Thin Edge New Music Collective Presents:
ONGAKU
*Celebrating Japanese + Canadian Contemporary and Experimental Music*
September 20, 21, 22, 2019
Doors 7:30/ Show 8pm
918 Bathurst | Culture, Arts, Media & Education*
Single Tickets: $20 General Admission, $15 Student/Seniors/Arts Worker
Festival Pass:$50 General Admission, $35 Students/Seniors/Arts Workers
Tickets Available for purchase at the Door
ONGAKU is a three day festival and cultural exchange celebrating some of Japan and Canada’s most exciting voices in contemporary and experimental music (September 20-22nd, 2019, Toronto). TENMC will be joined by visiting guest artists Miyama McQueen-Tokita (bass koto), Ko Ishikawa (shō), Ami Yamasaki (voice) and Akiko Nakayama (’alive painting’) as well as Toronto-based Urbanvessel featuring Germaine Liu (percussion), Aki Takahashi (shamisen/voice) and Sonja Rainey (projections/installation). ONGAKU showcases world premieres by Canadian composers Hiroki Tsurumoto, Juliet Palmer, and Daryl Jamieson, alongside new works by Yuka Shibuya, Takeo Hoshiya, Toshiya Watanabe , and the Canadian premiere of compositions by Yoshiaki Onishi, Jo Kondo, and Miya Masaoka. ONGAKU will take place at 918 Bathurst and the CMC Chalmers Performance Space in Toronto, with satellite concerts/workshops presented by NUMUS Concerts and Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario (September 18-19, 2019).
Concert 1: Sept 20th, 2019, Doors 7:30/ Concert 8:00pm • 918 Bathurst
An evening of chamber works by Tōru Takemitsu, Miya Masaoka, and the Canadian premiere of Malika Kishino's 'Qualia' for bass koto and 10 channel electronics. World premieres by Hiroki Tsurumoto, Takeo Hoshiya and Yuka Shibuya. Featuring guest artists Ko Ishikawa (shō), Miyama McQueen-Tokita (bass koto) + Akiko Nakayama ('alive painting'/projections).
Workshop: Sept 21st, 2019 11-1pm • Canadian Music Centre Chalmers Performance Space • FREE
Join us at the CMC for a free workshop with guest artists Ko Ishikawa and Miyama McQueen-Tokita. Learn about the intricacies of writing for traditional Japanese instruments (shō and bass koto) in a contemporary music setting. Includes a panel discussion with composers Daryl Jamieson, Hiroki Tsurumoto, Yuka Shibuya, Sarah Peebles and Takeo Hoshiya.
Concert 2:Sept 21st, 2019, Doors 7:30/ Concert 8:00pm • 918 Bathurst
TENMC performs works by Jo Kondo and Yoshiaki Onishi with improvisatons by Miyama McQueen-Tokita, followed by a set of creative music by guest artists Ko Ishikawa (shō), Ami Yamasaki (voice) and Akiko Nakayama (‘alive painting’) combining traditional Japanese instruments, extended vocal techniques and stunning visuals.
Concert 3: Sept 22nd, 2019 Doors 7:30/Concert 8:00pm • 918 Bathurst
Works by Yuka Shibuya and Toshiya Watanabe (Canadian premiere) alongside the world premiere of large-scale multimedia works Utamakura 5: Mount Kamakura by Daryl Jamieson and "Ukiyo, floating World" by Juliet Palmer of Urbanvessel. Featuring guest artist Miyama McQueen-Tokita (bass koto), and Urbanvessel performers Germaine Liu (percussion), Aki Takahashi (shamisen/vocalist) with Sonja Rainey (projections/installation).
PROGRAMME:
Concert 1: Sept 20th, 2019 8:00pm
Tōru Takemitsu (1930-1996) – Rocking Mirror Daybreak (1983)-for two violins
Yuka Shibuya (b. 1981) – ‘Into the Offing’ (2019) – for flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano.**
Miya Masaoka (b.1958) – Partial Eclipse – for string quartet with ‘alive painting’ by Akiko Nakayama.
-Intermission-
Hiroki Tsurumoto (b. 1979) – voice box iv (2019)– open instrumentation + electronics**
Takeo Hoshiya (b. 1979) – ‘New Work’ (2019) – for flute, violin, cello and piano**
Malika Kishino (b. 1971) – Qualia (2009) – for Bass-Koto and 10 channel- Live Electronics.***
Concert 2: Sept 21st, 2019 8:00pm
Jo Kondo (b. 1947)-Three songs of the Elderberry tree (1996)-for violin + percussion
Improvisation
Miyama McQueen-Tokita (bass koto)
Yoshiaki Onishi (b. 1981)-Culs-de-sac (en passacaille) (2009, rev 2010/2018)- for string quartet**
-Intermission-
Improvisation
Ko Ishikawa (shō)/ Ami Yamasaki (voice)/ Akiko Nakayama ('alive painting')
Concert 3: Sept 22nd, 2019 8:00pm
Toshiya Watanabe (b. 1974) – Pathline (2014) for flute, violin and piano***
Daryl Jamieson (b. 1980) – Utamakura 5: Mount Kamakura (2019) for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion + bass koto**
-Intermission-
Yuka Shibuya (b. 1981) – View from the Round Window (2016) for solo piano
Juliet Palmer (b. 1967) – “Ukiyo, floating World” (2019) for shamisen, bass koto, voice, percussion, piano, violin, video and installation**
**world premiere
***Canadian premiere
Guest Artists:
Ko Ishikawa - shō
Ami Yamasaki - voice
Akiko Nakayma - ‘alive painting’/live projections
Miyama McQueen-Tokita - bass koto
TENMC Performers:
Amahl Arulanandam - cello
Suhashini Arulanandam - violin
Cheryl Duvall - piano/co-artistic director
Terry Lim - flutes
Nathan Petitpas - percussion
Anthony Thompson - clarinet
Aysel Taghi-Zada - viola
Ilana Waniuk - violin/co-artistic director
Urbanvessel:
Juliet Palmer - composer/artistic director
Germaine Liu - percussion
Aki Takahashi - shamisen/voice
Sonja Rainey - projections/installation
Lighting Design/Technical Director - Kai Masaoka
Sound Director - Paul Hodge
Accessibility note*
ONGAKU's venue, 918 Bathurst, is not currently wheelchair accessible due to stairs (two half-flights to enter the performance space, and one flight to access the washrooms).
