well as in Australia as part of Tim Hecker’s World Tour. She is a regular member of Reigakusha Ensemble. Kunimoto is a hichiriki instructor with Mejiro Joso Kai, Shonan Shoga Kai, the NHK Cultural Center and Musashino Gagaku Kyoshitsu.

Yoshiyuki Izaki, biwa

A native of Tokyo, gagaku musician Yoshiyuki Izaki performs on both biwa and yokobue and also dances samai. His gagaku career dates back to his first year in high school. Izaki attended Tokyo University of the Arts (TUA) where he studied yokobue under Minami Echigo, ancient Japanese song under Masasue Togi, and samai under Takaaki Iwanami. After graduating he studied yokobue under Sukeyasu Shiba. In 2009, Izaki served as part time Lecturer at TUA. As a member of Reigakusha, he has performed internationally, including in the US, England, France, China and South Korea. In Japan, he has performed at venues such as the National Theatre and festivals including but not limited to the Cultural Ministry’s International Festival and the Saito Memorial Festival. In recent years Izaki has expanded his activity to the film and tv world, recording yokobue for scores including HBO’s Shogun, in addition to other projects in genres beyond gagaku.

photo by Steve Riskind

Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin

Lauded by the New York Times as a “brilliant soloist” and by The Strad for her “marvelous and lyrical playing,” violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron enjoys a versatile career based in New York City. She is a member (and concertmaster) of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; the Momenta Quartet, currently quartet-in-residence at Binghamton University; and has been on the roster of the Marlboro Music Festival and the touring Musicians from Marlboro since 2011. Gendron appears frequently with Talea Ensemble, A Far Cry, New Asia Chamber Music Society, Sejong, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Ms. Gendron has served as concertmaster of the Iris Collective, Sejong, and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, among others. She is a founding member of Ensemble Échappé, a new-music sinfonietta, as well as the Gamut Bach Ensemble, in residence with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Born in the U.S. to Japanese and French-Canadian parents, Ms. Gendron was trained at the Juilliard School where her teachers were Won Bin Yim, Dorothy DeLay, David Chan, and Hyo Kang. She holds a B.A. in Classics from Columbia University (magna cum laude and with Phi Beta Kappa honors), and a Master of Music degree and the coveted Artist Diploma from Juilliard.

Chrisopher Gross, cello

Cellist Christopher Gross’ performances have been praised by The New York Times (“beautifully meshed readings….lustrous tone”) and The Strad Magazine (“…the tone of Gross’ cello enveloped the crowd [as he] showed energy and intonational accuracy, even when racing around the fingerboard”). He is a founding member of the Talea Ensemble, a member of the Da Capo Chamber Players, and has appeared at venues and festivals throughout the US and Europe including Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Disney Hall, Darmstadt Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Wien Modern, the Composers Conference and many others. As a soloist and ensemble member his premieres of new works are numerous, including works by Pierre Boulez, Milton Babbitt, Charles Wuorinen, Georg Friedrich Haas, Brian Ferneyhough, Olga Neuwirth, James Dillon, Augusta Read Thomas, and many others. He has appeared on recordings on various labels, including Bridge, New Focus, Tzadik, and New World. As an orchestral musician, he has played with the New York Philharmonic and the Riverside Symphony. An active educator, he is a Teaching Artist with the New York Philharmonic and has given classes and lectures at Harvard University, Peabody Conservatory, Sydney Conservatory, Cleveland Cello Society, Brooklyn College, and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He is also the creator of Cello Solos Today (www.cellosolostoday.org), which commissions new works for young cellists and creates online educational resources. He received his doctoral degree from Juilliard in New York and teaches at Lehigh University.

photo by Manuela Rana

Roberta Michel, flute

Brooklyn-based flutist Roberta Michel is dedicated to the music of our time. Praising her “extreme adventurousness,” New York Concert Review said she “riveted with her performance, inspiring one to want a repeated hearing.” Michel is the Co-artistic Director of Wavefield and a member of Da Capo Chamber Players and PinkNoise.

A founding member of Duo RoMi and Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Michel has also performed with: Ecce Ensemble, Portland String Quartet, Newspeak, SEM Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Argento, Iktus, Wordless Music Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble LPR, and Cygnus Ensemble among others. Recent venues include: Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tulley Hall, Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center, Roulette, Issue Project Room, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She can be heard on New Dynamic, Innova, Tzadik, and Meta Records. Michel has commissioned and premiered hundreds of new works and has worked with many notable composers of our day.

Michel holds degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder, SUNY-Purchase College, and the City University of New York Graduate Center. Her teachers include Robert Dick, Tara O’Connor, and Alexa Still. She currently teaches at Brooklyn College, Sarah Lawrence College, and at her private studio in Brooklyn. robertamichel.com

Madison Greenstone, clarinet

Madison Greenstone is a clarinetist, writer, and member of TAK Ensemble. Their solo practice, Exstatic Resonances, explores phenomenological, material and spatial expressivities of sound through richly noisy timbral actions. Madison performs across the US and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician.

