2020.11.26 Press Release
The Noh singer, Ryoko Aoki “HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19”
Live-streaming distant session YouTube Live with European orchestras
The Noh singer, Ryoko Aoki will broadcast the online concert “HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19” (Live-streaming distant session YouTube Live) with 2 famous European orchestras, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Ensemble Musikfabrik.
From May to July 2020, Ryoko Aoki has broadcasted “HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19”.
Noh is a form of theatre involving music and drama, which originated in the 14th century in Japan and is still performed today. Noh has its origins in the rituals involved in the ancient Buddhist and Shinto religions. Noh performers historically performed at shrines or temples for religious rituals: for example, to pray for recovery from illness.
Now we are suffering from Covid-19 pandemic. Ryoko Aoki has collaborated with international composers to write new pieces for Noh voice. We have organized the online concert to share these contemporary music for Noh voice written by composers all over the world to pray for an end to the Covid-19.
In the concert, the composer will briefly talk about his or her own piece and then it will be performed. Musicians will take part in the live-streaming distant session by using Skype as a video and YAMAHA Syncroom as an audio.
2018/2/1 Noriko Baba “hagoromo suite” Concertgebouw
Ryoko Aoki, The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Photo : Renske Vrolijk / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
We will broadcast YouTube Live vol.4 from 11:00 (CET) on 7th December 2020 especially for people who live in the Netherlands. Ryoko Aoki will sing Noriko Baba “hagoromo suite” as live-streaming distant session with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra members from Amsterdam.
Ryoko Aoki and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra members performed Noriko Baba “hagoromo suite” at Concertgebouw in 2018. We will connect the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Japan and Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
2019/9/8 Peter Eötvös “Secret Kiss” Berliner Philharmonie
Ryoko Aoki, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Peter Eötvös
Photo : Adam Janisch
We will broadcast YouTube Live vol.5 from 11:00 (CET) on 19th February 2021 especially for people who live in Germany. Ryoko Aoki will sing Peter Eötvös “Secret Kiss” as live-streaming distant session with Ensemble Musikfabrik in Cologne.
In 2019, Ryoko Aoki and Ensemble Musikfabrik played Peter Eötvös “Secret Kiss” at Berlin Philharmonie under the composer’s baton.
Peter Eötvös composed “Secret Kiss” based on “Silk” by Alessandro Baricco. The venue of streaming will be Sankeien Garden. The founder of it was Sankei Hara. He was the silk trader, and ran Tomioka silk mill, which could be model of “Silk” by Alessandro Baricco.
You can watch the archive on Ryoko Aoki YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/c/RyokoAoki
HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.4, For Netherlands
https://youtu.be/EDqKapGVgSQ
Date: 11:00-11:30 (CET) 7 December 2020
Venue: The Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Japan, Tokyo / Recital Hall, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Noriko Baba “hagoromo suite”
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice, Tokyo)
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra members, Amsterdam
Junko Naito (violin) Sylvia Huang (violin) Saeko Oguma (viola) Fred Edelen (violoncello)
Noriko Baba (Composition, Rome)
Technical direction / live streaming: LUFTZUG
Subsidized by Minato City in Tokyo, Association for Corporate Support of the Arts GBFund
With the cooperation of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Japan, 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) or
Peatix (https://honohfornetherlandsafter.peatix.com/).
HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.5, For Germany
https://youtu.be/X2yIQnM_Z2w
Date: 11:00-11:30 (CET) 19 February 2021
Venue: Yokohama Sankeien Garden, Buddhist Sanctum of the Former Tokeiji Temple [Important National Cultural Property] / Studio Ensemble Musikfabrik, Cologne
Peter Eötvös “Secret Kiss”
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice, Tokyo)
Ensemble Musikfabrik (Cologne)
Peter Eötvös (Composition, Budapest)
Technical direction / live streaming: LUFTZUG
Subsidized by Magnet Culture Project Kanagawa
With the cooperation of 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) or
Peatix (https://honohforgermany.peatix.com/)
〈Biography〉
Photo : Hiroaki Seo
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
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra members（String Quartet）
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is one of the very best orchestras in the world. But what makes the orchestra so special? Time and time again, critics have lauded its unique sound, which clearly stands out among thousands of others. Although sound is difficult to describe in words, the RCO’s string section has been called ‘velvety’, the sound of the brass ‘golden’, the timbre of the woodwinds ‘distinctly personal’ and the percussion have an international reputation. While the exceptional acoustics of the Concertgebouw, designed by the architect AL van Gendt, also play an important rôle in this respect, no other orchestra sounds like the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Main Hall. The influence exerted on the orchestra by its chief conductors, of whom there have been only six in the last 125 years, is also important. As is that of the musicians themselves. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is made up of 120 players hailing from over twenty countries. Despite its size, the orchestra actually functions more like a chamber orchestra in terms of the sensitivity with which its members listen to, and work in tandem with, one another. Indeed, this requires both a high individual calibre and a great sense of mutual trust and confidence. The atmosphere onstage, the orchestra’s roots in Amsterdam and the organisational structure (the RCO Board also includes members of the orchestra) all converge to create exactly the right circumstances for exceptional music-making. The musicians are allowed to shine, yet still share responsibility for the collective. They also share the aim of achieving and delivering the highest level of quality at every performance, an ambition that goes far beyond simply playing all the notes perfectly.
official website https://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/concertgebouworkest
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.
Photo : Katharina Dubno, Lightdesign : Joscha Brück
Ensemble Musikfabrik
Ever since its formation, Ensemble Musikfabrik has had the reputation of being one of the leading ensembles for contemporary music. Following the literal meaning of its name, Ensemble Musikfabrik is particularly dedicated to artistic innovation. New, unknown, and often personally commissioned works in unusual media are typical of their productions. The results of their extensive work, usually taking place in close collaboration with the composers, are presented by the Cologne-based international soloist ensemble in up to 80 concerts a year in both Germany and abroad, at Festivals, in their own series “Musikfabrik in WDR” and in regular radio recordings and CD productions.
Ensemble Musikfabrik is supported by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
official website https://www.musikfabrik.eu/en
Photo : Marco Borggreve
Peter Eötvös, composer
Peter Eötvös is a highly influential figure of the Hungarian and international contemporary music scene. He learned composition in the School of Exceptional Young Talents at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary and than in Cologne, Germany, where he studied composition under the tutelage of B. A. Zimmermann and had the opportunity to work with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Musical director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain for over a decade, his twelve operas, instrumental solo concertos, larger- and smaller scale symphonic compositions and chamber music pieces are regularly staged in the world’s greatest concert halls, festivals and opera houses.
In recent years, he has been commissioned to write orchestral pieces for the Concertgebouw, the Elbphilharmonie, the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Seoul and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras and many others. His social and political sensitivity has inspired him to pen several of his pieces. His operas were commissioned by the most prestigious houses, such as the Opera de Lyon, Chatelet Paris, Bavarian State Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera Frankfurt, New York Philharmony Orchestra. Currently, he is working on two operas commissioned by the Berlin State Opera and the Hungarian State Opera House.
official website https://eotvospeter.com
〈Past YouTube Live Vol.1-3〉
30 May 2020, HO NOH – Pray Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.1, For Italy
Federico Gardella “Voice of Wind”
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice) Kazushi Saito (Flute : Remote performance)
https://youtu.be/Fgj8S7Fz4pc
4 July 2020, HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19, For France
Noriko Baba “Nopera AOI”
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice, Tokyo) Kazushi Saito (Flute, Tokyo) Asuka Hatanaka (Percussion, Kyoto)
https://youtu.be/5vt-MpzN2r8
11 July 2020, HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19, For Spain
Bruno Dozza “Euridice”
Ryoko Aoki (Noh voice, Tokyo) Aldo Mata (Cello, Madrid)
https://youtu.be/BZOJNLq9XR0