Arts Programs/ Concert

IHJ Artists’ Forum
On the Periphery of Architecture
Robert Hutchison talks about work at the boundaries of Architecture and Art

●Thursday, October 7th, 2010 7:00 PM, IHJ Lecture Hall
●Admission: Free (reservations required)
●Language: English and Japanese
●Co-sponsored by the Japan-US Friendship Commission

Robert Hutchison is an architect and Principal of Hutchison & Maul　Architecture based in Seattle, Washington. Hutchison is in Japan for five months as a recipient of the 2010 Japan-US Creative Artists Fellowship. While in Japan, Hutchison is researching architects and artists whose works cross both disciplines. Ongoing projects include conducting interviews of selected artists and architects for book publication, as well as his own "peripheral projects" which focus on photography and film. Hutchison is keenly interested in works by architects which deviate from the discipline of architecture. His own firm, Hutchison & Maul Architecture, has created numerous projects peripheral to their main architectural work. For this Artist's Forum, Hutchison will provide an overview of his firm's work and a brief discussion pertaining to his ongoing research of Japanese architects and artists.

For more information or reservations call or e-mail the International House of Japan, Program Office 03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)

Hole House #1, 2004 Project executed by Hutchison & Maul Architecture	Artisan Barn Grain Silo Interior Uniontown, Washington Photograph by Robert Hutchison	Japan Fluorescent Light Pole Series Ise-shi, 2010 Photograph by Robert Hutchison

 

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IHJ Artists’ Forum
An Abundance of Crows
John Haptas & Kristine Samuelson

●Friday, July 9th, 2010 7:00 PM, IHJ Lecture Hall
●Admission: Free
●Language: English with consecutive Japanese translation
●Co-sponsored by the Japan-US Friendship Commission

John and Kristine, recipients of the Japan-US Creative Artists’ Grant, are filmmakers who collaborate in making documentary essays. On a previous trip to Japan, they were impressed by the large number of crows living in Tokyo’s urban environment. Their research led them to the realization that  the way crows and people live together in Tokyo can teach us a lot about Japanese society and ourselves. In this forum, the two filmmakers will discuss their concept of the documentary essay illustrated with clips from previous works and their current work-in-progress. An Abundance of Crows, that includes interviews with such diverse people as a Buddhist priest, an ornithologist, and a homeless activist. John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson: Their award-winning documentary essays have been screened at festivals throughout the world, from Sundance and San Francisco to London, Rio, Belgrade, India, Germany, and South Korea. They have appeared on PBS and cable television and at museums like MOMA in New York.

For more information or reservations call or e-mail the International House of Japan, Program Office 03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)

 

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Artists’ Forum
Musical Words–Two American Poets at IHJ
Sam Hamill + Leza Lowitz, Poetry Reading
Musical Accompaniment by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel on the Shakuhachi

Sam Hamill was raised and lived mostly in western USA, but his worldview was influenced by the great Chinese and Japanese masters. His poems draw from both traditions and reflect an ascetic sense of humility and thankfulness. He writes in a distinctive style of English that is both musically evocative and highly disciplined. Sam was a recipient of the Japan-US Creative Artists’ Fellowship in 1988, and in the ensuing 22 years since his fellowship has become an extremely important voice in American poetry.
　　Leza Lowitz is an American expatriate writer residing in Japan for over ten years. Her deeply lyrical, often startlingly confessional poetry reflects her lifelong study of Zen and yoga, and her exploration of what it means to be human and live with an open heart. Her co-translations have focused on the personal aspects of Japan-U.S. relationships, for example the changing role of Japanese women in literature, art and society and the effects of war and the desire for reconciliation in contemporary Japan.
　　Christopher Yohmei Blasdel is a 38-year resident of Japan who has committed his life to the study of Japanese music and sounds. He frequently accompanies poets, dancers, painters and other musicians. His role with the shakuhachi in this reading is to question, coax and cajole music from words.
　　Please join the three artists for an evening of the spoken word set to music.

●Monday, May 17, 2010, 7:00 pm, International House of Japan Library
●Admission: Free (reservations required)

Sam Hamill

Leza Lowitz

For more information or reservations
call or e-mail the International House of Japan, Program Office
03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)

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Artists’ Forum
Moving Sounds–Connecting Cultural Threads
A Concert Featuring Jane Rigler and Friends

Flutist/composer Jane Rigler arrived in Japan late last year on the US-Japan Creative Artists’ Exchange Program. During her time in Japan, she has studied such traditions as noh dance, aikidō and Buddhism to deepen her understanding of sound, movement and Japan’s spiritual spaces. Her collaborators for the IHJ Artists’ Forum concert include two gagaku musicians and the Stringraphy ensemble; musicians who create music by playing silk strings stretched across the performance space. Guided by structured improvisation, this unique ensemble will explore the fantastic juxtaposition of space and time while providing opportunities for the audience to attentively roam throughout the performance space and discover new ways in which slow, precise movements inspire and shape sound into a personal experience.

●Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 7:00 pm, Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan
●Performers: Jane Rigler (flute), Mizushima Kazue, Shinohara Motoko,
KIKU (Stringraphy), Ishikawa Kō (shō), Nakamura Hitomi (hichiriki)
●Admission: Free (reservations required)
●Language: English and Japanese

Jane Rigler	Mizushima Kazue
Ishikawa Kō	Nakamura Hitomi

For more information or reservations
call or e-mail the International House of Japan, Program Office
03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)

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IHJ Japanese Music Series Vol. 8
Folk Songs and Music of the Japanese Archipelago

Almost every corner of the Japanese isles, from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south, boasts a rich tradition of local folk songs. From early times, these songs formed an integral part of the daily lives of the people, describing their work, religious beliefs and their relationship to nature and society. Some of these songs consist of unaccompanied vocals, while others have energetic shamisen, shakuhachi or taiko accompaniment. Whereas folk songs were originally sung by locals as part of the communal experience, these songs are now being preserved by professional folk singers and preservation groups as the old traditions and lifestyles die out. Folk song master and Tsugaru shamisen virtuoso Takahashi Yūjirō will lead a concert of representative folk songs from around Japan, accompanied by a cast of all star folk music performers.

●Friday, March 26, 2010, 7 pm, Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall ●Performers: Takahashi Yūjirō (Tsugaru shamisen), Tsukuda Issei (shakuhachi), Narita Takeshi (vocals), Sudō Keiko (vocals), Takahashi Yukie (taiko), and others ●Program: Tsugaru Jongara-bushi, Esashi Oiwake, Yagi-bushi, Asadoya Yunta, etc. ●Admission: 3,500 yen(IHJ members, non-Japanese and students: 3,000 yen) ●Language: English & Japanese Tsukuda Issei Narita Takeshi Sudō Keiko Takahashi Yukie

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Artists’ Forum For a Sense of Place Michele Kong January 29, 2010, 7:00 pm, Lecture Hall, International House of Japan ●Admission: Free ●Language: English and Japanese The concept of “place” has a human dimension that differentiates it from mere landscape or space. The latter informs our immediate encounter with the physical world, whereas our sense of place is constructed through memories and attachments brought about by repeated encounters and complex associations. In an experiential context, a place is an origin; it is where relationships form, where one comes from and where one belongs. We can change locations, move, but in the end it is the sense of place that we seek. Visual artist Michele Kong is a Japan-US Creative Artists Exchange Fellow who is conducting research on contemporary and traditional Japanese shrines, gardens and architecture.  In a presentation of artworks that create a sense of place, Michele will trace a trajectory from earlier large-scale sculptural installations, to site-responsive temporary outdoor works, and conclude with her most recent video works. For more information or reservations call or e-mail the International House of Japan, Program Office 03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)
Quicksilver 2009	Tessella2007
Reticula 2006	Escape2007

 

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IHJ Artists' Forum
Aural Designs of Endangered Languages: Music from Language

●Friday, December 11, 2009 7:00 pm (Doors open at 6:30 pm) ●Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan　*please note the change in venue from the Lecture Hall ●Performers: Kevin James (Trombone, didgeridoo), Jane Rigler (Flute,JUSFC Creative Artist Fellow), Marcos Fernandes (Percussion) mori-shige (Cello) and others ●Admission: Free  (reservations requested) ●Language: English and Japanese ●Co-sponsored by the Japan-US Friendship Commission

Kevin James, JUSFC Creative Artist Fellow, will introduce and present in-progress performances of three works from his Languages Project. These works present the interaction of live musicians with the recorded sounds of the last living native speakers of disappearing languages from around the world. These works represent an exploration of new approaches to tonality, rhythm, inflection, articulation and the relationship of an ensemble to its audience. Mr. James will introduce each of the pieces with an explanation of the inspiration behind this project and his process for creating these works. The languages featured in the works on this program will include Quileute (Native American), Dalabon (Australian aboriginal) and Ainu (Japanese aboriginal). For more information or reservations call or e-mail the International House of Japan, Program Office 03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)

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IHJ Japanese Music Series vol.7/Workshop Concert
Noh: A Synthesis of Movement and Music

Friday, October 23, 7:00 pm, Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
●Performers: Richard Emmert (Professor, Musashino University),
●Performers: Matsui Akira (Noh Actor, Kita School)
　　　　　　　　　 Kama Mitsuo (ōtsuzumi)　
　　　　　　　　　 James Ferner (kotsuzumi)
　　　　　　　　　 Takizawa Narumi (nōkan)
●Admission: 3,500 yen (IHJ Members, Non Japanese & Students: 3,000 yen)
●Language: English and Japanese 

Richard Emmert, one of the foremost American scholars and practitioners of noh, and Kita Style noh master Matsui Akira will team up to present the inner workings of the noh theater: its music, movement, poetry, masks and structural makeup. They will perform various dances and short segments of selected noh pieces. They will also lead the audience to participate in some basic musical patterns.

