Exhibition — "Home and Home: New York in My Life" — Photographs by Satomi Shirai
2015-10-18 - 2015-11-28 | CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing), 41 E 11th St 11th Fl, New York, NY, 10003, United States
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) announces “Home and Home: New York in My Life,” an exhibition of photographs by Satomi Shirai. These seven works reveal, in boldly playful as well as subtle ways, a newly arrived immigrant’s strategies to create a sense of home and to discover what those strategies are. From the outset, CRS has sought to provide a creative and spiritual home to artists and seekers from all over the world, and we believe that this exhibition speaks directly to our mission and the experience of so many members of our community.
The exhibition will open on October 19, 2015 and be on display through November 28, 2015. An opening reception with the artist will take place on Friday, October 23, 2015 from 7:30 – 9:30 pm.
While the photographs in this exhibition look like documentary-style records of the often messy and alien life that an immigrant lives prior to acquiring furnishings and fully settling in (does an immigrant ever fully settle in?), the photographs are actually meticulously staged with a highly controlled mastery of mis-en-scene and craft. This creates a tension between order and chaos, reality and artifice, into which the artist places herself and her own child and friends as models, challenging our initial impulse to label the life depicted as disordered. The more we look, the more we recognize objects, symbols, behaviors, relationships that give meaning and context to the home depicted. We recognize that we carry home within us and carry on a never-ending process of using our minds in diverse and complex ways to anchor ourselves and project our sense of home into our habitat, making it our own even in the midst of constant change.
About Satomi Shirai
Satomi Shirai is originally from Tokyo, and currently lives and works in New York. She completed the full-time Certificate Program at International Center of Photography in 2007, and received her MFA from CUNY Hunter College in 2010. Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally including at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, National Portrait Gallery in London, and Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C. Her photographs are in the collection of Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and Kiyosato Museum of Photographic art.
http://www.satomishirai.com
Artist Statement
Walls with windows and doors form the house,
but the empty space within it is the essence of the house.
— from The Uses of Not, Lao Tse
In this body of work, Home and Home: New York in My Life, I explore what constitutes the concept of home, as an immigrant who chose to live in New York. Tangibility versus intangibility are brought up, and added to the discussion. How do we assess or assume home?
My relocation to New York is not about overcoming a culture that is distinct, but encountering and understanding cultural disparity and similarity. Living in NYC highlights the intangible aspects of cultures today that include language, myth, mind-sets, daily customs, social class issues, and identity. The diverse sense of femininity provides me other vantage point to examine the collective consciousness in the cities.
I am bringing up positions of custom, holiday, architecture, dress, food, location, and home design as a means to explore how culture is being inter-mixed or is remaining unchanged at a microcosmic level, and how national identity and sensibility are maintained or relinquished through living in a cross-cultural city life. The more understanding of cultural contrasts I have, the more I feel closer to the U.S, and so my space in New York is psychologically being expanded.
A new point of view has been added to my life and work. I gave birth to my baby in New York and became a mother. This has enormously shifted my state of mind and lifestyle. The project or new chapter will be continued with the unknown transitions.

NY Quin Society 15th Anniversary Guqin Concert
2015-11-07 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
New York Qin Society
presents
Master Jung-Ping Yuan
and its early members in a
15th Anniversary Celebration
Come and hear the silk-stringed zither said to have been played by Confucius and enjoying a renaissance since UNESCO proclaimed it a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Admission: $20 (Tickets will be available at the door.)
Seats are limited. Please make reservations by contacting us.
Please notice that the concert facility requires that guests be quiet when entering and leaving. Thank you.
紐約琴社創社十五周年古琴音樂會
將由榮譽創社社長袁中平先生及會員
演奏絲弦古琴
歡迎您來聆聽古老的琴韻再現
時間: 11/7/2015 周六下午六點到八點 (請提早十 ~ 十五分鐘入場)
地點: CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) 紐約曼哈頓 4大道, 123 號 2 樓 (介於12 與 13 街, Think Coffee 的樓上)
入場費: $20 (當天現場購買）
座位有限 請 電郵 我們預定您的位子
現場請輕聲入場或離場 謝謝合作

