2020.10.20 Noh singer, Ryoko Aoki commission series “Noh × Contemporary Music” vol.8
Noh singer, Ryoko Aoki commission series “Noh × Contemporary Music” vol.8-1
National Arts Festival (Agency for Cultural Affairs) FY2020 (vol.75)
SUNTORY FOUNDATION for the ARTS “Keizo Saji Select Concerts” vol.20
From 2010, a Noh singer, Ryoko Aoki, has organised “Noh × Contemporary Music” to commission international composers to write new pieces for Noh voice. So far, she has premiered 33 pieces in this series and she released her debut CD “Noh × Contemporary Music” in 2014. In this project, we will commission Robert HP Platz, Frédéric Durieux, Diana Rotaru and will premiere their new works on 20 October 2020. In the concert, the composers will talk about composing a new piece for Noh voice online, and then they will be performed. The talk will give audiences a deeper understanding of this new world of contemporary music and Noh.
Date：
20 October 2020 (Tuesday) 19:00-
Programme：
Robert HP Platz (Germany) “New piece for Noh voice and string quartet” (World Premiere)
Frédéric Durieux (France) “New piece for Noh voice and string quartet” (World Premiere)
Diana Rotaru (Romania) “New piece for Noh voice and string quartet”(World Premiere)
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice)
String Quartet : Yasutaka Hemmi (Violin) Yoshu Kamei (Violin) Takahiro Yasuda (Viola) Aki Kitajima (Violoncello)
Robert HP Platz (Composition) Frédéric Durieux (Composition) Diana Rotaru (Composition)
Venue：
Akasaka Civic Hall (Akasaka Community Plaza 3F Civic Center, 4-18-13 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo)
10 mins from Ginza line / Marunouchi line, Akasaka-mitsuke station (A Exit)
10 mins from Oedo line / Ginza line / Hanzomon line, Aoyama-itchome station (4 Exit)
Ticket：
￥3,000
￥2,500 for Minato City residents
￥3,000 Student
Tickets sale will start on 20 August 2020.
In line with COVID-19 guidelines, 100 seats will be sold (400 seats in the hall).
Children under elementary school (under 6 years old) are not allowed.
Booking & Inquiries：
eplus < PC&mobile>
Ticket Pia < PC&mobile> 0570-02-9999 (P-code:186-971)
AMATI Inc.
TEL 03-3560-3010 FAX 03-3560-3008
E-mail: info@amati-tokyo.com
Noh × Contemporary Music
presented by ensemble-no
under the joint auspices of Minato City
(FY2020 Minato Cooperation Project for Cultural Program)
managed by AMATI Inc.
Artists Biography：
Photo : Hiroaki Seo
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice)
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 and was appointed as a Minato City Tourism Ambassador in 2019.
Composers：
Photo : W. Weiss
Robert HP Platz
Platz was born in 1951 in Baden-Baden, Germany. He studied with Wolfgang Fortner and Karlheinz Stockhausen, as a conductor with Francis Travis. Further studies in Parapsychology, later computer composition (IRCAM, France). His compositions since 1989 are diary-like parts of a continuous flow, distributed in polyphonic space („formal polyphony“). Among numerous awards and prices, Platz was composer in residence at the Villa Serbelloni (Rockefeller Foundation) and spent several months in Japan upon a grant by Japan Foundation. Platz taught and published in many European countries, the US, Mexico and Japan. He appeared or had his works performed in all the important festivals in Europe, including the Salzburg Festival. Platz has conducted more than 300 first performances by composers including Bussotti, Hosokawa, Huber, Kagel, Scelsi, Xenakis… He lives in Cologne and is currently principal guest conductor of Ensemble Alternance (Paris) and Musica d’Insieme (Milan). Since 2005 Platz is also member of the Bureau du directeur of the electronic studio Centre Henri Pousseur in Liège, Belgium. His CD with Ensemble Alternance (works of Mauro Lanza) was selected by the Academie Charles Cros, his first portrait CD of Toshio Hosokawa received the clef d’or as the best CD of the year 2009 in France. His writings on music cover several volumes; a book about contemporary technique of the violin (with Irvine Arditti) appeared in 2013. Since 2016, the piano manufacturer Steingraeber has been building a Midi-Grandpiano with fixed transducers according to Platz’ indications. Platz is professor of composition and conducting contemporary ensemble-music at the University of Music, Würzburg, Germany.