Guest Artists:
Shō player Ko Ishikawa studied Japanese traditional Gagaku music under his masters Mayumi Miyata, Hideaki Bunno and Sukeyasu Shiba. He is a member of Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble. He has been performing not only Gagaku music but also contemporary and experimental music. He is widely acclaimed on the national and international scenes.
Shō player
Akiko Nakayama(b.1988), is a painter who depicts the beauty of conveying energy through a variety of media such as installation, photography and performance. Combining the energy of movement and the vibrancy of colours, Akiko Nakayama brings pictures to life. Called ‘Alive Painting’, Akiko depicts the resonance between shapes and textures by using different types of liquids, each with a unique characteristic. In recent years, She has performed ‘Alive Paintings’ both Solo & Collaboratively in various cities worldwide such as ARS ELECTORONICA FES (2016) Linz , TEDxHaneda (2015) Japan , DLECTRICITY ART FESTIVAL (2017) US.
AMI YAMASAKI is a vocalist and interdisciplinary artist from Tokyo. Her work is diverse and prolific, creating installations, performances, and films in a variety of settings. She sings with a skill called echo-location for approaching the sound as a physical phenomenon and currently has just started to work with NOKIA Bell Labs to delvelope it. She has been trying to create new voices from research about different ways of listening, gathered from various communities outside of Japan. Recent solo and collaborative performances, include: “Winter solstice concert” (2018, Enoura observatory founded by Hiroshi Sugimoto), “Ryuichi Sakamoto at The Stone at The New School”(2018), “CARL STONE, NED ROTHENBERG, AMI YAMASAKI”(2018, ISSUE PROJECT ROOM) , “Experimental Intermedia 2017”(w/ Yasunao Tone), “Sounds to Summon the Japanese Gods”(2016, Japan Society of New York),“Signs of Voices” (2016, Kyoto Art Center, Japan). She has participated in numerous group shows, including “Setouchi Triennale 2019”(Japan), “VIVA EXCON 2018 Capiz”(Philippines), “Planting Seed” (2013, ACAC, Japan), and “Sonic City 2013 Liquid Architecture” (2013, RMIT, Australia). She has lead workshops at The National Museum of Art Osaka and Arts Maebashi, as well as a variety of television and film appearances for narration and voice for “MORIBITO II” (NHK, 2017) , “My Tyrano:Together, Forever”(2018) and Hayao Miyazaki’s latest short film. She presented at TEDx Tokyo in 2016. Asian Cultural Council fellow (2017), Asian Fellow of Asia Center of Japan Foundation (2018). In 2019, she will be invited to The University of Sheffield (UK), The MUSIC UNLIMITED FESTIVAL vol.33 (Austria).
Miyama McQueen-Tokita is a koto and bass koto player and improviser. Constantly in search for her own style, she fuses ancient traditions with new ideas that are relevant to the music and people of the present day. She performs contemporary works, improvisation and original music, and in addition to performing solo, Miyama regularly plays with such artists as Naoki Kita (vln), Tetsu Saitoh (cb), Bruce Huebner (shakuhachi), Masao Tajima (cb) and Keiki Midorikawa (vc). As her free expressive style gained reputation with a wide audience, she began performing often with artists coming from all around the globe to perform in Japan. She has been invited to perform overseas as a soloist in festivals such as the Powell Street Festival in Canada, Tokyo Jazz Festival, Melbourne International Arts Festival and Mapping Melbourne. Ensembles she has performed as a guest soloist include the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, the Australian Art Orchestra and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. In recent years she has been putting energy into improvisation and collaborating with young composers from various countries, looking to create music for the koto in a style and soundscape that has never before been explored. In 2015 and 2017 she took part in IMPULS Academy & Festival held in Graz, Austria, as a bass koto performer, where she performed improvisation, and premiered many new works written for bass koto. Miyama has been taught by Satsuki Odamura and Kazue Sawai. She graduated with a Masters in music from the Tokyo University of the Arts, and is a 2018 grantee for the Asian Cultural Council New York Fellowship. Miyama is based in Tokyo, Japan.