A recital of contemporary and traditional Japanese music for koto and shakuhachi including works by composers: Miki Minoru, Yoshizawa Kengyo, Miyagi Michio, Yoshimatsu Takashi and Yokoyama Katsuya. The 21-string koto, an instrument which came into being in the 1970's, is performed by visiting virtuoso performer, Izumi Fujikawa. Expanding the number of strings of the standard 13 string koto, this plucked instrument is being eagerly written for by Japan's leading contemporary composers.

Joining Izumi on shakuhachi is Anne Norman, a Mornington resident shakuhachi performer who has recently had several performances in Japan by invitation. In Australia, Anne plays shakuhachi in combination with many non-Japanese instruments and vocalists. This new duo with Izumi celebrates a relationship between plucked strings and bamboo flute, which as existed for centuries, performing some of the most beautiful Japanese works in the repertoire.

FUJIKAWA Izumi - Performer Profile
Izumi lives and performs in the city of Kumamoto, Kyushu. She began learning koto in 1977 and in 1986 became a licensed koto master in the Ikuta Guild Miyagi stream. Izumi has also studied with Japan's leading teachers: Sawai Tadao, Yoshioka Hiroko, Nakamura Akikazu, Fukuda Takashi, and Yoshizaki Katsuhiko. Izumi has won many music awards including 2nd Prize in The National Japan Koto Competition and 1st Prize in The Great Wall of China International Music Competition. She is a founding member of Orchestra Asia Japan (ORA-J) hailed by composers, musicians, performers and Arts critics alike as "A Creative Group of a high artistic level producing works of New Music". ORA-J, under their Artistic Director MIKI Minoru, regularly perform in Tokyo and throughout Asia and Europe.