2020.6.25 Press Release
The Noh singer, Ryoko Aoki will broadcast Live-streaming distant session YouTube Live “Noh voice & contemporary music – Pray for an end to the Covid-19″ on 4th and 11th July.
Noh is a Japanese traditional theatre which originated in the 14th century. Noh performers historically performed for religious rituals; for example, to pray for recovery from illness. Now we are suffering from Covid-19 pandemic. Ryoko Aoki have collaborated with international composers to write new pieces for Noh voice. In this series, we will play their pieces to pray for an end to the Covid-19 for the people in the place where composers live.
On 30th May, Ryoko Aoki and the flutist, Kazushi Saito played Italian composer, Federico Gardella “Voice of Wind” for Noh voice and bass flute to pray for an end to the Covid-19 especially for Italian people. It was the live-streaming distant session by using YAMAHA netduetto labo.
We will broadcast YouTube Live vol.2 from 12:30 (CET) on 4th July especially for people who live in France. We will play “Nopera AOI” composed by Noriko Baba who is based in Paris. Now we can see that many concerts are broadcast without audience, due to the influence of Covid-19 pandemic. In this YouTube Live, we will present you the concert without not only audience but also musicians at the hall. Three musicians will do the live-streaming distant session from each house. Three musicians’ playing will be project on the screen of the empty hall and it will be broadcast.
The image of vol.2
We will broadcast YouTube Live vol.3 from 11:00 (CET) on 11th July especially for people who live in Spain. Ryoko Aoki will sing Bruno Dozza “Euridice” as live-streaming distant session with the cellist, Aldo Mata in Madrid.This piece was commissioned by the Embassy of Spain (Special thanks to Mr.José Antonio de Ory, the Cultural Counsellor) in 2018.
You can watch the archive on Ryoko Aoki YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/RyokoAoki
Live-streaming distant session YouTube Live
Noh voice & contemporary music
Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.2, For France
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1Qd_U5BfhE
4 July 2020 12:30-12:50 (Central European Time)
Noriko Baba “Nopera AOI” Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice, Tokyo) Kazushi Saito (Flute, Tokyo) Asuka Hatanaka (Percussion, Kyoto) Noriko Baba (Composition, Paris)
supported by the Kyoto City Cultural Arts Activity Emergency Incentive Grant
in collaboration with SHIBAURA HOUSE, AMATI
This project is self funded and it would be very helpful to continue the project if you support via Paypal (https://www.paypal.me/nohvoicemusic).
Live-streaming distant session YouTube Live
Noh voice & contemporary music
Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.3, For Spain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZOJNLq9XR0
11 July 2020 11:00-11:15 (Central European Time)
Bruno Dozza “Euridice”
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice, Tokyo) Aldo Mata (Cello, Madrid) Bruno Dozza (Composition, Madrid)
in collaboration with AMATI
This project is self funded and it would be very helpful to continue the project l if you support via Paypal(https://www.paypal.me/nohvoicemusic).
〈Past YouTube Live〉
Live-streaming distant session YouTube Live
Noh voice & contemporary music
Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.1, For Italy
bit.ly/end-covid19-noh
30 May 2020 11:00-11:15 (Central European Time)
Federico Gardella “Voice of Wind”
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice, Tokyo) Kazushi Saito (Flute, Tokyo) Federico Gardella (Composition, Milan)
Camera : Toshifumi Tsuyama, Hiro Itaya
Sound : Umeo Saito
Set design : Masahiro Norimine
Ryoko Aoki’s costume : matohu
The Photo of vol.1
〈Biography〉
Ryoko Aoki, Noh singer
Ryoko Aoki is the pioneer of and inspiration for a new artistic form combining utai – traditional Noh recitation – with contemporary music. More than 50 works have been written for her by world-renowned composers including Peter Eötvös and Toshio Hosokawa. Singing with orchestras and performing in operas, she has worked to expand the audience for Noh recitation. She has performed in an opera at the Teatro Real de Madrid as well as with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Ensemble InterContemporain and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. She has participated in music festivals including the Bartok Festival, the Festival d’Automne in Paris, and the Tongyeong International Music Festival. She has also performed at major concert halls including the Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Kölner Philharmonie. Ryoko earned her BA and MA from the Department of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts (majoring in the Kanze School of Noh theatre), before gaining a Ph.D. from SOAS, University of London. She was appointed a “Japan Cultural Envoy” in 2015 by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs. She was awarded “The Creative Tradition Prize” (Japan Arts Foundation) in 2019.
