Music From Japan

Commissioned Composers: Current Sounds Japan V

Commissioned Composers: Gagaku Ensemble Toki no Koe

Performers, Toki no Koe

Mayumi Miyata	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	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	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 for computer games.
Sakura Kido	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	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.

Performers, Current Sounds Japan V

Emilie-Anne Gendron	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
Christopher Gross	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 nationally and internationally including but not limited to Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Disney Hall, Darmstadt Festival, and Mostly Mozart Festival. Gross has premiered many new works by prestigious composers including Pierre Boulez, Milton Babbitt, Charles Wuorinen, Georg Friedrich Haas, Brian Ferneyhough and more. He has appeared on various labels, including Bridge, New Focus, Tzadik, and New World. In addition, he has played with the New York Philharmonic and the Riverside Symphony. 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, and more. Gross is the creator of Cello Solos Today, which commissions new works for young cellists. He received his doctoral degree from Juilliard in New York and teaches at Lehigh University.

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