Hosted by: Rita Ueda, Vancouver Composer, Canada Council Jules Legere Prize Winner 2022
November 16, 2023
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7:00 PM
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9:00 PM
RHM & VICO Music of the World: Concert Series Sounds from Far Away – Japanese Traditional Instruments
Roedde House Museum and Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra is pleased to present “Sounds from Far Away” with visiting artists from Japan performing on virtually unchanged instruments from circa 700 AD – the sho (reed mouth organ), koto (13 string table harp) and shakuhachi (bamboo flute).
This one night only concert is an aural feast of Japanese music both traditional and contemporary. The meditative sparse natural sounds of silk strings and bamboo reeds make a representative display of peacefulness, focus, and precision. The concert will be hosted by Vancouver composer Rita Ueda, Canada Council Jules Legere Prize Winner 2022.
Join us in this unique intimate experience of chamber music in the Roedde House Parlour and enjoy a light refreshment in our dining room after for a cosy autumn evening.
Reison Kuroda (Shakuhachi) 黒田 鈴尊 / 尺八奏者Reison studied under Reibo Aoki (Shakuhachi player nationally designated as a Living National Treasure) and Shoji Aoki in Japan. In 2018, he won the highest award at World Shakuhachi Competition in London. In 2019, he was appointed as a “Japan Cultural Envoy” and performed in 16 cities in 6 countries around the world. He has been pursuing “the present and infinite possibilities of the shakuhachi” by organizing a concert by himself, which was commissioned by composers of his generation. Reison is a rare talent working on expanding the possibilities of Shakuhachi through a wide variety of Genres of music, Classic to modern, Jazz and Improvisation.
Miyama McQueen-Tokita (koto) マクイーン時田深山 / 箏奏者Miyama McQueen-Tokita is a koto and bass koto player and improviser. Fusing Japanese traditions with new ideas that are relevant to the present day, she performs contemporary works, improvisation and original music. She is known as a musician who is free and expressive, with a solid traditional foundation, which has led to collaborations with high-profile artists within Japan and internationally. Miyama has been invited to perform as a soloist in festivals such as the Tokyo Jazz Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival and Mapping Melbourne. Ensembles she has collaborated with include the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, Thin Edge New Music Collective (Toronto), Australian Art Orchestra and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Miyama also puts energy into seeking composers from various backgrounds to create music for the koto in styles that have not yet been explored. This has led to the completion of her first solo album “SONOBE”, featuring new and existing works for the koto by composers from all around the world, released in 2020. In 2019 she spent six months in NYC as a 2018 grantee of the Asian Cultural Council New York Fellowship, where she immersed herself deeply in the experimental, free improvised and new music scenes. Since returning from her fellowship, she has focused on improvisation, composition and ensemble leading. Her most recent projects include a series of solo concerts, the Miyama McQueen-Tokita Trio, and the Low Light Art Ensemble, an ongoing large ensemble project led by Miyama, focusing on bringing new and experimental music into new spaces, funded by Arts Council Tokyo. Miyama has been taught by Satsuki Odamura and Kazue Sawai, and has a Masters in music from Tokyo University of the Arts.Read more at: miyamamcqueentokita.comNaomi Sato (sho)Naomi studied the Sho (Japanese traditional mouth organ) with Ko Ishikawa at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, while studying the Saxophone as major subject. She has collaborated with many composers and Ensembles all over the world. Since 2004 She is the sho player in Atlas Ensemble (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and giving workshops in Atlas Academy. She performed with Ives Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Aurelia Saxophone Quartet, (Netherlands), Diotima Quartet, Ensemble Cairn (France), Fontana Mix Ensemble, Xenia Ensemble (Italy), Ictus Ensemble, B’Rock(Belgium), PHACE (Austria), Ensemble Resonanz (Germany), Shonorities (UK/Greece), Prague Modern (Czech), New Music Network Philadelphia, N-JP project (US), Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra and Orchestra Metropolitain(Canada). She has given solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Japan, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Greece, America, Canada and Australia with member of her chamber music grope Duo X Project, Japanese traditional instrument trio KODAMA(Sho+Shakuhachi+Koto) and Pochan (sho + percussion) and so on. She gave lecture concerts about ‘Contemporary music scene through Japanese traditional music’ in Conservatorium van Amsterdam(2000), North Eastern University (2005), UM Dartmouth (2005), University Melbourne (2006), UC Davis (2009) and Istanbul Bilgi University (2010). She gave composers workshops in University of New Mexico, University of Illinois, University of Chicago, Brigham Young University (2013), University of British Columbia and University of Victoria(2014).
VANCOUVER INTER-CULTURAL ORCHESTRA (VICO)
The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra (VICO), founded in 2001, was one of the first concert orchestras devoted specifically to performing new intercultural music on a grand scale. It is currently one of only a handful of such professional ensembles that exist in the world. The VICO brings together musicians and composers from many cultural and artistic communities in the Greater Vancouver area, including Chinese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Indian, Persian (Iranian), Latin and South American, Vietnamese, African, North American and European to create what has been described as “the United Nations of Music” (CBC Radio), and “music that sounds like Vancouver looks” (The Georgia Straight). The Vancouver Sun has called VICO “a world music super-group.”
VICO strives to be a fresh and relevant voice in the contemporary music of our city, our province and our country. The ensemble builds bridges of imagination, approaching diversity as a fascinating challenge and a creative call to action. Its work is to make connections, between performers and audiences of all ages and backgrounds, across the Lower Mainland, throughout Canada and the world; to create and perform orchestral music that transcends boundaries: cultural, social, political, geographical. Since its inaugural performance in 2001, VICO has developed and performed over 50 new intercultural pieces by ground-breaking Canadian composers. www.vi-co.org
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