Contemporary Kirtan & Meditation
2015-11-10 13:30 - 15:00
When are you most at peace? How can you find this peace no matter what’s going on around you? Come and connect to that place of stillness and peace within yourself.
Join Stephen Browett and enjoy the soothing sounds of the Harmonium in one of the most unique and calming spaces in New York city. Suggested Donation: $15
Drawing on over 20 years study and practice of Yogananda’s teachings coupled with a contemporary sense of what it means to explore spirituality in the modern world, Stephen Browett invites you to join him on a journey of discovery as seen through Irish eyes. His passion is to make spirituality accessible and to connect to timeless practices that have been shown to be effective. He hopes to do all this with a sense of humor, wonder and joy.
Stephen has led meditation and chant in a variety of communities as well as organizing retreats and events in Ireland, the United States and in India.

Concert: ROKYOKU ROCK YOU! in NY
2015-11-13 15:00 - 16:30
Rokyoku is a style of traditional Japanese narrative singing accompanied by Shamisen, three-stringed Japanese banjo. Rokyoku stories are largely based on historical events and people, and the characters run the gamut of all classes and eras, from aristocratic warlords to fast-talking city conmen and sumo wrestlers.
Award-winning Keiko Haruno was a popular TV personality when she discovered Rokyoku and became instantly fascinated. She apprenticed to master Yuriko Haruno II and moved to Osaka in 2003. Keiko now performs over 200 times a year as a professional Rokyoku artist. This performance is a part of her world tour including Italy, Brazil, Russia and China from 2015 to 2016.
The program includes an introduction to Rokyoku and demonstrations with the audience members, Rokyoku in Japanese with English subtitles and Rokyoku performed in English. Haruno will be accompanied by Ipputei Hazuki (Shamisen).
● Free Admission (Space limited. RSVP required.)
● RSVP: Please email your name, contact info and number of seats to ytakahashi.ny@gmail.com.

“Rokyoku to the World!” Keiko Haruno’s crowdfunding campaign of the world tour:
https://www.countdown-x.com/ja/project/T1923603
*This performance is supported by Osaka City, Japan.

One Year Program Leading to Becoming an Interfaith Minister
2015-11-14 05:30 - 11:30
This program focuses upon the skills and knowledge needed to be a modern interfaith minister. By eliminating semester breaks and vacations, the course is equipped to concentrate in one year a solid, qualifying course in interfaith.
Upon successful completion of the program, students are ordained as ministers and are eligible to register legally as clergy. Thus, graduates are eligible to add the honorific “Reverend” to any existing titles and honors they have achieved in their professions.
The program is provided as a series of monthly weekend classroom sessions at the Seminary’s office in New York City. Timely completion of monthly homework assignments is required. All students, at the end of the course, will be expected to attend a four-day retreat during which, among other activities, they will be given an oral examination based on the year’s studies. A thesis is also required. Ordination normally follows the day after the retreat.
We now have three tracks of study:
1. The Comparative Religions Track
2. A Course in Miracles Track and
3. A Rabbinical Track supervised by Rabbi Stuart Paris.
Application Form
Learn more….

Roll, Release & Restore Workshop
2015-11-14 09:00 - 10:30
This 90 minutes body work experience combines restorative yoga poses, myofascial release techniques and active meditative modalities to fully restore your mind, body and soul. You will learn stress reduction methods which involve deep breathing, restorative yoga poses using props and laying on rubber balls to self-massage tight areas and create awareness and freedom of movement. It’s like spending a weekend at a spa retreat, but without traveling far and cheaper!
Open to anyone regardless of fitness level or yoga experience.
Luminous but limited space, pre-registration is highly encouraged.
$20 registered – $25 at door.
Register HERE

