News

2022.1.12 Noh Singer, Ryoko Aoki Commission Series “Contemporary Music × Noh” Vol.9

From 2010, a Noh singer, Ryoko Aoki, has organised “Contemporary Music × Noh” to commission international composers to write new pieces for Noh voice. So far, 39 pieces have been premiered in this series. In this project, we will commission Mikel Urquiza, Silvia Borzelli, Yasutaki Inamori and will premiere their new works on 12 January 2022. In the concert, the composers will talk about composing a new piece for Noh voice, and then they will be performed. The talk will give audiences a deeper understanding of this new world of contemporary music and Noh.

Presented by ensemble-no
Produced by Ryoko Aoki
Under the joint auspices of Kiss Port Foundation (Minato City)
Subsidized by Japan Arts Council, Arts Council Tokyo (Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture), Minato City Cultural Grant, Nomura Foundation
Managed by AMATI Inc.

Ticket：
￥4,000
￥3,500 for Minato City residents
￥2,000 Student

Booking：
Suntory Hall Ticket Center　0570-55-0017　https://www.suntory.co.jp/suntoryhall/schedule/detail/20220112_S_3.html
Ticket Pia　0570-02-9999（P-code: 202-143）https://t.pia.jp/pia/event/event.do?eventCd=2121577
eplus　https://eplus.jp/sf/detail/3135400001-P0030005P021001?P1=1221
Peatix　https://ryokoaoki-event2022.peatix.com

Biography：©︎Ryo Hanabusa

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 Wolfgang Rihm’s opera “The Conquest of Mexico” at the Teatro Real de Madrid as well as with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Ensemble Musikfabrik and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. She has participated in music festivals including the Festival d’Automne in Paris, the Musikfest Berlin, the Bartok Festival, the Ars Musica, the Tongyeong International Music Festival and the Suntory Hall Summer Festival. She has also performed at major concert halls including the Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Kölner Philharmonie and the Suntory Hall. As part of her Contemporary Music x Noh project, Ryoko Aoki has commissioned a series of new works for Noh voice. During Covid-19 pandemic, she has broadcasted the online concert “HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19” as live-streaming distant session on her YouTube Channel. She released “Noh x Contemporary Music” recording in 2014 and “Yoru no Kotoba” recording with the cellist of Ensemble Intercontemporain, Éric-Maria Couturier in 2021. 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 awarded “The Creative Tradition Prize” in 2019 by the Japan Arts Foundation. She was appointed as a Minato City Tourism Ambassador since 2019. She will premiere José María Sánchez-Verdú’s new orchestra piece with the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir at the Auditorio Nacional Madrid in February 2022.
https://ryokoaoki.net/
Twitter https://twitter.com/ryoooaoki
Instagram https://instagram.com/ryoooaoki
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/RyokoAokiAyano Kamimura（Violoncello）
Ayano Kamimura is 1st prize winner of a lot of Music Competition. She has participated in masterclasses and festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Kronberg Academy, Piatigorsky Cello Festival and Creative Dialoge under Kaija Saariaho. She has been invited by the Miyazaki International music festival and Kirishima International music festival every year as an artist. She studied with Hakuro Mori, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Arto Noras, Ivan Monighetti, Sol Gabetta and Also she studied Period cello with Christophe Coin.
https://www.ayano-kamimura.com

©︎Balint Hrtokó – Peter Eötvös Foundation

Mikel Urquiza（Composer）
Mikel Urquiza (1988, Bilbao) studies composition at Musikene with Gabriel Erkoreka and Ramon Lazkano, then at Paris CNSM with Gérard Pesson and Stefano Gervasoni. In 2019-2020 he is mentored by the Peter Eötvös Foundation and a fellow of the French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici. As a PhD student of SACRe, he focuses on the relation between music and memory.
His music is played all across Europe by some of the best chamber music groups (Trio Accanto, Trio Catch, Quatuor Diotima) and ensembles (C Barré, L’Instant Donné, Intercontemporain, Mosaik, Musikfabrik). Deeply linked to voice, he writes song cycles for Sarah Maria Sun and the Neue Vocalsolisten.
His music is performed at festivals such as Présences, ManiFeste, ECLAT, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, MATA New York, Musikprotokoll Graz, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, and the Venice Biennale.
http://www.mikelurquiza.eu/ENG.html

Silvia Borzelli（Composer）
Born in Rome. Currently based in Amsterdam. Graduated in piano and composition. She studied in Italy (Conservatorio O.Respighi), Sweden (Malmö Musikhögskolan) and The Netherlands (The Hague Royal Conservatoire). She received commissions and performances by musicians and ensembles such as Linea, ASKO, Nieuw, mdi, L’Arsenale, Reconsil, Sentieri Selvaggi, 2e2m, Les Cris de Paris, Arditti quartet, Quartetto Maurice, Duo Dillon-Torquati, Dario Calderone, Simone Beneventi, Gareth Davis, Bas Wiegers, Jean-Philippe Wurtz and others, in festivals and venues such as, among others, Venice Music Biennale, Milano Musica, RomaEuropa Festival, Voix Nouvelles, Festival Musica Strasbourg, ECLAT, Holland Festival, November Music, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Nederlandse Muziekdagen, Wien Modern, Contempuls Festival, Columbia University. Selected for the ISCM World New Music Days, International Rostrum of composers, V. Bucchi Prize, Henriëtte Bosmansprijs. Her music has been commissioned and supported by institutions such as the French Ministry of Culture, Radio France, Musik der Jahrhunderte Stuttgart, Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and the Fonds Podiumkunsten Nederland.
https://silviaborzelli.com

©︎Heinz Wernecke

Yasutaki Inamori（Composer）
Yasutaki Inamori (b.1978, Tokyo) studied composition with Prof. Masahiro Yamauchi at Tokyo Gakugei University and with Prof. Michael Beil and Prof. Johannes Schöllhorn at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. His works have been performed internationally by WDR Symphony Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Bruxelles Philharmonic, New Japan Philharmonic among others in Germany, Italy, USA, Belgium, Japan, etc. He has won the 1st Prize at The Music Competition of Japan (2007), Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann Scholarship (2011), Akutagawa Yasushi Suntory Composition Award (2019), and more. He is currently teaching faculty at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music.
https://yasutakiinamori.com

Talk：Yuji Numano（音楽学）
Born in 1965, Yuji Numano is a music writer and historian whose research interests include Japanese contemporary music, modern musical notation, socialism and music, and trends in contemporary music. After completing an MD and PhD in musicology at Tokyo University of the Arts, Mr. Numano held a lecturing position at Tokyo College of Music until 2004, when he became an assistant professor. He was a visiting fellow at Harvard University during the 2008-2009 academic year and currently serves on the faculty at Toho Gakuen School of Music. A prolific writer, Mr. Numano has published scholarship on Japanese contemporary music in general, and on composers Akira Nishimura, Gyorgy Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, and Edgar Varese.

MC：Arisa Iida