Emmert and Matsui are known both in Japan and abroad for their pioneering work in English language noh.

RICHARD EMMERT is an American who has studied, taught and performed classical noh drama in Japan since 1973. Emmert is a certified Kita school noh instructor and has studied all aspects of noh performance. He frequently writes and speaks about noh both in Japanese and English. He is a professor at Musashino University in Tokyo where he teaches Asian theatre and music. Emmert is the founder and director of Theatre Nohgaku, a troupe made up of performers of noh in English. He will direct the troupe in December in a joint performance of a new English noh play, Pagoda, in performances in London, Oxford, Dublin and Paris. Emmert has also performed in collaborations of traditional Asian performers including his directing of Siddhartha by Theater Cahaya in Kuala Lumpur in 2003. Matsui Akira teaching a student at the summer Noh Training Project in Bllomsburg, PA. MATSUI AKIRA is a master actor-teacher of the Kita School of Japanese classical noh theater. He was born in 1946 in Wakayama, south of Osaka and began studying noh at the age of seven. Matsui mastered noh dance and chant, and for the last 25 years has also been active in disseminating noh abroad. He has trained actors for the noh theater in numerous foreign countries including India, Australia, Germany, England, and he has offered master classes at colleges and theatres across the U.S. and Canada. From his firm foundation in tradition, Matsui experiments in intercultural fusions. In Kyoto, he acted in the NOHO Theatre Group productions of plays by Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats, and Beckett, and he has written plays based on Rashomon and Hoichi. Together with American noh composer-performer Richard Emmert, he has created a series of "English Noh" including St. Francis, At the Hawk’s Well, and Eliza. He has also recently performed in Eugenio Barba's large collaborative performance, Ur-Hamlet, performed at Hamlet's castle in Denmark. In 1998, Matsui was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Asset by the Japanese government.  *This program is the 7th in a series of the IHJ Japanese Music Series, offering the best of traditional music with explanations and introductions for the foreign (and Japanese) audiences.

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IHJ Artists' Forum
A Writer on the Move: Patricia Chao Reads from her Work New World

●Wednesday, June 24, 2009 7:00 pm (Doors open at 6:45 pm) ●Library , International House of Japan ●Admission: Free ●Language: English and Japanese(Reading in English, with text provided. Question and answer session in both languages.) ●Co-sponsored by the Japan-US Friendship Commission

A writer presently in Japan on the US-Japan Creative Artists Program, Patricia Chao will present a reading of her work at the IHJ Artists’ Forum. Patricia is in Japan working on a novel loosely based on the life of her Japanese Grandmother. She will also read some selected poetry by the late Craig Arnold, a JUSFC fellow who went missing last April while hiking in Japan. New World by Patricia Chao: After her mother dies, Samantha Sakamoto Stein finds among her mother’s papers a letter from a strange Brazilian, Cici da Praia, suggesting evidence of a family connection. Samantha travels from New York to São Paulo to meet Cici, only to be faced with another mystery–the disappearance of Cici’s mother eight years ago. The two women band together to solve these two puzzles, which appear to be intertwined. Their journey leads them to Tokyo and eventually to the Japanese countryside, where they discover the final clue to the mystery.

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IHJ Artists' Forum
Michel Kouakou and Leyna Marika Papach present their work in progress:
“She Never Saw Me Dance” and  “What Stays Shall Stay”

●Tuesday, March 31, 2009 7:00 pm ●Lecture Hall, International House of Japan ●Admission: Free ●Language: English and Japanese

Michel Kouakou and Leyna Marika Papach, presently recipients of the Japan-Us Creative Artist Exchange Fellowship, will present their respective works at the IHJ Artists’ Forum. Michel Kouakou will present a work-in-progress “She Never Saw Me Dance” a dance solo dedicated to his mother. The choreography is influenced largely by his exposure to concepts behind butoh integrated with his previous ideas of dance—taking him in a new direction all together. Leyna Marika Papach will present “What Stays Shall Stay,” a series of short musical poems/compositions performed by herself and Chikako Bando. The theme of her residency is a reflection on the aspects of her family, family history, and culture in Japan that has played a part in crafting who she is.

