Music from Japan, now in its 34th season, will bring its internationally acclaimed presentation of Japanese music to Hinton Hall in MTSU’s Wright Music Building from 1:30-3 p.m. on Sunday, March 15.
Murfreesboro is one of six stops on this year’s North American tour, which includes Washington, D.C., and New York. An award-winning nonprofit organization, Music from Japan is chaired by Hisashi Owada, a former Japanese ambassador to the United Nations and the current chief judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Owada lectured at MTSU in 2002.
“They bring the best of the best in the field every year,” says Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito, Advisor to the President and the Provost on Asian Affairs and professor emeritus of economics and finance.
This year’s “Tradition/E-novation” concert will include works for shamisen, a three-stringed traditional instrument similar to a guitar but with a much longer, slimmer neck and without frets, as well as violin and electronics.
Heading the lineup is shamisen player Mojibei Tokiwazu V, whose father and grandfather, both also shamisen players, were designated “Living National Treasures” by the Japanese government. Tokiwazu V has taught at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music since 1994 and at Waseda University Theatre Arts Museum since 2005. In 2004, he received special recognition from the National Theatre of Japan.
Violinist Mari Kimura is hailed by The New York Times as “a virtuoso playing at the edge” and the “plugged-in Paganini for the digital age” by All Music Guide. She is noted for her revolutionary technique, “subharmonics,” and for interactive performances of her works with computer-generated music. Kimura has taught a graduate class in Computer Music Performance at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York since 1998. She holds a doctorate in performance from Juilliard and has been invited to international festivals in more than 20 countries, including the Other Minds Festival in Paris, Spring in Budapest and the International Bartok Festival.
Tomomi Adachi’s recent work focuses on solo performance for voice, sensors, computer and self-made instruments, sound poetry, video installation, and workshop-style large ensemble pieces for non-professional voice and instruments. His punk-style choir, the Adachi Tomomi Royal Chorus, has recorded several of his compositions. Adachi also has performed works by composers as diverse as John Cage and Dieter Schnebel.
This year’s Music from Japan concert at MTSU is co-sponsored by the MTSU School of Music, the Office of Student Programming and the Office of the President. This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. To obtain tickets, write to mfj@mtsu.edu, indicating the number of tickets desired and the name of each recipient. Tickets may be delivered or e-mailed in an “e-voucher.”
For more information, contact Kawahito at kawahito@mtsu.edu.