Spiritual Healing Clinic & Miracles in Manhattan Lecture Series with Jon Mundy, Ph.D.
2015-11-15 07:00 - 11:30
12 – 1 pm Healing Clinic, suggested donation $20
Bring any issue you are facing right now — physically, emotionally, mentally, and/or spiritually. With eyes closed (you will be seated and the healer will stand nearby, no touching involved), we will join with you silently, embracing your perfect spirit with unconditional love, and ask the Holy Spirit to bring us directly to whatever seed thought is causing your current issues. After about 10 minutes, we will share with you the guidance that we receive.
1:30 – 4:30 pm Miracles in Manhattan lecture by Jon Mundy Ph.D.
LECTURE 28: The Goal of Specialness
Based on Chapter 24 from A Course in Miracles Textbook
One Chapter Per Month From the Text of A Course in Miracles
There are 31 Chapters is the Course, so it will take about 3 years to complete this project.
~ $20 per person with advanced registration ~
~ $25 per person at the door without a registration ~
Call 212-866-3795 or email Fran@miraclesmagazine.org to register in advance.
Your name will be on a list at the door. To pay by credit, card please register in advance.
Or, you can pay with cash or a check at the door.
As long as space is available, “No one is ever turned away.”
Contribute what you can.
You will receive a monthly email reminder with the latest information on the date, time and topic. The schedule can always be found on our website:
www.miraclesmagazine.org
Dr. Jon Mundy met Dr. Helen Schucman, the scribe for A Course in Miracles, in 1973. Helen introduced Jon to the Course and served as his mentor and guide till she became ill in 1980. He is the author of Living A Course in Miracles. After Return to Love by Marianne Williamson, it is currently the best-selling book based on the teaching of A Course in Miracles.

π=3.14...First Reading with Three Actresses
2015-11-20 14:30 - 15:30, 2015-11-20 16:00 - 17:00
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) presents a new play with video by Yoshiko Chuma & the School of Hard Knocks in the White Room at CRS. The text is taken from the π=3.14 series of works that journeyed from 2000 – 2015 through Sarajevo, Macedonia, Manipur, Romania, Fukushima, Ramallah, Amman, Kabul, Berlin and New York.
Design, Direction and Concept/Dry Tech: Yoshiko Chuma
Cast: Miriam Parker, Saori Tsukada and Heather Litteer
Live Video Painting: Kit Fitzgerald
Unfinished Series Film and Documentation: Megumi Eda
Designed by Clouds AO, winners of the recent NASA competition to design the first inhabitable structure to be built on Mars, and opened in June of this year, the White Room at CRS was named by Homes to Love as one of nine studios around the world to “achieve design nirvana.” This performance will be the first theatrical event to be held in the space.
Performances will take place on Friday & Saturday, November 20 & 21, 2015 at 7:30 pm and 9 pm. The performance is 70′ in duration. Tickets are $20 ($15 for students and seniors), and there are only 15 seats available for each performance.
Yoshiko Chuma, artistic director of The School of Hard Knocks (SOHK), has been a creative force in postmodern performance, traveling and interacting with artists in relatively isolated parts of the world since the 1980’s. She has assembled her newest project, π=3.14…First Reading with Three Actresses, through a creative process called “Dry Tech” that emphasizes verbal communication between the artists. Dry Tech traditionally refers to a theatrical rehearsal without the performers, in which the design and technical staff run through the operation of all the technical elements of production, stopping and starting to make adjustments. In contrast, the Chuma-style Dry Tech consists of a meeting, usually not in the performance space, that includes the entire team including performers wherein Chuma leads the team exclusively through the verbal calling out of the technical cues and action and extensive discussion of the work. The method—often interview style—investigates the artists’ perspectives and stories—both artistic and personal. This creative process mines material from the team members’ sharing about how they understand the work and how they view themselves in the context of making the work. Elements of this material may then be incorporated into the production, enabling a multiplicity of distinct and at times conflicting voices and viewpoints to emerge and co-exist.

