CARNEGIEHALL PRESENTS
JapanNYC
A TWO-PART CITYWIDE FESTIVAL LED BYARTISTIC DIRECTOR SEIJI OZAWA,
EXPLORING JAPAN’S ARTS AND CULTURE IN DECEMBER 2010 AND MARCH/APRIL 2011
Over 65 Events throughout New York City at Carnegie Hall and Partner Venues
Celebrate Traditional and Contemporary Japanese Arts, Including
Music, Theater, Dance, Film, and Visual Art
(Update September 20, 2010, NEW YORK, NY)—ThisDecember, Carnegie Hall launches JapanNYC, an ambitious two-partcitywide festival, led by Artistic Director Seiji Ozawa, invitingaudiences to explore the incredible diversity of Japanese arts and culture withmore than 65 performances and events at Carnegie Hall and New York City partnervenues in December 2010 and March–April 2011.
JapanNYC explores the world of Japan today, where artists embrace theircountry’s unique aesthetic sensibilities while continually revitalizing itscultural landscape. Led by Seiji Ozawa, one of Japan’s greatest culturalambassadors, the festival explores a country that values its long-standingcultural heritage while also embracing and transforming Western arts forms,with a spirit that very much looks ahead.
The JapanNYC schedule will feature concerts by some of the Japan’sfinest classical music artists, including cornerstone festival performances bytwo ensembles founded by Mr. Ozawa—the Saito Kinen Orchestra and the SeijiOzawa Ongaku-juku (Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Orchestra)—in rare overseasappearances. The line-up will also include noh theater, taiko drumming, dance,art exhibitions, manga and calligraphy workshops, traditional gagakuperformances, and many more musical offerings, including concerts featuring MitsukoUchida, Midori, Bach Collegium Japan with Masaaki Suzuki,the NHK Symphony Orchestra led by André Previn, ToshikoAkiyoshi, Kazumi Watanabe, coba, Yutaka Oyama and MasahiroNitta, Aimi Kobayashi, and many more.
JapanNYC launches at Carnegie Hall on December 14, 15, and 18 with threeconcerts by the Saito Kinen Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, withmusic by Beethoven (Piano Concerto No. 3 with Mitsuko Uchida), Brahms(Symphony No. 1), Berlioz (Symphonie fantastique), Tōru Takemitsu (NovemberSteps), Britten (War Requiem), and Atsuhiko Gondai (US premiere of Decathexis,co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall). December also offers a major tribute to thelate Tōru Takemitsu, considered to be Japan’s greatest composer, withevents at Carnegie Hall, Film Forum, and Columbia University’s Miller Theatre.
In addition to performances at Carnegie Hall, JapanNYC extendsthroughout New York City, thanks to partnerships with 22 prestigious New Yorkcultural institutions, including Absolutely Live Entertainment and NewAudiences; Asian Contemporary Art Week; Asia Society; Baryshnikov Arts Center;Brooklyn Botanic Garden; Danspace Project; Film Forum; Institute for MedievalJapanese Studies at Columbia University; Japan Society; The Juilliard School;The New York Public Library; The Noguchi Museum; The Paley Center for Media;Paul Szilard Productions and Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance; Works& Process at the Guggenheim; and the World Music Institute, which offerpresentations featuring such artists and ensembles as Kodo Drummers, MarthaGraham Dance Company, Kashu-juku Noh Theater, Eiko and Koma, JuilliardPercussion Ensemble, New Juilliard Ensemble and exhibitions devotedto such visual artists as Hakuin Ekaku and Isamu Noguchi.
Free Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts at partner venues—Brooklyn Center forthe Performing Arts; Abrons Art Center at Henry Street Settlement; LaGuardiaPerforming Arts Center; and Lehman Stages at Lehman College in the Bronx—willensure that JapanNYC is accessible to all.
JapanOC in Southern California: Extending beyond New York andfollowing the success of its bicoastal Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: AFestival Celebrating Chinese Culture in fall 2009, Carnegie Hall willcontinue its East Coast–West Coast partnership with the Philharmonic Society ofOrange County for a second consecutive year. Select artists appearing in JapanNYCwill also perform this season at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in CostaMesa, California, as part of JapanOC, a West Coast festivalpresented by the Philharmonic Society from October 2010 through April 2011,thanks to the generous support of South Coast Plaza. JapanOC will featurea variety of arts events and musical performances representing the vibrantexpanse of traditional and contemporary Japanese culture, made possible throughcollaborations with prominent Southern California cultural institutions. Formore information on JapanOC festival offerings visit philharmonicsociety.org/JapanOC.
