Friday, October 13 at 8pm, shakuhachi master Riley Lee will perform at the
Clarion Music Center in San Francisco. Joining Riley as a special guest
will be koto virtuoso Shoko Hikage to play the duet pieces Ichikotsu and
Picture Dreams. Please contact the Clarion to reserve your tickets, as
seating may be limited.
Clarion Music Center
816 Sacramento at Grant, San Francisco
(415) 391-1317 or toll free (888) 343-5374
(http://www.clarionmusic.com)
(http://www.ticketweb.com)
Admission: $11
Biographies:
Dr. Riley Lee was the first non-Japanese person to be awarded the rank of
Grand Master (Dai Shihan) and holds two of the most revered lineages of Zen
shakuhachi playing through his teachers Yokoyama Katsuya and Sakai Chikuho
II. He teaches shakuhachi and gives breathing workshops to students in
Australia, Asia, and the United States. A prolific composer, he has
released twenty-five recordings of traditional and original pieces. Riley
has been playing for nearly thirty years and earned his Ph.D. in
ethnomusicology from the University of Sydney in 1992.
(http://www.shakuhachi.com/R-Shaku-Lee.html)
Shoko Hikage began playing koto at age of three. Her first teacher was
Chizuga Kimura of the Ikuta Ryu Sokyoku Seigen Kai. Shoko graduated from
Takasaki College in 1988 with a major in Koto music. After college, she was
accepted as a special research student in the Sawai Sokyoku-In under Tadao
Sawai and Kazue Sawai, where she received her master's certificate. In
1992, she moved to Honolulu Hawaii to teach Koto at the Sawai Koto Kai and
held her first American solo recital at the Honolulu Academy of Arts
Theater. She moved to San Francisco in 1997. Shoko performs throughout the
world, has recorded several CDs, and teaches Koto at the Japanese Cultural
Community Center of Northern California.
About the shakuhachi:
The shakuhachi is the traditional 5-hole flute of Japan made from a single
stalk of bamboo, yet despite its simple construction, in the hands of a
master it can produce an unbelievably wide range of sounds. First
introduced from China in the eighth century, it has been used in a
spiritual context since the 15th century or earlier. In the Edo period
(1600-1868), playing the shakuhachi was the primary meditative practice of
a sect of Zen Buddhist monks, who called themselves komusô (priests of
nothingness). For these Zen monks, the shakuhachi was a spiritual tool, not
a musical instrument. They also knew that the act of playing the shakuhachi
relaxed the mind and body in many ways, and subsequently aided their
meditation and contemplation. The wisdom of the komusô has been transmitted
to today's shakuhachi players through their repertoire of sacred pieces
(honkyoku) and the beautiful sounds of the instrument have made it an
increasingly popular part of world music ensembles.
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