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IHJ Japanese Music Series vol.6/IHJ Artists' Forum
The Shakuhachi and the World of the Single Tone

	The sixth concert of this series presents the shakuhachi traditional bamboo flute. The shakuhachi is the best known of all Japanese instruments and steeped in fascinating history. Its construction is simple, but its music is complex, ranging from austere Zen meditation music, evocative programmatic pieces depicting nature to crossgenre, avant garde contemporary music played around the world. This concert will feature Living National Treasure Hozan Yamamoto and his son Shinzan, along with the Japan-US Creative Arts fellow Elizabeth Brown, Keisuke Zenyoji (specialist in Zen shakuhachi pieces) and IHJ Artistic Director Christopher Yohmei Blasdel.
	●Tuesday, February 24, 7:00 pm Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall ●Performers: Hozan Yamamoto (Living NationalTreasure), Shinzan Yamamoto, Keisuke Zenyoji, Elizabeth Brown (Japan-US Creative Arts Fellow), Christopher Yohmei ●Program: Yobitake/Uketake, Song of the Cranes (a comparison of styles), etc. ●Admission: 3,500 yen (IHJ Members, Non-Japanese & Student: 3,000 yen) ●Language: English & Japanese ●Digital recording of this program is made possible by a grant from the All Japan Organization of Social Contribution. ●Supported by the Japan Traditional Culture Foundation
*This program is the 6th in a series of the IHJ Japanese Music Series, offering the best of traditional music with explanations and introductions for the foreign (and Japanese) audiences.

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IHJ Artists' Forum
Early Twentieth Century Piano Music: Bennett Lerner in Concert

Internationally acclaimed American pianist Bennett Lerner will present a program of piano music composed in the early twentieth century and performed on the IHJ vintage 1918 Steinway piano. Lerner will present the music of Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc, Tcherepnin and American composers such as Aaron Copeland, Samuel Barber, Charles Ives and Virgil Thomson. He will also perform works by two Japanese composers from the same era, Kunihiko Hashimoto and Tamezo Narita. Lerner, a close friend of Copeland in his later years, will preface his performance with remarks and anecdotes about the famous composer, giving the audience a unique insight into Copeland’s spirit. A long time resident of New York, where Lerner studied and performed, he immigrated to Thailand in 1991. He presently teaches piano at Payap University in Chiang Mai and will travel to Japan on a multi-city tour. Lerner will be joined by vocalist Mika Kimula and pianist Ayako Ono.

●Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 7 pm Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
●Program: Tcherepnin Sonata Romantique (1918), Poulenc Sonata for Four Hands, Debussy Children's Corner (1908), Paul Bowles Six Latin-American Dances (1930s), Tamezo Narita Wandering the Seashore (1918), Kunihiko Hashimoto Tiger Beetle (1928) and others
●Admission: 3,000 yen (IHJ members and students 2,500 yen) 　
●Language: English and Japanese
●Sponsored by the International House of Japan with support from the American Embassy

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IHJ Japanese Music Series
Biwa Music and the Soul of Medieval Japan

The biwa, originally entered into Japan from China, has remained an instrument close to the soul of the Japanese. The biwa has been used to call forth spirits, pacify demons, narrate stories of battle, instill the samurai spirit and relate tales of love. It has also found a place in the contemporary music scene. This concert will feature two representative genres of biwa music and song, the chikuzen and satsuma styles, along with explanations in both English and Japanese.

Thursday, October 2 , 7:00 pm　Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall Performers: Mari Uehara (Chikuzen Biwa), Kazuyuki Shiotaka (Satsuma Biwa) Program: Chikuzen biwa: “Gion Shouja”, “Atsumori-no- Saigo” and others Satsuma biwa: “Gion Shouja”, “Dan-no-Ura”, “Marobashi” and others Admission: 3,500 yen (IHJ Members, Non-Japanese and Student 3,000 yen) Language: English and Japanese * Digital recording of this program is made possible by a grant from the All Japan Organization of Social Contribution.

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IHJ Artists’ Forum
Beauty, Desire, and Consumption: Contemporary Japan’s relationship to Tradition and the West

Cakes, 2006 from Dreamy American Life

U.S.-Japan Creative Arts Fellow, Joseph Maida, has spent the past 6 months photographing the promise and allure of material culture as observed in everyday life in Japan. Building upon his previous projects, which also address issues of capitalist desire, Maida’s newest work looks closely at daily consumption in Tokyo and other major cities, including Yokohama, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Sapporo, to investigate the far reaching visual and psychological effects of globalization on existing society and tradition.  In his Artists’ Forum talk, he will discuss his most significant projects to date, including his newest work made during this Fellowship.

 

 

 

Tuesday, July 15, 7:00 pm. Lecture Hall
Speaker: Joseph Maida
Admission: Free
Language: English & Japanese
Supported by the Japan-US Friendship Commission

Concert, 2008

Orchids, 2008

Bicycles, 2008

Commute, 2008

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IHJ Artists’ Forum
Japanese Sounds, Western Structure—The Music of Donald Womack
Live Performance with Discussion by the Composer

The music of Donald Reid Womack is well-known. His major works include a symphony, a violin concerto, and, most recently, a concerto for shakuhachi, koto, and orchestra commissioned by the Honolulu Symphony as a memorial to the victims of the Ehime Maru sinking. He has been a faculty member at the University of Hawai‘i since 1994, where he teaches composition and theory. Dr. Womack is currently in Tokyo as a Fulbright Research Scholar, collaborating with the Japanese instrumental ensemble AURA-J. He approaches Japan's traditional instruments of Japan as imbued with unique sonic characteristics, and this Artists’ Forum will present some of his new pieces as well as some of his older works. Instrumentation will include violin, viola,piano, shamisen and 21 string koto.