Frédéric Durieux
Born in Paris on 27 February 1959, Frédéric Durieux studied at the Paris Conservatory where he obtained a First Prize in Composition (class of Ivo Malec, 1986) and a First Prize in Analysis (class of Betsy Jolas, 1984). He continued his studies at IRCAM in electronic music (1985-86). From 1987 to 1989, he resided at the Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome. Since 1983, Frédéric Durieux has received many commissions, and his work has been performed in Europe, in Asia and on the American continent. His catalogue contains works for soloists, ensemble, orchestra, and voice, with or without electronics. His scores often contain references to poetic or dramatic authors (Yves Bonnefoy, Samuel Beckett, Howard Barker, Paul Celan) or visual artists (Cy Twombly, Barnett Newman). Frédéric Durieux is professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) and gives master classes in numerous countries (Germany, Italy, UK, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, China, Japan). Frédéric Durieux received the Prize of the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation in 2010, and, in 2016, the Florent Schmitt Prize of the Academy of Fine Arts (French Institute). Frédéric Durieux is an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (France).
Photo : Florin Ghenade
Diana Rotaru
Romanian composer Diana Rotaru (born 24.09.1981, Bucharest) studied composition with Ştefan Niculescu and Dan Dediu at the National University of Music in Bucharest and with Frédéric Durieux at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (Erasmus). She participated in different courses such as Acanthes (Metz, 2008), Voix Nouvelles-Royaumont (2002 and 2006), or the International Bartok Seminary (Szombathely, 2003). Resident at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (the George Enescu grant from the Romanian Cultural Institute, 2007) and at Villa Sträuli, Winterthur (2011). Won numerous prizes, among which the Romanian Academy’s George Enescu Award (2010), the ISCM-IAMIC Young Composer Award (World Music Days, Vilnius, 2008), the Irino Prize (Japan, 2004) or the George Enescu Prize ex-aequo (Romania, 2003 and 2005). Artistic director of SonoMania ensemble, she is currently teaching at the National University of Music in Bucharest where she also coordinates the Romanian Music Information Center (CIMRO). President of ISCM Romania and artistic director of MERIDIAN International New Music Festival since 2019.
Musicians：
String Quartet
Yasutaka Hemmi (Violin)
Yoshu Kamei (Violin)
Takahiro Yasuda (Viola)
Aki Kitajima (Violoncello)
Aki Kitajima was born in Chiba, Japan. She received her bachelor’s degrees at the Toho-Gakuen school of music under Prof. Keiko Matsunami. Additionally, she took private classes under Prof. Ryosuke Hori there. In 2003 she won first prize at the 10th Nippon Best Players competition. From 2008 until 2013, she studied Violoncello under Prof. Francis Gouton, as well as Contemporary Music under Erik Borgir (Ensemble Ascolata) and Sven Thomas Kiebler (Ensemble SurPlus Freiburg) at Musikhochschule Trossingen in Germany. Furthermore, she took improvisation classes under Harald Kimming and Thomas Wenk-Bärmann. She also received a scholarship and she was a academy student at the International Ensemble Modern Academy in 2013/14. In 2014, she received 3rd prize at Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb in the category “Ensemble – New Music”. From 2015 until 2017, she studied Baroque cello at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt under Prof. Kristin von der Goltz. She is a regular extra player at both Ensemble Modern and the Ensemble Modern Orchestra and participated in a variety of different festivals for contemporary music, both as a chamber musician and as a soloist, such as International Summer Course for Contemporary music in Darmstadt, Gaudeams Muziekweek in Utrecht, Kurt Weil Fest in Dessau and cresc… Festival in Frankfurt. Since December 2017 she is based in Japan and working on projects all over the world.
MC
Arisa Iida