KYO-SHIN-AN ARTS
Kyo-Shin-An Arts is a contemporary music organization with a mission to bring Japanese instruments – specifically koto, shakuhachi and shamisen – to Western classical music. KSA works in partnership with established chamber ensembles, orchestras and great individual performers to bridge two musical cultures. It introduces composers, players and audiences to the beauty and versatility of Japanese instruments and the virtuosity of the musicians who play them. Concerts feature a blend of KSA commissions, other World, American and NY premieres, traditional and contemporary music for Japanese instruments and Western repertoire. Founded in 2009, Kyo-Shin-An Arts presents its NYC chamber music season at the Tenri Cultural Institute in Manhattan. KSA has been recognized with two CMA/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming (2013 and 2016).
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
JAMES NYORAKU SCHLEFER is a composer, educator and performer. He is a Grand Master of the shakuhachi and one of only a handful of non-Japanese artists to have achieved this rank. He received the Dai-Shi-Han (Grand Master) certificate in 2001, and his second Shi-Han certificate in 2008, from the Mujuan Dojo in Kyoto. An expert in both Japanese and Western music, he regularly performs with Japanese ensembles and as a soloist or chamber player with Western ensembles and orchestras including the Arianna, Cassatt, Ciompi and Voxare String Quartets, Sybarite5, Orchestra of the Swan, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and the Round Top Festival Orchestra. Schlefer has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood and BAM, as well as multiple venues across the country and in Japan, Malaysia, Brazil and throughout Europe.
As a composer, Schlefer’s unique style draws upon his deep connections to Western classical and rock music, as well as traditional and modern styles of Japanese music. He has written multiple chamber and orchestral works combining Japanese and Western instruments as well as numerous pieces solely for traditional Japanese instruments. He writes for koto, shamisen, and shakuhachi, with and without Western instruments, combining these instruments with piano trio, string quartet and orchestra. Schlefer has been commissioned by Orchestra of the Swan, Tenri Cultural Institute, the Satori Ensemble, SONOS Chamber Orchestra, Dancing in the Streets, Pearson Widrig Dance Theater and Kyo-Shin-An Arts. His orchestral music can be heard on the recording Spring Sounds Spring Season MSR Classics.
Schlefer taught shakuhachi at Columbia University for a decade and Western and World music courses at New York City College of Technology (CUNY) for 27 years. Schlefer also lectures and performs at colleges and universities throughout the United States. His personal dojo is in Brooklyn, NY.
In December 2015, Schlefer was recognized by Musical America Worldwide, for his work both as a composer and as Artistic Director of Kyo-Shin-An Arts, as one of their “30 Top Professionals and Key Influencers”. His writings about the shakuhachi and his career were published in 2018 on NewMusicBox and he was profiled by the National Endowment for the Arts’ “Arts Works Blog” in May 2016.
MEG FAGAN, Founder and Producer, has over three decades of professional experience in administration for the performing arts, including development and strategic planning, performance and event production, marketing, finance, and artist management. Originally a professional oboe player, Fagan also directed her own chamber ensemble and concert series. After moving into arts administration in the early 1990s, she spent 10 years as a Director of Development for a variety of organizations including The Kitchen, Dancing in the Streets, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Ms. Fagan also served as Acting Director of Dancing in the Streets. In 2013-14, Ms. Fagan was the Interim Director of Development for Concert Artists Guild for seven months. As a strategic planning and fundraising consultant, clients have included American Dance Abroad, STREB, New York Theater Ballet, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Economic Hardship Reporting Project, Tusk USA, The Kitchen, Dancing in the Streets, Brooklyn Philharmonic, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Music-Theatre Group, Dance/USA, Foundation for Jewish Culture, NY Transit Museum, Studio Dante, and Diamanda Galas.