Monday, May 26,2008, 7:00 pm.
Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
Performers: Ignace Jang, violin. Thomas Rosenkranz, piano. Anna Womack, viola.
Reiko Kimura, 21-string koto. Seizan Sakata, shakuhachi. Tetsuya Nozawa, shamisen.
Admission: Free (reservations requested)
Language: English and Japanese
Supported by the Japan/US Friendship Commission and the US Embassy

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IHJ Japanese Music Series Vol.4
Edo Sato Kagura: Dance and Music for the Masses

Kagura ("music for the gods") is one of Japan's oldest performing arts, with origins reaching back into ancient Shinto legends. Offertory kagura is still performed by priests and priestesses in Japan's large shrines, but sato kagura is a version of kagura for the common folk by the common folk. Based in Japanese mythology, sato kagura is performed at festivals or other ceremonial occasions and includes lively dance, music and pantomime. Once prevalent throughout the country, there remain few places, especially in urban areas, where one can enjoy this wonderful and refreshing art form. The Edo Sato Kagura, Haji School, directed by headmaster Gennosuke Matsumoto IV, will perform at the I-House as part of our Traditional Music Series. Explanations will be in both English and Japanese.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008, 7:00 pm
Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
Performers: Gennosuke Matsumoto
Performers:(The 4th Iemoto of Haji school, Edo Sato Kagura), others
Admission: 3,500 yen (3,000 yen　for IHJ Members, Students & Non-Japanese)
Language: English and Japanese

 

 

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IHJ Artists' Forum
Brenda Wong Aoki and Tony D’Souza Present their Works:
"Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend" and "Whiteman"

Date: Friday, October. 26, 2007 7PM Venue: IHJ Lecture Hall Language: English with consecutive translation Admission: Free Brenda Wong Aoki and Tony D’Souza, presently in Japan as recipients of the Japan-US Creative Artists Exchange Program, will present their respective works at this IHJ/ US Embassy sponsored Artists’ Forum.

Brenda will present excerpts from her signature work, Uncle Gunjiro’s Girlfriend. The presentation will be partly performed, accompanied by an original score composed and performed by Mark Izu (also presently in Japan on the JUSFC Fellowship). Brenda’s work is based on the true story of her great uncle’s marriage to a Caucasian woman in San Francisco, at a time when such marriages were illegal. Uncle Gunjiro's Girlfriend tells the tale of their epic love and its impact on descendants three generations later.

Tony will read from his recently published novel, "Whiteｍan," an extraordinary debut novel about a maverick American relief worker deep in the West African bush. Against a backdrop of bloody sectarian conflict and vibrant African life, the American Jack and his village guardian, Mamadou, learn that hate knows no color, that true heroism waits for us where we least expect it. Tony will also read excerpts from his journals in Hokkaido, where he is studying the Ainu culture.

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IHJ Japanese Culture Series
Mon-koh: Quietly Listening to Incense

Date: Tue. October 23
Time: 2:30-4:30pm / 6:30-8:30pm
Venue: Seminar Room D, International House of Japan
Facilitator: Eriyo Watanabe
Fee: 5,000 yen (4,000 yen for IHJ members)　　　　　
Language: English/ Japanese
Capacity: 12 people each (First-come, first served)

 

Kodo is the art and philosophy of incense, ranked among the classical arts of Japan such as Sado (the way of tea) and Kado (the way of flowers). In this program, Eriyo Watanabe will guide us through her variation of the Kodo art, Mon-koh.

The Mon-koh ceremony stresses "listening" to incense instead of just "smelling" it. Mon-koh enhances one's sensibility and mindfulness toward the fragrance of the incense and its material. In this workshop, Eriyo Watanabe will provide an outline on the history and use of incense in
Japan, followed by a session of Mon-koh. This session will focus on "listening" to incense as a meditation, and experiencing a sense of unity and transcendence of the mundane. Like many of the Japanese traditional arts, one goal of Mon-koh is to free the spirit and foster an awareness of gratitude toward the world.

Eriyo Watanabe 　www.arts-wellness.com
Director of Center for Arts and Wellness, Watanabe holds a Master’s degree from Lesley University. She offers private sessions, workshops in various Asian art forms and training/lecture programs in expressive arts therapy.