Ryoko Aoki official website https://ryokoaoki.net/
Twitter https://twitter.com/ryoooaoki
Instagram https://instagram.com/ryoooaoki
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/RyokoAoki
Noriko Baba, composer
Born in Niigata ( Japan ), Noriko Baba received a Masters in composition at the University of Fine Arts in Tokyo, and a prize honors at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris in composition. She participated in the Cursus at IRCAM and Voix nouvelles of Foundation Royaumont. Several grants – Akiyoshidaï, Sacem, Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Académie de France in Madrid ( Casa de Velázquez ), Villa Kujoyama ( French Ministry of Foreign Affairs ) – and the support of experienced musicians – ensembles 2e2m, Intercontemporain, cross.art, Ascolta, Instant donné, Cairn, Court-Circuit, Nomade, Ives, Sillages, Balcon, Next Mushroom Promotion – enabled her to develop extremely sensitive and expressive works behind her apparent economy of means. She received the Second Prize of the NHK-Mainichi Composition competition, the Georges Wildenstein Prize from the Académie des Beaux-Arts de l’Institut de France, the Grand Prix for International Composition of the Takefu Festival. She is a Pensionnaire at Villa Médicis 2020-21, French Academy in Rome.
Kazushi Saito, flute
Born in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, Kazushi Saito studied flute at the Tokyo University of the Arts High School and later at its University and its Graduate School. In 2001, he was awarded fourth prize at the 5th Kobe International Competition and first prize at the 70th Japan Music Competition (also Kato Prize and E. Nakamichi Prize). He won first prize at the 4th Biwa-ko International Flute Competition in 1999. He has studied with Paul Meisen, Shokoku Kim, Yumiko Sakuma, Tomomi Nakagawa, Tomio Nakano, Akiko Mikami and Narumi Yamazaki. Saito is currently principal flute of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as member of NOZZLES and The flute quartet. He is also the associate director of the contemporary music ensemble Tokyo Sinfonietta. At the 68th Japan Music Competition in 1999, he was awarded a special jury prize for his performance in the composition final. In 2006, he was the recipient of the Arion-Edo Foundation Encouragement Award. He teaches at Tokyo National University of the Arts, Kunitachi College of Music and Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.
Asuka Hatanaka, percussion
She graduated from Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts at Kyoto in 2000.
After she studied in the “Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in KARLSRUHE”, she obtained her Diplom “ausgezeichnet” in 2004. She got a scholarship from and played it as a member of the 2006/07 in Frankfurt Germany. She won the “Kranichsteiner Musikprice” in Internationale Ferienkursen für Neuemusik Darmstadt in 2006.
Aldo Mata, cello
Aldo Mata’s early studies were in Madrid with María de Macedo and Elías Arizcuren, continuing as a student of Ivan Monighetti at the Reina Sofía School and with a master’s degree from the Chicago Musical College under the direction of Kim Scholes and a doctorate with Janós Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi at Indiana University. He studied further in Budapest with Ferenc Rados. The recipient of various awards and prizes, he has served as a cello professor at Salamanca Superior Conservatory, co-principal with the Symphony Orchestra of Castilla y León, member of the Granados String Quartet, string quartet professor at Musikene (2009–10), and as a soloist, with performances throughout Europe, in China, South America and Spain, participating in major festivals, and playing all the major works for cello and orchestra. He has given masterclasses in Germany, Portugal, China, and Colombia, and is a regular faculty member of the international courses of Madrid (Forum), Llanes, Molinos, Valencia de Don Juan and Presjovem. He plays a cello made in Piacenza in 1787 by Joseph Nadotti.
Bruno Dozza, composer
Born in Milano in 1965, Bruno Dozza studied piano with Carla Weber Bianchi and composition with Vittorio Fellegara. He has also attended classes in the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Estudio Phonos in Barcelona and University of Alcalá de Henares. Since 1993 he lives in Spain. In 2002 he was composer in residence in the Academy of Spain in Rome. He has a wide repertoire of chamber and orchestral music, which has been played in important festivals and concerts in many countries and broadcasted for the main European radios. Scharoun Ensemble, SMASH ensemble, Ensemble Musik Userer Zeit, Zahir Ensemble, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Plural Ensemble, Trio Alborada, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, guitarist Jürgen Ruck, pianists Claudio Martínez Mehner, cellist Aldo Mata and Japanise Noh Voice Ryoko Aoki are some of the groups and soloists who have played his music. He has taught in the Conservatorio Superior de Córdoba, Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid and in the Universidad Europea de Madrid (UEM)