Curious Classics – Japanese Classical Music

Keisuke Zenyoji is one of Japan’s most prominent virtuosos of the Japanese end-blown bamboo flute known as the shakuhachi. He is also a shakuhachi teacher in the Kanto region, with a focus on traditional music.

At this concert, we will hear him together with Akiko Fujimoto, one of the leading contemporary interpreters of music from the Edo period, which is known as Jiuta. Her masterful playing of the koto, the traditional 13-silk-string zither, has garnered significant international awe, as has her singing, which is said to perfectly personify the sound world of the Jiuta style. She is also known for her brilliant playing of the three-stringed instrument, the shamisen. Mariko Kezuka, who is also a prominent singer and shamisen and koto player, will also participate.

Like other areas of Japanese culture, the Japanese classical music tradition underwent a dynamic evolution in the Edo period, beginning in the early seventeenth century. The previous culture, which had been influenced by China, was reshaped into something all its own – something specifically Japanese.

The three guest musicians from Japan – Keisuke Zenyoji, Akiko Fujimoto and Mariko Kezuka – will also present, together with Swedish researcher and shakuhachi musician Gunnar Linder, a masterclass at the Royal College of Music on Friday 28 February at 13.30. Read more about the masterclass here

In partnership with Re:Orient

Curious Classics package – buy at least 3 concerts and receive 15% off