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Bulgarian Chorus Concert
The Quartet Slavey

The crystalline voices of the Bulgarian women's quartet, Slavey, will resound at the International House of Japan. Bulgaria, at the crossroads between East and West, is a gathering place for numerous ethnic groups, both Asian and European. Within this creative mixture, the Bulgarian women’s choruses are known for their dynamic rhythms, elegant, powerful melodies and mysterious harmonies which bridge the musical sensibilities of both the orient and occident. The Slavey chorus includes the Bulgarian National Treasure Nadka Karadzhova and Mariana Pavlova, known for her exceptionally low and resonant voice. The singers will be accompanied by two musicians performing on ethnic instruments, The IHJ concert will feature a number of Bulgarian folk songs plus a demonstration of musical techniques and an introduction to the Bulgarian culture.

Date &Time: September 18, 2007, 7:00 pm
Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan
Admission: 3500 yen (2500 yen for IHJ members and Students)
Slavey chorus: Nadka Karadzhova, Svetla Karadzhova, Lilyana Galevska,
Mariana Pavlova
Language: Japanese/English/Bulgarian

This program is co-hosted by the I-House and Bugei-sha, with support from the Republic of Bulgarian Embassy in Japan.

 

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IHJ Artists’ Forum: documentary film showing, directors’ introduction and live koto performance by Curtis Patterson and Tomoe Obata.
Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buildings and Legacy in Japan

The great American architect Frank Lloyd Wright called Japan “the mostromantic, most beautiful" country on earth. During the 6 years he resided in Tokyo (1917-1922), he designed some 14 buildings,including the legendary Imperial Hotel. Through rare and unseen footage, hundreds of images and interviews with specialists, Magnificent Obsession illuminates Wright's creative process and reveals the depth of his impact on Japan.　

Produced and Directed by Karen Severns and Koichi Mori
Music Director Curtis James Patterson
Narrated by Masato Harada
Running Time: 92 mins.

Guests: Karen Severns, Koichi Mori (Directors)
Date & Time: July 27 (Fri) 6:00 pm
Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall
Language: Japanese
Admission: Free (reservations requested)
This program is co-sponsored by the US Embassy.
For more information or reservations call or e-mail the International House of Japan, Program Office
03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)
Imperial Hotel (1923)

 

 

Left) Directors: Mori and Severns
Right) Patterson (Music Director, koto)

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IHJ Commemorative Arts Installation
Adam Frelin: White Line for Tokyo Roy Staab: Nogiku

To commemorate the renewal of the International House of Japan and its long association with the US-Japan Creative Artists Program, the I-House is sponsoring, with funding from the Japan-US Friendship Commission, a special installation project for the garden. Two former artists of this program, Roy Staab and Adam Frelin, will create a pair of original sculptural installations that will be exhibited from March 1st to May 6th.

Staab's work, consisting of organic materials found in nature and re-arranged in geometric shapes, will contrast with Frelin's modern, electric installation. Both works will emphasize the relation of the garden to the architecture and the long role of the House as a space for transformative cultural experiences. An Artistsf Forum will be held in advance of the installation opening.

Exhibition Period: Thu, March 1st - Sun, May 6th, 2007 10:00 am - 10:00 pm
Venue: Garden, International House of Japan
*Staab's piece, "Nogiku," will be completed by 15th March. Visitors are welcome to observe the work-in-progress until then.

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Artists' Forum
Adam Frelin and Roy Staab talk about their work
Friday, February 23rd, 2007, 7:00 pm
Venue: Lecture Hall, International House of Japan
Admission: Free (reservations advised)
Language: English (with Japanese interpretation)

Both the installation project and Artists' Forum program are supported by The Japan-US Friendship Commission and the US Embassy.

 
Adam Frelin: White Line for Tokyo/ Roy Staab: Nogiku

Adam Frelin's website can be viewed at http://www.adamfrelin.com/

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IHJ Japanese Music Series Vol.3
Song, Story and Shamisen :Tokiwazu and the Soul of Japanese Music
Performers: Eiju Tokiwazu and others.

From tragic love stories and suicides to humoresque vignettes with lively urban melodies, nothing captures the sentiments of pre-modern Japan more eloquently than Tokiwazu, a 270 year old genre that deftly combines song, narration and shamisen. Known mainly for its role as music that accompanies the kabuki theater, Tokiwazu expresses the pathos, humor and longings of the times. The International House of Japan will present a program of both traditional and contemporary Tokiwazu music, featuring the Living National Treasure and Japanese Art Academy member Eiju Tokiwazu who is also a long-time I-House member. Live performances will be augmented by explanations in both English and Japanese.

*This program is the third in a series of the IHJ Japanese Music Series, offering the best of traditional music with explanations and introductions
for the foreign (and Japanese) audiences.

Date: Time: Friday, February 9, 2007, 7:00 pm
Admission: IHJ Members & Non-Japanese: 2,500 yen
Non-members: 3,500 yen/ Students: 2,000 yen
Venue: Iwasaki Koyata Memorial Hall, International House of Japan
Language: English and Japanese
Programs: "Tsuri-Onna,""Noriai-Bune,""Shamisen Duet,""Okimi" and others

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IHJ Concert Lecture Series
Music Born from Poetry
Nineteenth Century German Lied Cycle

The German Lied cycle represents the pinnacle of 19th Century European art music. The poetry gives birth to the music, and the piano augments and enlivens the words. The fusion of words and music in the German Lied reflects the literature, history, folk beliefs and religion of the times. In this series of two concerts Karin Mikami and Tetsuo Ogawa will guide us through the lyrics and music of Poet's Love and The Fair Maid of the Mill, two of the most interesting Lied cycles.