ABOUT THE TEAM
YOSHIKO CHUMA (conceptual artist/choreographer/artistic director of The School of Hard Knocks) has been a firebrand of New York’s downtown dance scene since arriving in 1978. She has created more than 60 full-length company works, commissions and site-specific events for venues in 35 countries, constantly challenging the notion of performing for both audience and participant. Her work has been presented in such diverse venues as Joyce Theater, the Eiffel Tower, Newcastle Swing Bridge, City Center, Lincoln Center, the former National Theater of Sarajevo, the perimeter of the Hong Kong harbor, and an ancient ruin in Macedonia, and in Jordan, among others. She has received fellowships and awards for choreography and career work from John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, New York Foundation for Artists, Japan Foundation, Meet the Composer Choreographer/Composer Commission and Philip Morris New Works. Chuma has led workshops and master classes and been commissioned to create new work in East and West Europe, Asia, Russia and the U.S. She received a 1984 BESSIE award for choreography and four more Bessies were awarded to her productions in 1992 and 1998. In 2007 she received a Bessie for Sustained Achievement. Chuma was Artistic Director of the Daghdha Dance Company in Limerick, Ireland from 2000-03 and continues to work in Ireland as a guest teacher/choreographer in the Dance MA program of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS [SOHK] (Founded in 1984) is an award-winning collaborative effort of choreographers, dancers, actors, singers, musicians, designers, and visual artists working under the artistic direction of Yoshiko Chuma. The School of Hard Knocks, which takes its name from the American idiom meaning to learn things the hard way, was the title of the company’s first production, a collaboration between Yoshiko Chuma, Jacob Burckhardt (filmmaker) and Alvin Curran (musician) presented at the 1980 Venice Biennale. Over the course of the company’s history, more than 1,000 people have performed under Chuma’s direction in situations ranging from theatrical dance concerts to street performances, parades, large-scale spectacles and intimate Living Room Projects, Chuma’s signature program which brings post modern music and dance performance to homes, businesses and community centers. Living Room Projects have been performed in homes in Budapest, a car show room in Nagoya, and gardens in the East Village of New York City. Since its foundation in 1984, the company has created and performed original works in the U.S., Europe and in Asia and has welcomed over 1,000 performers to participate in theatrical dance concerts, street performances, parades, and large-scale spectacles.
The School of Hard Knocks has created and performed original works in their annual New York season, and on tour in the United States, Asia, and Europe, with a particular focus on Eastern European countries, including Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, the Baltic Republics, and Bosnia. In the last five years, The School of Hard Knocks has made a commitment to offering young dancers from Japan international exposure and opportunity.
MEGUMI EDA born in Nagano, Japan, Megumi had her professional debut with the Matsuyama Ballet Company at age 14 in Tokyo where she appeared in many of the ballet classics in repertoire. She appeared successfully in the Prix de Lausanne Competition in 1991 and was invited to join the Hamburg Ballet School, where soon after she joined the company working with Mats Ek and choreographer/director John Neumeier. She spent 15 years in Europe (Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam, Rambert Dance Company in London etc..), worked and toured all over the world constantly with these companies and participated in the creation of 30-40 new works with various artist/ collaborators including Christopher Bruce, Jiri Kylian, Lindsey Kemp, William Forsythe, Hans van Manen, David Dawson, and Redha.
