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07/30 Thursday
7:30 PM BAMBOO RELATED
Elizabeth Reian Bennett on shakuhachi is joined by Tomoko Graham , koto; Scott Woolweaver, viola; and Geni Skendo, shakuhachi. This will be an evening of ancient and modern pieces for shakuhachi and koto, and shakuhachis and viola.
BIOGRAPHIES
Elizabeth Reian Bennett is the first woman to play professionally as a Grand Master of the shakuhachi, the Japanese bamboo flute, and stands out as one of only a handful of western players trained in traditional Japanese music. She has studied and performed with Living National Treasure Aoki Reibo, recognized as Japan's foremost shakuhachi instrumentalist, for 30 years.
Since her debut recital in Tokyo in 1984, Reian Bennett has performed frequently in Japan and worldwide, from Australia and Europe to Mexico, Afghanistan and the United States. Her most recent Tokyo appearances were in February of 2008; notable venues include Tokyo National Theater and NHK (Japan National TV). Other high points of 2008 were her participation in the World Shakuhachi Festival in Sydney in July and the British Flute Society Conference in Manchester, UK, in August. She has been interviewed on radio by Faith Middleton of Fresh Air, Robert J. Lurtsema of Morning Pro Musica and Richard Knisley of Classical Performances.
Her CD entitled Song of the True Hand, released in 2006, was nominated 'Instrumental Album of the Year' by Jon Sobel at Blogcritics Magazine. In describing it, Sobel wrote, “(it exemplifies)… the way a single individual with a musical instrument can wordlessly conjure the human spirit out of thin air.” Hartford Advocate critic Dan Barry compares her musical vocabulary to “…Coltrane in his prime”. Reian Bennett teaches the shakuhachi privately and through the world music program at Tufts University near Boston.
www.cdbaby.com/cd/erbennett for music tracks.
Tomoko Graham directs the Japanese language program at Noble and Greehough
School in Dedham. Tomoko began playing koto at the age of five and received her junshihan degree for perfoming ability in the Ikuta style of playing from the Todokai in Kyoto. She now performs in the Boston area.
Scott Woolweaver, viola, graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan School of Music where he won the Joseph Knitzer and Earl V. Moore awards for outstanding participation in chamber music. After moving to Boston for graduate studies with Walter Trampler, he founded the Boston Composers String Quartet, which won the silver medal at the 1993 String Quartet Competition and Chamber Music Festa in Osaka, Japan. He also founded the Vaener String Trio, which won the Grand Prize at the Joseph Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. From 1999-2006 he was a member of the Ives Quartet, based in San Francisco, CA, and for over 25 years he was a member of the New England Piano Quartette.
A champion of the music of our time, Scott has premiered many new works, including pieces written especially for him. Since 1980 he has been a member of Alea III, a contemporary music ensemble in residence at Boston University.
Current affiliations also include the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and the Grammy-nominated period chamber orchestra Boston Baroque, with whom Scott made his debut as viola d’amor soloist on New Year’s Eve, 1999.
Scott is Artist Associate at prestigious Williams College in Williamstown, MA, and Lecturer in Viola and Chamber Music at Tufts University in Medford, MA.
He is a regular guest of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society and is Director of the Adult Chamber Music Institute at Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill, ME. Scott plays a Johan Georg Thir viola made in Vienna, 1737.
Geni Skendo is a shakuhachi and flute artist active as a performer of jazz and world music. He graduated this spring with an MA in contemporary improvisation from the New England Conservatory.
www.genimusic.com
Tea and snacks, CDs on sale!