After a quiet April recovering from last month’s shows, I’d like to direct some attention to the events I have coming up in May.

I had a rather unusual weekend with a crew from the Japanese public broadcasting company, the NHK, following me to my shamisen lesson, my English lesson, and even filming me composing. I’ve never composed live before. The result will be a short segment on a TV show: “Hirukko Iwate” on May 15th [EDIT: program title and time changed!]. For those of you not in Japan, I hope to post a digital copy of that segment after the broadcast

On May 10th at “Onikembai,” I’ll join my teacher and his group for probably one of the last shamisen performances before I return to the US in the beginning of July.

And finally, on May 25th my piece “… of modesty and splendor” for clarinet, violoncello, Korean janggu (drum), gayageum (zither), and daegeum (transverse flute) will be performed by the Contemporary Music Ensemble Korea (CMEK) in Seoul. So I need to brush up on my Korean…

As promised, here is a massive post with some images and the pieces from our “Goshiki Sanran” concerts. It was a wonderful experience, although most of my memories are of furiously practicing either in at my house in Japan or in the hotel in Korea. Please forgive a little bit of roughness in the performance.

Below are mp3s taken from both concerts, and the pictures are from our 3/23 concert in Kitakami.

I’ll post the final newspaper article from the Nichi-Nichi as a comment after I scan it this afternoon.

Gayageum Sanjo (traditional)
Won-Hui Jang, Gayageum; Yu-Sun Kim, Janggu

Tsugaru Jongara-Bushi (traditional)
Choei Sato, shamisen; Simon Hutchinson, shamisen

colloquy for Sanjo Gayageum and Tsugaru Jamisen – Simon Hutchinson
Simon Hutchinson, Shamisen; Won-Hui Jang, Gayageum

Epsilon Aurigae – Simon Hutchinson
Won-Hui Jang, Gayageum; Yu-Sun Kim, Gayageum

Anamnesis & Catharsis – Simon Hutchinson
Daniel Brown, Cello; Yu-Sun Kim, Gayageum

The Long Line – Daniel Brown
Sarah Morris, Flute; Daniel Brown, Cello

Trio – Daniel Brown
Sarah Morris, Flute; Daniel Brown, Cello; Won-Hui Jang, Gayageum

Your Ritual Summer – Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown, Cello; Yu-Sun Kim, Gayageum

Isle of Spring – Young-Shin Choi
Sarah Morris, Flute; Daniel Brown, Cello; Won-Hui Jang, Gayageum; Yu-Sun Kim, Gayageum

Blue Mountain – Young-Shin Choi
Sarah Morris, Flute; Daniel Brown, Cello

Fog and Wind – Young-Shin Choi
Yu-Sun Kim, Gayageum