Mari Kimura
Curator of Tradition/E-novation

Music From Japan in association with
Electronic Music Foundation presents

Tradition/ E-novation:

Shamisen, violin & computer


Sunday, March 8, 2pm

Merkin Concert Hall
129 West 67th Street
New York, NY
$20/$12 for students and seniors

Tradition/E-Novation is an event in Music From Japan's Festival 2009, beginning with Masters of Tradition featuring Mojibei Tokiwazu V and his shamisen quartet on Saturday, March 7 at 8pm.

Contact the box office at 212-501-3330 for individual tickets and festival passes, or visit the Merkin Hall website.

Merkin Hall


↓ Concert program for Tradition/E-Novation

PROGRAM

Subharmonic Partita................................................................................................................Mari Kimura

Odorimbisha......................................................................................................................Tomomi Adachi
For shamisen, voice and live electronics

Pluck-Land ............................................................................................................................Mari Kimura
For violin and interactive computer

Active Figuration....................................................................................................................Takayuki Rai
For solo violin and computer

Full Moon...............................................................................................................................Mari Takano
For violin and electronics

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Mari Kimura
Hailed as “a virtuoso playing at the edge,” composer/violinist Mari Kimura is known for her performances of interactive computer music. She has won numerous awards and performed in more than 20 international festivals. In 2007, she premiered Jean-Claude Risset's Violin Concerto with the Tokyo Symphony at Suntory Hall. Polytopia, a solo album for violin and electronics, has been recently released on the Bridge label. She is currently on the faculty at The Juilliard School.

Tomomi Adachi
Tokyo based performer/composer Tomomi Adachi has played improvised music with voice, computer and self-made instruments, and composed works for his group Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus, a punk-style choir. He has performed in Japan, Europe and US, and recorded for Naya and Tzadik labels. As one event in his involvement in the great Japanese sound poetry tradition, he performed the Japanese premiere of Kurt Schwitters's Ursonate.

Takayuki Rai
Takayuki Rai is known for his interactive computer music. He was guest composer at the Institute of Sonology in Holland, and his works have been performed at ISCM World Music Days and ICMC. His awards include first prize at the Bourges Competition (France), the Irino Prize (Japan), the Newcomp International Competition (USA), and the ICMA Commission. He is currently on the faculty at the Lancaster Institute and the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo.

Mari Takano
Mari Takano composes for electronic as well as traditional Western and Japanese instruments. Her awards include the Förderpreis der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart (Germany), Ancona Competition (Italy), and commissions from the City of Hamburg, American Embassy in Tokyo, and the Kanagawa Arts Festival. Women’s Paradise, a recent CD of her work, was described by Jean Vermeil to be “as spectacular as it is original.”

ABOUT TRADITION/E-NOVATION

Four composers combine newly developed computer technology with traditional shamisen and/or violin in four world premieres commissioned by Music From Japan. Featuring Mojibei Tokiwazu V, shamisen; Mari Kimura, violin; and Tomomi Adachi, electronics.

The shamisen, one of the most popular traditional Japanese instruments, is closely associated with Kabuki. Mojibei Tokiwazu V is deeply engaged in Kabuki theatre, an art form that his family has been steeped in for several generations. Yet his interests go far beyond tradition. He brings the shamisen into the forefront of the 21st century.

The shamisen is used in ensemble with interactive computer and violin in Mari Kimura’s Pluck-Land and in performer-composer Tomomi Adachi’s Odorimbisha, a live electronics environment. Ms. Kimura, a violinist, will also perform Mari Takano’s Full Moon and Takayuki Rai’s Active Figuration, both employing state-of- the-art computer technology in performance.

A Q&A session with the commissioned composers will take place after the concert.

· · ·

For an interview with curator, composer, violinist Mari Kimura, go to Arts Electric, EMF's online journal.

Arts Electric