UPCOMING SHOWS
Marley Kirton
Alicia Hall Moran’s ‘COLD-BLOODED’ Project in Bryant Park (Feb 21) 7am
New York City (click here for more info)
I have known the brilliant genius that is Alicia since college, and we have been part of various projects of each other's since I returned from Japan over fifteen years ago. In one of them that we did right before the pandemic, she had me and my drum out in the middle of ice skating rinks all over Manhattan while she gracefully skated around me singing Carmen— her exploration of the "The Battle of the Carmens" during the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics when two figure skaters representing America and East Germany battled for Olympic gold, both accompanied by music from the opera Carmen. The American, Debi Thomas, was the first African American medalist in the Winter Olympics.
Now Alicia is having me back out on the ice, this time in COLD-BLOODED:
Alicia Hall Moran’s project COLD-BLOODED explores skating, music, and poetry with different special guests each Tuesday morning throughout the month of February. Every week Alicia Hall Moran and the artists take the ice at 6am to develop in-the-moment, multidisciplinary collaborations. Then from 7am-7:45am, the public is welcome to experience the works in process from around the Rink deck. Featuring:
- Taiko, fué player and composer Kaoru Watanabe
- Soprano and director of Lyric Opera of the North, Sarah Lawrence
- Electronic music by percussionist Lafrae Sci
- Guitarist Thomas Flippin performing exerpts from Suite Sompostelana by Frederic Mompou
- Blessings the Boats, poem by Lucille Clifton (performed with permission of the estate)
- And live vocals by Alicia Hall Moran, musician & skater
Tomas Fujiwara Percussion Quartet at Joe’s Pub (March 3) 7pm
New York City (click here for tickets and more info)
Tomas brought together four percussionists (Tomas Fujiwara - Drums and Compositions, Patricia Brennan - Vibraphone, Kaoru Watanabe - Taiko and Flute and Tim Keiper - Percussion) for a residence, performance and recording at Roulette in Brooklyn in January, and we'll be revisiting the material at this performance. I love Tomas' writing here— there's much more room for improvisation and spontaneity while still having the complexity and composed quality that other percussion quartets have.
Tale of Genji (March 24-25) 7:30pm
Houston, Texas (click here for tickets and more info)
I will be performing compositions I wrote for this new ballet production of The Tale of Genji— the first-ever novel written in 9th century Japan by the first woman author, Murasaki Shikibu. The choreographer is former principle dancer for the Houston Ballet, Nao Kuzazaki, who danced as a guest in a performance I did a few years back in San Antonio.
INCENSE performance in Yokohoma (March 30)
Yokohama, Japan
I will be performing excerpts of my multi-meida solo show, INCENSE, as part of a conference in Yokohama. The venue is Osanbashi Hall, a beautiful port building in the Yokohama Bay with a huge glass wall looking out to the ocean.
Silkroad Train Station Trio at the Irish Performing Arts Center (April 15th) 8PM
New York City (click here for tickets and more info)
Featuring:
Maeve Gilchrist (Celtic harp)
Kaoru Watanabe (Japanese flutes and percussion)
Kinan Azmeh (clarinet)
Silkroad presents Train Station Trios, a concert series generating new music as part of Silkroad's multi-year American Railroad project, an initiative led by artistic director Rhiannon Giddens that illuminates the impact the African American, Chinese, Indigenous, Irish, and other immigrant communities had on the creation of the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad and connecting railways in North America.
In this one-of-a-kind New York performance, a trio of Silkroad artists will uncover untold stories from these communities, contextualizing—or rather re-contextualizing—the railroad through music. These cultural intersections reveal a thread of commonality despite their varied origins, and remind us of the intricately rich American story.
Loyola Percussion Ensemble Concert (April 21)
More info coming soon
Loyola Orchestra Concert (April 29th)
More info coming soon
LaTasha Nevada Diggs performance (May 25th)
More info coming soon
‘Extinction Rituals’ at Japan Society (June 9-10) 7:30PM
New York City (click here for tickets and more info)
Directed, choreographed and designed by Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist duo Ximena Garnica & Shige Moriya, Extinction Rituals is inspired by acts of remembrance celebrating the life and loss of animals, plants and environments from the places they call home—Kyoto, Bogota, and NYC. Through poetic vignettes of movement, light, music and song, these mesmerizing tableaux weave together an original score by Oscar-nominated composer Kaoru Watanabe, the powerful voice of Colombian singer Carolina Oliveros, and the butoh-rooted work of the LEIMAY Ensemble, including dancers Masanori Asahara and Krystel Copper. Following the work-in-progress showings, Garnica and Moriya sit down for a Q&A with the audience to elaborate on the international exchanges behind this timely and profoundly collaborative piece.
Japan Society Gala (June 14)
New York City (click here for registration and more info)
More info coming soon
Groton Hill Orchestra (June 17)
Groton, Massachusetts (click here for tickets and more info)