A decade ago she moved to NY to joined Armitage Gone! Dance. In 2004 she received a Bessie Award for her performance in the company’s inaugural piece and has continued a close collaboration with Karole Armitage to this day. Now, as a freelance artist, she has begun to incorporate other art forms including sculpture, video and graphics into her installations and performances. She has been working/collaborating with Yoshiko Chuma since 2014 as a Dancer and filmmaker. Most recently she performed with The School of Hard Knocks in June 2015 at the La Mama Theatre in NYC. www.megumieda.com
KIT FITZGERALD is a media artist and director. Her video, multimedia installations, and performances have been seen worldwide. She has collaborated with composers Max Roach, Peter Gordon, and Ryuichi Sakamoto; choreographers Donald Byrd, Bebe Miller, and Bill T. Jones; poets Sekou Sundiata and Bob Holman, and theater companies The Talking Band and Northern Netherlands Theatre. She is a pioneer in live video performance where she brings the immediacy and ensemble possibilities of live performance to video in her live video painting. Kit also directs music videos, documentaries on art and artists, dance videos, and creates digital paintings and album covers. Her work has twice been in the Whitney Biennale. She is the recipient of prizes at international film and television festivals and awards from The Rockefeller Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and Japan Foundation. Her work is distributed by Electronic Arts Intermix, New York.
HEATHER LITTEER is a member of Caden Manson’s Big Art Group touring internationally and in the states. She also assistant produced the Special Effects Festival and Curated an Evening of Performance called Night Bazaar and her own reading series W.O.(e). R.D. She has been and avid performer in the NYC since the early 90’s in all performance mediums from stage, screen and smokey chanteuse. Her daring film choices include working with Darren Aronofsky,Jane Campion and Mary Harron and most recently playing the sexual revolutionary Queen Bee in John Reed’s latest film “ReVo” and Vicky a killer for hire in “Dumbo” by Brazilian director Gustavo Von Ah. She is the recipient of the 2014 Fox Fellowship with La MaMa. She studied Playwriting with Brandon Jacob Jenkins this Summer at La MaMa Umbria and her one woman show, Lemonade,I’m not a Hooker I just play one on TV premiering at La MaMa in spring 2016. Ms. Litteer is also a member of the legendary Jackie Factory where she was known as Jessica Rabbit Domination. heatherlitteer.com
MIRIAM PARKER is a New York City born and bred dancer/performance artist and arts organizer. She feels very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with the School of hard knocks for the past 4 years. She lived in Europe and Israel from 2002-2007 at which time she worked and studied with Choreographers Amanda Miller, William Forsythe, and The Saarbruken ballet. In recent years she has been building her reputation in collaborative performance art, working with the artist Jo Wood Brown on a interdisciplinary project “InnerCity Projects”. She has collaborated with, Katy Martin, Alain Kirili and Anita Glesta. Miriam Parker’s work has been presented in numerous Vision Events in New York and Paris as well as at Under the Bridge Festival etc. In this past years she has danced with choreographer Sally Silvers and Andrea Miller.
Described as a “charismatic mover with astounding precision,” SAORI TSUKADA harnesses her ability in theater, dance, in between and beyond. Tsukada was nominated for Best Actress twice at Dublin Fringe Festival. She is a member of X-ID REP company at the New Museum. Her silent film performance project Club Diamond (with Nikki Appino) will be presented at The Public Theater as part of 2016 Under The Radar Festival’s INCOMING! series.