JapanNYC Programming
JapanNYC begins in December at Carnegie Hall with three concerts, December14, 15, and 18, by the Saito Kinen Orchestra and Seiji Ozawa, whoco-founded the orchestra in 1984 in tribute to his late mentor, the influentialeducator and musician Hideo Saito. The orchestra forms the core of the annualSaito Kinen Festival, held every September in Matsumoto, Japan, and also led byMaestro Ozawa.
Also in December, JapanNYC pays tribute to the late composer TōruTakemitsu with performances on three consecutive evenings as well as atwo-week film series at Film Forum. The tribute includes the Saito KinenOrchestra and Maestro Ozawa performing Takemitsu’s November Steps,scored for traditional Japanese instruments and Western orchestra, on theirsecond program; a concert of traditional and innovative works presented by theInstitute for Medieval Japanese Studies at Columbia University and performed byeminent masters of Japanese hōgaku instruments, such as the biwaand shakuhachi, which were frequently utilized by Takemitsu in hiscompositions (December 16); and a concert curated by the composer’s daughter MakiTakemitsu featuring improvisations on Takemitsu’s film music by guitarists KazumiWatanabe and Daisuke Suzuki, accordionist coba, andpercussionist Tomohiro Yahiro, among others (December 17).
During his lifetime, Takemitsu wrote nearly 100 scores for such acclaimed filmsas Kobayashi’s Hara Kiri (1962), Teshigahara’s Woman of the Dunes(1964), and Kurosawa’s Ran (1985). Film Forum will present those threefilms, plus many more, during TAKEMITSU, a two-week festival ofmovies scored by the composer (December 3–16).
Surrounding the December 2010 musical performances and films will be a varietyof fall exhibitions, workshops, and theater: manga and calligraphy workshopsfor young people presented by The New York Public Library (various dates); theatricalperformances of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf as part of the Works& Process series at the Guggenheim, with narration by Isaac Mizrahiand a visual concept by artist Rei Sato of Kaiki Kiki Co., Ltd.—the artproduction company of Takashi Murakami (December 11–19); and exhibitions ofJapanese visual art throughout New York City including Yoshitomo Naraat the Asia Society (through January 2), Zen master Hakuin Ekaku atJapan Society (through January 9), and Isamu Noguchi and hiscontemporaries at The Noguchi Museum (through April 24).
JapanNYC returns in March and April 2011, with a major highlight beingthe US debut performances by Seiji Ozawa Ongaku-juku (Seiji Ozawa MusicAcademy Orchestra) (April 1 and 2). Founded by Mr. Ozawa in 2000, the orchestrais comprised of talented young musicians who are given the opportunity to learnand perform both opera and orchestral music under the tutelage of world-classprofessionals. Other exciting JapanNYC Carnegie Hall presentationsinclude: a concert by the NHK Symphony Orchestra, joined by conductor AndréPrevin and soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (March 21); Bach’s Mass in BMinor performed by Japan’s premier period instrument ensemble Bach CollegiumJapan led by its founder Masaaki Suzuki (March 22); violinist Midoriin two performances (March 23 and April 5); traditional Japanese folk musicwith shamisen players Yutaka Oyama and Masahiro Nitta (March25); classical pianist Aimi Kobayashi (April 3); and jazz pianist/composerToshiko Akiyoshi (April 6).
Other spring 2011 JapanNYC musical highlights across New York City willinclude Kodo Drummers at Avery Fisher Hall (March 20); a performance of gagaku—traditionalJapanese court music that dates back more than 1,000 years—featuring the ColumbiaGagaku Instrumental Ensemble at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre (March29); the and two concerts in Alice Tully Hall presented by Juilliard: one bythe Juilliard Percussion Ensemble performing ceremonial and ritual worksby Japanese composers (March 29), and one by the New Juilliard Ensemble,led by Music Director Joel Sachs, exploring music of the avant-gardeafter World War II (April 8).