Piano & Talk: Karin Mikami
Baritone: Tetsuo Ogawa
Venue: International House of Japan New Hall
Language: Japanese (with English notes)

Concert No. 1 November 6, 2006 (Mon.) 7:00 pm
Dichterliebe (Poet's Love), Poetry by Heinrich Heine, Music by Robert Schumann
Concert No. 2 December 15, 2006 (Fri.) 7:00 pm.
Die Schone Muellerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill), Poetry by Wilhelm Muller, Music by Franz Schubert

Das Muhlenleben, Wood engraving, after a drawing by Rudolf Schuster (1848-1922)

Admission:
Single Concert: Non-members 4,000 yen (3,500 yen advanced sale)
IHJ Members 3,000yen (2,500 yen advanced sale), Students 2,000 yen
Two-Concert Series: Non-members 6,500yen (6,000 yen advanced sale)
IHJ Members 4,500 (yen 4,000 yen advanced sale), Students 3,000 yen

Performer's Profiles:
Karin Mikami (Piano and explanations)
Mikami graduated from the piano and education faculty, Munich National University and furthered her studies in piano performance at the London Royal Academy of Music. She has been in Japan since 1968, and in 1996 received her doctorate in humanities from Ochanomizu Women's University. She has lectured at the Graduate Studies Department of Kunitachi College of Music, Aoyama Gakuin, Sophia University and presently teaches at the Goethe Institute and is a professor emeritus at Jin'ai Women's College.

Tetsuo Ogawa (Baritone):
Ogawa graduated with a MFA degree in German Lied at Kunitachi College of Music and attended the Agency for Cultural Affairs Opera Course. He studied with various masters such as Yasusuke Hatano, Eric Werba and Klaus Ocker. He performed with the Tokyo Niki-kai Foundation, the Tokyo Chamber Opera Theater, and the Nissei Theater. Recently he has joined with pianist Karin Mikami to present German Lied in various lecture concert settings. He presently teaches at Kunitachi College of Music, Sophia University and Kichijo Women's High School.

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IHJ Concert Series
The Traditional & Contemporary in the Present
Featuring Japanese Music by Non-Japanese Composers

As part of the festivities to celebrate the new IHJ Hall and the completion of the building renovations, the acclaimed contemporary Japanese music ensemble Aura-J will present a program of contemporary music for Japanese instruments by foreign composers. Also included in the program will be selections of traditional Japanese music and a piece by the world re-known Japanese composer Minoru Miki.

Date: October 20, 2006 (Fri) 7:00 pm
Venue: New Hall, The International House of Japan
Admission: 4,000 yen (3,500 yen advanced sale)
IHJ Members or Aura-J Tomo no Kai members, 3,000yen (2,500 yen advanced sale)

[Aura-J members]
Seizan Sakata (shakuhachi), Reiko Kimura (21 stringed koto),Christopher Yohmei (shakuhachi), Erina Matsumura (koto), Yuko Kuwako (17 stringed koto), Tetsuya Nozawa (shamisen), Michie Kobayashi (koto)

[Guest performers]
Mika Kimula (voice), Hitomi Nakamura (hichiriki), Kaho Tosha (percussion)

[Program]
Godan Ginuta (traditional koto duet) by Kengyo Mitsuzaki
Hymn for Lou and Bill (shakuhachi & hichiriki)by Edward Schocker
but the rain... (shakuhachi & twenty-one stringed koto) by Peter Askim
The Distant Cry of the Deer (traditional shakuhachi duet)
Forbidden Circles (for female voice, shakuhachi , 17 stringed koto, percussion) By Byron Au Yong
Chiru (shakuhachi & shamisen), by Takeo Kudo
Hanayagi (koto), by Minoru Miki

Aura-J is a group of highly disciplined musicians performing on Japanese instruments. Founded in 1998 by the composer Minoru Miki, shakuhachi player Seizan Sakata and koto player Reiko Kimura, Aura-J performs several concerts yearly and focuses on contemporary music written for traditional instruments and often includes guest performers of various Asian ethnic instruments. Aura-J's performances offer the best of both worlds: tradition combined with the modern. http://www.ora-j.com/

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IHJ Artists' Forum
Exhibition & Artists' Talk
Dean Sameshima -Impromptu Work in Progress
Obsession, Retribution, Appropriation, Obliteration, Depression, Distribution, Confusion, Collaboration, Isolation, Annihilation

Exhibition period: August 3- August 26, 2006, gallery.sora
Open: Thu-Sat, 2-7pm- (map at http://www.gallerysora.com)

