BAMBOO RAKU

PROGRAM NOTES

Tsuru no Sugomori, Reibo and Sanya by James Nyoraku Schlefer

Honkyoku are solo shakuhachi pieces that were created over the course of many centuries as a way to focus on breathing and form. These sounds and the silences coming together were not attributed to any one composer, but often are identified by the location of their creation and practice. Three of the most common honkyoku are titled Reibo, Sanya and Tsuru no Sugomori, with several versions of each named for a particular temple or area. My idea was to create a triptych of these works that hold closely to significant aspects of the originals but introduce numerous innovations. Since these were created in my hometown, they each bear the prefix Brooklyn. - James Nyoraku Schlefer

KIO by Michiyo Mamiya

言葉なき原野はわれわれの故郷だ 
わが言葉の季みは 
それに刃むかう民である一人の
痛みめざめる現存である
黒田喜夫『言葉のあとに』より　

Silent field, our native soil
Springing verses of mine 
Rising against silent soil 
Are suffering existence awakened 
from After the Verses; Kio Kuroda 

The title, KIO, is in homage to the poet Kio Kuroda (1926-1984), whom I respect. KIO is the second piece composed as a monody and dedicated to Kuroda, preceded by Gen-ya (Invisible Soil) for violin and piano, which was composed in 1987. The above quoted lines from "after the verses" by Kuroda were written as a postface for his poem collection "Fukikyo". The lines themselves are from one of his finest poems and embody his strict self-analysis. Another motivation for this composition was the collaboration between the shakuhachi master Sakata Seizan and Yo-Yo Ma, an American cellist, who recorded "Narayama" by Kozaburo Hirai, which I arranged and conducted. Yo-Yo Ma was deeply impressed by the sound of shakuhachi. At that time, I promised to write a duo for shakuhachi and cello for him. KIO is that piece.  - Michiyo Miyama

PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES

James Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi, 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. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood and BAM, as well as multiple venues across the country and in Japan, Indonesia, Brazil and Europe. Schlefer first encountered the shakuhachi in 1979, while working towards a career as a flute player and pursuing an advanced degree in musicology. Today he is considered by his colleagues to be one of most influential Western practitioners of this distinctive art form. Known to his students as Nyoraku sensei, Schlefer established his own dojo in NYC in 1996. He also teaches shakuhachi at Columbia University, a broad spectrum of Western and World music courses at New York City College of Technology (CUNY), and performs and lectures at colleges and universities throughout the United States. As a composer, Schlefer has written multiple chamber and orchestral works combining Japanese and Western instruments as well as numerous pieces solely for traditional Japanese instruments. In December 2015, he was recognized by Musical America Worldwide as one of their “30 Top Professionals and Key Influencers” for his work both as a composer and Artistic Director of Kyo-Shin-An Arts. 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. His programming for Kyo-Shin-An Arts has also been recognized with two CMA/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming (2013 and 2016). His orchestral music can be heard on the recording Spring Sounds Spring Season MSR Classics. nyoraku.com

Hikaru Tamaki, cello, concertizes regularly as a soloist and a chamber musician. He served as the principal cellist of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and was a member of the Freimann String Quartet. Before joining the Philharmonic, he was an associate principal cellist of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and performed under the baton of Daniel Barenboim at Carnegie Hall. Solo performances with the Philharmonic have included the Dvorak Cello Concerto, Don Quixote among other major concertos. He was awarded a bachelor of arts degree from Rice University and a master of music degree from Northwestern University, where his teachers were Paul Katz and Hans Jorgen Jensen. Hikaru was a prizewinner in the prestigious All Japan Viva Hall Cello Competition. He performs regularly with Yoko Reikano Kimura (koto/shamisen) under the moniker Duo YUMENO, and they were awarded the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program grant in 2014, and received the Aoyama Baroque Saal Award in the following year. hikarucello.com