Other fascinating JapanNYC partner performances in the spring include: IsamuNoguchi and Martha Graham: A Legendary Collaboration, which includesthree works choreographed by Graham with sets by Noguchi performed by the MarthaGraham Dance Company (March 17 and 20); Kashu-juku Noh Theater,purveyors of traditional Japanese theater going back 600-years, presented byJapan Society (March 24–26); The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, amultimedia play based on the novel by Haruki Murakami, presented by BaryshnikovArts Center and Asia Society (March 29–April 10); and Eiko and Koma: TheRetrospective Project, presented by Baryshnikov Arts Center and DanspaceProject and celebrating 30 years of work with film screenings, liveperformances, workshops, and panel discussions (March 28–April 8).
Film Forum returns as a festival partner in the spring, presenting JapaneseDivas, a series of films spotlighting five legendary actresses from thegolden age of Japanese cinema, including some films previously unseen in the US(dates to be announced in March); and the Paley Center presents A WindowOn Japan (April 2 and 3), a series of arts and culture films aboutJapan, with a Special Family Screening program and such documentaries asLeonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in Japan (1962), Béjart’sKabuki Ballet (1986), and Ode to Joy: 10,000 Voices Resound (2002).
Spring partner exhibitions include Graceful Perseverance, anexhibition of bonsai at Brooklyn Botanic Garden (through May 1); Bye ByeKitty!!! Between Heaven and Hell in Contemporary Japanese Art, anexhibition featuring 15 groundbreaking Japanese visual artists, presented byJapan Society (March 18–June 12); and the annual Asian Contemporary Art Weekpresented by the Asian Contemporary Art Consortium in association with AsiaSociety (March 24–31).
Four free Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, presented in the springby Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in community venues throughout NewYork City, invite audiences to experience a diverse range of Japanese artists, includingperformances by taiko drumming group Soh Daiko; shamisen players YutakaOyama & Masahiro Nitta; and the Line C3 Percussion Group.
For complete program listings and for more information about JapanNYCfestival offerings visit carnegiehall.org/japannyc.
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JapanNYC Lead Sponsors are Epson Corporation; Mizuho Securities USA Inc.;Nomura Holding America Inc. and Nomura America Foundation; Kotaro ONO, TheChairman of The ONO Group; Rohm Music Foundation; Sony Corporation; and YokoNagae Ceschina.
Supporting Sponsors are Deloitte LLP; Mitsubishi International Corporation;Suntory Holdings Limited and Suntory Hall; Takeda Pharmaceutical CompanyLimited; Toshiba Corporation; and Toyota.
With additional funding from Aladdin Capital Holdings LLC; the Asian CulturalCouncil; GWFF USA Inc.; J.C.C. Fund of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce andIndustry of New York; Kawasaki Good Times Foundation; The New York MetsFoundation; Nihon Unisys, Ltd.; Nippon Express Foundation, Inc.; Nippon LifeInsurance Company; Hiroko Onoyama and Ken Sugawara; Seiko Instruments Inc.; andSubaru of America, Inc.
With special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts; the Ministry ofForeign Affairs of Japan; the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan; JapanTourism Agency; Japan National Tourism Organization; the Japan Foundation; andthe Consulate-General of Japan in New York.
The Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series is sponsored by Target.
The West Coast edition of the festival—JapanOC—is presented with thesupport of South Coast Plaza.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
| Ticket Information
Tickets for events taking place at Carnegie Hall are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.
For tickets to JapanNYC partner events, please contact the specific venue.
A JapanNYC Festival Passport, priced at $10, saves 15% or more on all events at Carnegie Hall and many partner events during JapanNYC. The Passport is available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, through CarnegieCharge, or at carnegiehall.org. Some restrictions apply.
For Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of seats, priced at $10, will be available day-of-concert beginning at 11:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 12:00 noon on Sunday until one hour before the performance or until supply lasts. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.
In addition, for all Carnegie Hall presentations in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage a limited number of partial view (seats with obstructed or limited sight lines or restricted leg room) will be sold for 50% of the full price. For more information on this and other discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. |
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For a press kit or high resolution images of featured artists, please contactthe Carnegie Hall Public Affairs Office at 212-903-9750 or publicaffairs@carnegiehall.org.
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