June Update and Upcoming Performances
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Being an independent artist, making experimental and somewhat original music (original meaning I can point to where every phrase, melody and rhythm I play comes from in the particular blend of traditional, Japanese, experimental, improvisational, avantgarde music that I play, which is a very ‘me’ thing for better or for worse!) and trying to forge my own particular way forward regarding career growth has been challenging but incredibly rewarding. One tricky thing that I'm struggling with now is pace and balance in life— I can go months of being incredibly busy, sometimes with an overwhelming amount of back-to-back performances and travel, and then have periods where I find myself with a few (too many?) blank pages in my calendar.
After a hectic couple of months, I've been HOME a lot in New York. I had a really fun performance with the poet and singer LaTasha Nevada Diggs last week at Joe's Pub. Even though I've known LaTasha for years, I didn't know she sang on the Ryuichi Sakamoto song ‘Moving On’ and danced on a bunch of music videos, from Dee-Lite to Madonna to Digable Planets to Heavy D!
The show was fun; besides playing lots of shinobue and taiko as usual, I even accompanied LaTasha in singing Mexican Rancheras on koto.
Photo taken from on stage at Joe’s Pub with (from right to left) Geng PTP, LaTasha Nevada Diggs and Myself
In the last couple of weeks, I was at Japan Society for a week in rehearsal and two performances with my friends Ximena and Shige and their Leimay Dance Company in a new work-in-progress production called Extinction Ritual - a meditation on the extinction of plants and animals before our eyes due to human greed and carelessness. Besides the excellent dancers in the production, the powerhouse singer Carolina Oliveras and I performed the music and even a bit of dance. Then, I performed at the Japan Society's Annual Dinner, a solo set in front of a bespoke crowd of CEOs, ambassadors and politicians that turned out to be incredibly gratifying and enjoyable. The weekend I'm writing this, I'll be with the Groton Hill Orchestra in their new gorgeous new hall outside of Boston. I haven't performed solo with an orchestra in a few years, so I look forward to this opportunity!
Next week, I'll make an overnight trip to San Antonio, TX, for a performance then, over the weekend, I will be performing in a celebratory concert for the legendary Mikhail Baryshni. Yurie and I have grown very close with Misha in the last few years, to the point where we see each other for dinner or drinks once or twice a week when we're all in town. He has been as supportive and generous a figure in my life as much as anyone, and I am so honored and thrilled to be able to show my appreciation toward him in this public way. I will play solo and duo for the concert with Laurie Anderson, someone I've grown close with over the last few years. Diana Krall and Regina Spektor will follow us. It's going to be an extraordinary event.
Photo of myself and Laurie Anderson from the last time we performed together at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC
Following that I have performances in Chelsea with Rogerio Bocatto, Gamin and Keita Ogawa at the Chelsea Music Festival, in Arkansas as part of a new Silkroad Train Station Trio with Balla Kayouté and Shaw Pong Liu, and at the Noguchi Museum in Queens, NY with Tomas Fujiwara, Patricia Brennan and Tim Keiper.
I'm so thankful for all these opportunities to perform and grow and grateful for all the people who support what I do.
By the way, I love for people to subscribe to my newsletter and check in on my website, but realistically, Instagram or Facebook are the best places to keep track of my activities.
-Kaoru
list of Upcoming performances:
‘Mikhail Baryshnikov at 75: A Day of Music & Celebration’ at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park (Sun Jun 25) 2PM
Tivoli, New York (click here for more info)
Bang on a Can Music Series: Tomas Fujiwara Percussion Quartet at the noguchi museum (SUn july 9) 4pm
Queens, New York (click here for more info)
‘Incense performance’ at duck creek 2023 music series (Sat Aug 19) 5pm
East Hampton, New York (click here for more info)