Artists' Talk (IHJ Artists' Forum): Sat. Aug. 26, 7:30
Place: gallery.sora. Address : 1-25-1, Shinkawa, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Telephone : 03-5542-3615 Website : http://www.gallerysora.com

The International House of Japan, in association with Taka Ishii Gallery and gallery.sora, are pleased to announce a new project by Los Angeles based artist Dean Sameshima. Presently in Japan on a 6 month US / Japan Creative Artist Residency, Sameshima is spending his final two months working on an exhibition within the space of gallery. sora. From Thursday, August 3, gallery.sora will be open to the public during regular gallery hours (2-7pm). Deanfs working process will continue during the month of August and visitors to the gallery may happen upon the artist at work, may find an installation in progress, or perhaps
view a completed body of work. The exhibition content will not be fixed in advance of or during the exhibition itself. A closing party and
Artists' Talk to celebrate the conclusion of Sameshima's residency in Tokyo and the close of the exhibition will be held on Saturday, August 26, from 7:30 PM.

Dean Sameshima -work is firmly rooted in a West Coast conceptual photographic tradition. Sameshima utilizes a conceptual vocabulary to mine intimate terrain. The artist's structural / conceptual devices include repetition, seriality and appropriation; a selection of past photographic series includes the documentation of anonymous landscapes and architectural facades (in fact sites of covert sexual activity), the re-photography of images published in fashion magazines (objects of idealized self-identification), as well as the appropriation of "self portraits" from internet websites.

Dean Sameshima's work has been featured in museum exhibitions including "Log Cabin", Artists Space, New York (2005), "Will Boys be Boys?", a traveling exhibition organized by Whitney Museum of Art curator Shamim Momim (2004-present) and "LA on My Mind : Recent Acquisitions," Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2002). An artist's monograph, "Dean Sameshima" was published in Japan by fashion label Hysteric Glamour (2002). Vitamin(PH) upcoming (Phaidon Publishing)

Dean Sameshima blog : http://hattenlove.blogspot.com/
Dean Sameshima: http://www.deansameshima.com/
IHJ Program Department: 03-3470-3211

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IHJ Artists' Forum
Far East-Far West
Experimental West Coast Music and its Flirtation with Asia
Talk/CD Concert by Edward Schocker
Saturday, June 10, 2006 6pm at Youkobo Art Space

Japan-US Friendship Commission Creative Artist composer Edward Schocker will explain the contemporary trends and history of West Coast American Music, using excerpts from CD recordings and a live performance to demonstrate and enliven the subject. This artist talk will illustrate how the West Coast (especially California) became a land where composers could break away from European trends and create a musical style of their own. By presenting musical examples and the philosophies of important 20th Century composers like Colin McPhee, Henry Cowel, Harry Parch, John Cage, Lou Harrison and their experiments with Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and other Asian music, Edward will show why this area is one of the creative centers of the world. No prior knowledge of music will be needed to enjoy this artist talk. Come with open ears.
The lecture will be in English with Japanese translation. The venue and co-sponsor is Yukobo Art Space Admission is free but reservations should be made through the International House of Japan (Tel: 03- 3470-3211; Fax: 03-3470-3170).
This program is funded by the Japan-Us Friendship Commission.

Youkobo Artspace
3-2-10 Zenpukuji, Suginami-ku, Tokyo, 03-5930-5009. From the north exit of Nishi Ogikubo Station, JR Chuo Line, take the Oizumi Gakuen or Kamishakuji Bus from bus stop No. 2. Youkobo is right in front of the Zenpukuji stop.
URL: http://www.youkobo.co.jp/

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IHJ Artists' Forum

Marco Breuer
Notes, Queries
Talk and slide presentation by the artist

Friday, April 21, 2006, 7 PM
International House of Japan Lecture Hall Map
(Co-Sponsored by the Tokyo-American Center)
Admission free (reservations requested)
For more information or reservations call The International House of Japan, Program Office
03-3470-3211 (Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00)

Marco Breuer makes photographs without using a camera. The German-born, New York-based artaist works with photographic paper directly, subjecting it to a range of destructive forces. Using slingshots, razor blades, paint strippers, and hot coals, Breuer creates photographic prints that are direct records of physical interaction with the material. Instead of pictures that illustrate something outside of themselves, we are confronted with images that speak of their own coming-into-being. In this slide lecture Breuer will discuss his work, his book SMTWTFS, and his most recent exhibition in New York City titled Notes, Queries. Marco Breuer has exhibited widely throughout the United States and Europe. His work is in numerous collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the New York Public Library; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany. He teaches in the MFA program at Bard College. His publication SMTWTFS received wide critical acclaim and a Photo-eye Award for Best Photography Book of 2002. He is currently in Japan on a Japan-US Friendship Commission /NEA Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship.

Archive of IHJ Arts Programs and Concert

2001-2005