Keve Wilson, oboe

Keve Wilson skipped math as a kid to practice Irish jigs and reels instead. She recently performed the New York premiere of the Ruth Gipps Oboe Concerto, the Bach Double Oboe/Violin Concerto with Emerson String Quartet violinist Eugene Drucker for the Berkshire Bach Festival, and wrapped up production of the final musical by Stephen Sondheim Here We Are on Broadway. Wilson recreated the Mitch Miller oboe solos from Charlie Parker with Strings at both Birdland and Jazz at Lincoln Center, as well as the iconic oboe solos of The Carpenters at 54 Below. She has played 21 Broadway shows and inspires visiting high school band and orchestra students from around the country with her original show Believe NYC—From the Band Room to Broadway. A winner of Concert Artists Guild and graduate of Eastman School of Music, Wilson studied oboe with Richard Killmer and lives in NYC with her husband Kerry and Portuguese water dog Bugsy.

Nicolee Kuester, horn

Brooklyn-based horn player, writer, and multidisciplinary performer Nicolee Kuester divides her time between experimental music and The Older Stuff.  She has most recently performed in groups and festivals including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, and The Knights (NYC); Ensemble Intercontemporain (Paris); Alarm Will Sound (St Louis); the Lucerne Festival (Switzerland); and the Marlboro Music Festival (Vermont). She is a co-founder of MEANINGLESS WORK, a performance series that happily meanders between sounds, performance art, text, and movement theater. Nicolee holds undergraduate degrees in horn performance and creative writing from Oberlin College & Conservatory and graduate degrees in contemporary music performance from UC San Diego.

photo by Peter Gannushkin

Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon

The Wire magazine places Schoenbeck in the “tiny club of bassoon pioneers” at work in contemporary music today and the New York Times has called her “riveting, mixing textural experiments with a big, confident sound.” Schoenbeck promotes the bassoon as a colorful and flexible voice in both her own work and in collaboration as an improviser, interpreter and composer. She has been involved in many projects including Anthony Braxton’s 12(+1)tet, Henry Threadgill’s multi-media works, the International Contemporary Ensemble, SEM, Wayne Horvitz’s Gravitas Quartet, Ghost Train Orchestra and the Michael Leonhart Orchestra. She has performed at major venues and festivals throughout North America and Europe and can be heard on dozens of music recordings and film soundtracks including on Matrix Reloaded and on her self-titled record released in 2021 to critical acclaim on Pyroclastic Records. Schoenbeck received her BFA from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. She is currently on faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and adjunct faculty with Brooklyn College.

Samuel Budish, percussion

Samuel Budish is a Kingston, NY-based percussionist who actively performs in a wide variety of musical traditions. He regularly works with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He has appeared with Orpheus, The Knights, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York City Opera, American Ballet Theatre, Vermont Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. Budish was a member of the onstage early music band for the Broadway productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III and has also performed with Les Arts Florissants, Jordi Savall, Barokksolistene, New York Baroque Incorpoated, and the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra. Dedicated to the music of today, he has premiered works by David Fulmer, John Aylward, Jessie Montgomery, Noriko Koide, Molly Herron, David Hertzberg and Andy Akiho, among many others, and is a founding member of Ensemble Echappe. A passionate music educator, Budish has taught dozens of students and currently works with Bridge Arts and Education in the Hudson Valley and with Project: Music Heals Us around the world. Mr. Budish received his BM and MM from The Juilliard School.

Taka Kigawa, piano

Since first winning First Prize in the prestigious 1990 Japan Music Foundation Piano Competition in Tokyo, Taka Kigawa has earned international recognition as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. Praised by outlets including the New York Times and the New Yorker Magazine, Kigawa has been described as a “phenomenon” and an “extraordinary pianist” (NYT), and a “stupendous virtuoso” (La Nación). His New York City recital in 2010 was chosen by the Times as one of the best concerts of the year, while his 2014 Buenos Aires recital was also described by La Nación as among the year’s best. Kigawa has performed extensively as a recitalist and soloist, with appearances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Cité de la Musique and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Plau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, among many other venues. His repertoire varies widely, from the baroque to the avant-garde and he has collaborated with such renowned musicians as Pierre Boulez, Myung-Whun Chung and Jonathan Nott. In 2013 he premiered the last solo piano piece of jazz legend Yusef Lateef. He holds a Masters from the Juilliard School of Music and is currently a Steinway Artist. He resides in New York City.

Miyuki Shiraishi

Musicologist Miyuki Shiraishi obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in musicology from Tokyo University of the Arts. She specializes in 20^th century music beginning with John Cage and in recent years has researched the development of music criticism in Japan during the Meiji Period. She is the recipient of the 20^th Hidekazu Yoshida Award for John Cage: Konton dewa-naku Anarchy (John Cage: The Music of Anarchy, Musashino Art University Press). Her essays include “The Beginnings of Music Criticism in Early Meiji-Period Newspapers: On Fukuchi Genichiro’s Editorial in the Tokyo-Nichinichi,” “The Formation of Japanese Music Criticism in the Mid-Meiji Era: An Analysis of the Gaku-hyo, Music Reviews of the Yomiuri Shimbun in 1898,” and “Document: Japanese Musicircus.” Currently, she is a Professor at Musashino Art University.