I have a couple koto performances coming up in February. Here are the details.
Friday February 3rd, 2012
The first is February 3rd in Hillsboro at the Cultural Arts Center. I will be performing a piece called Yume no Wa with my teacher, Mitsuki Dazai, and some of her other students. This piece is really cool. It’s very modern and does not sound like traditional Japanese music at all. It’s very rhythmic and minimalistic – which are two musical styles I love.
My teacher will also be performing her own music. I don’t know exactly what she’s planning, but she’s an amazing koto player and doesn’t disappoint.
Saturday February 18th, 2012
This performance will be in Eugene for the Asian Celebration at the Lane County Fairgrounds. I don’t yet know what time we’ll be playing though. This performance will be with my teacher again and another student, Ariyon (who is very talented). We will be performing Yume no Wa again as a trio and I will be doing a duet with my teacher by the same composer. The duet, Okoto, is another modern piece that blends Japanese styles and contemporary Western art music.
We performed at the Asian Celebration last year and it was a lot of fun. The Asian Celebration is like a giant bazaar of booths with people from all over Asia.
Mitsuki Dazai
If you’re interested in koto at all, I’d highly recommend checking out my teacher at either of these performance or at her website: http://www.thinkvideo.com/kotomelodies
I also recommend her album, Autumn. This album contains both classical and modern koto pieces. She recently released another album, Far Away… Romances for Koto (iTunes link), with pianist Michael Hoppe. The album is good, but doesn’t feature traditional koto pieces.
Anyway, I hope you can make it to one of the performances. If not, there will eventually be more in the future.
