Artist: Yoko Reikano Kimura (Koto, Shamisen, Voice)
October 11, 2012 Open: 6:30PM / Workshop: 6:45PM
Venue: Michiko Rehearsal Studios – Stage Room
149 West 46th Street, New York, NY 10036 (btwn 6th and 7th Aves.)

A music workshop that spotlights on Koto, Shamise and Koto-Uta with a Japanese koto/shamisen player by Yoko Reikano Kimura. Ms. Kimura will explain the history and structure of those instruments and perform a mini-concert followed by Q&A. Reservation required.

Artists Bio;

Yoko Reikano Kimura (Koto, Shamisen, Voice)

A koto and shamisen and singer, Yoko Reikano Kimura performs classical Japanese music in the Yamada school style as well as contemporary music for Japanese instruments. Yoko has concertized around the world based in the US and Japan.

She has graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts and Music, where she was awarded the top prize for her graduation recital. She continued her studies at the NHK School for Young Professionals and the Institute of Contemporary Music for Traditional Japanese Instruments. Also the Agency of Culture Affairs elected her as the internship trainee. Yoko has won numerous awards including the First prize at the prestigious 10th Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition. She received the First prize at the Great Wall International Music Competition and the Osaka Chinese Counsel Award and won the Japanese music audition for NHK FM radio. She has appeared in wide variety venues in Japan including the National Theatre, National Noh Theatre, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Suntory Hall and any other important cultural properties. For the Traditional Music Digital Library, she recorded various classical shamisen works.

In 2000 Yoko debuted at Toppan Hall (Tokyo) as the first Japanese -Western music duo in the history of the competition. Currently she concertizes in the US and Japan with her husband, Hikaru Tamaki, the principal cellist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011 the duo was awarded the Janet Latz Professional Fellowship in recognition of their cross-cultural musical activities. In 2012-13 she will be collaborating with various string quartets such as the Arianna String Quartet and the Euclid Quartet.

Since 2004, Yoko has concertized around the world, performing in such places as Poland, Switzerland, France, Lithuania, Korea, China, Israel, Qatar, Italy and the South America. The first solo CD featuring shamisen works will be released by Asian Improv aRts Midwest in 2012 autumn. Currently, she holds a teaching position at the Institute of Contemporary Music for Traditional Japanese Instruments, an affiliate of Senzoku Gakuen Music University in Japan.

For more information, please visit http://aaartsalliance.org/events/experience-real-japan-music-workshop-for-koto-shamisen-koto-uta.