Concert: Japanese Songs of Hometown — Healing Music for Your Heart
2015-11-21 09:00 - 11:00
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) and Mar Creation, Inc. invite you to join us for a concert by the Japanese singer Emme on Saturday, November 21, 2015 at 2pm. Emme will perform “World Music from Japan” in two sets (40 min each), featuring Japanese popular music from the Showa period [1940’s – 80’s] as well as her own original songs. This is a rare opportunity to hear the classics of traditional and contemporary Japanese music that Japanese people truly love. Joining her will be Shu Odamura on guitar and guest Akihito Obama on shakuhachi.
Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at door.
Emme was born in Tokyo, Japan. Since she started her singing career in 1981, she’s taken part in countless recordings and live concerts with big artists such as Masayoshi Takanaka, Katsumi Watanabe, Yuming, Takuro Yoshida, EPO etc….. Her angelic voice is widely recognized across many different genres of music, including jazz, fusion, Japanese pop and folk.
In the music department of Tokyo University of the Arts in 1997, Emme graduated from special courses of traditional Japanese music. She has released four original CDs from 2001 to the present. Emme sang at a reception party for the President of Ireland upon his visit to Japan. She composed the Asakusa Sanja Matsuri official theme song, and appeared in the Thai movie “Yamada.” Emme played with Tokiwazu Mozibei and Altan, among many others.
http://www.emmevoice.com
Born in Kyoto, Japan, Shu Odamura started taking guitar lessons at the age of 12. In 2003, he entered the Gibson Jazz Guitar Contest in Tokyo and was the youngest participant to win the ”Jury’s Special prize.” In 2006, Shu moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music where he was the recipient of the Toshiko Akiyoshi Award, and where he earned a Bachelor’s of Music Degree in Jazz Composition.
As a guitarist, Shu performs and records with jazz ensembles, pop/rock bands, church choirs, and as leader of his own jazz groups. In 2010, he played on Mina Cho’s album “Originality,” which led him to be honored by “The 32nd Jazz Station Poll” as Top 3rd Acoustic Guitarist. This poll is conducted by renowned jazz journalist Arnaldo DeSouteiro.
As a composer, Shu composes scores for independent films, writes and arranges for jazz orchestras, flute/saxophone ensembles, pop singers and other ensembles. Shu recently composed the music for a feature length independent movie entitled “The Wishmakers”. His minimal-music piece “Kitchen Talk” was selected to air on Ryuichi Sakamoto’s radio program in Japan.
Shu is now based in New York where he regularly performs, composes and teaches. Shu was granted an Artist Visa from the US Department of Immigration and Naturalization Service which allows him to further develop as an artist here in the USA. He teaches guitar at Yamaha Music School of Bergen County.
http://shuodamura.com/
Born in Kagawa Prefecture in 1975, Akihito Obama studied various styles of shakuhachi under leading musicians such as Toshimitsu Ishikawa (traditional shakuhachi) and Satoshi Yoneya (minyo [folk music] shakuhachi). After graduating from the NHK Hogaku [traditional Japanese music] Gino-sha Ikusei-kai, the premier one year course for hogaku musicians aspiring to be professional performers, Obama won the Second Annual Shakuhachi Newcomer Competition (2000).
In recent years, Obama draws on his musical experiences and incorporates these influences into his own music. In 2004, Obama recorded his first solo shakuhachi album Fukoku [Wind Carvings] featuring improvised works. During the following year, he undertook a walking pilgrimage concert tour to the eighty-eight temples of Shikoku Island and revealed his second album Nami to Tsubaki to [Waves and Camellias and] consisting of his original compositions. In 2006, Obama was invited to the Swedish International Festival of Wind Music holding solo concerts and appearing with local musicians. This was followed by a month long tour of Europe. In 2007, Obama released visions. collaborating with electronic music artist hajimeinoue. In 2008, Obama was invited to the Japan Festival at The Kennedy Center (Washington, DC) and the Sydney World Shakuhachi Festival. He released Michinone [Street Music, New Sounds] working with satsuma-biwa [Satsuma plucked lute] player Yukihiro Goto. In 2012, Obama lived in New York for six months as a fellow of Asian Cultural Council (ACC) and released SUI [Water] with his band.
Currently, Obama performs as a solo musician and participates in various ensembles including “TAKiOBAND” led by Takio Ito, a minyo singer. He often appears in concerts overseas and has performed in over 30 countries. Obama has developed and refined his technique by performing in venues from small clubs to large concert halls with artists playing hogaku instruments and Western instruments. This has allowed him to penetrate traditional barriers and discover his own distinct sound.
http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~obama/akihito/english/akihito.html

The Grace of Gratitude — Healing Energy Workshop
2015-11-22 12:00 - 13:30
With Reiki Master Nathalie Jaspar & Holistic Coach Michele Kong
* Space is limited. Please pre-register: http://graceofgratitude.eventbrite.com
Workshop fee $25 – $30
With the hubbub of grocery lists, travel plans, the excitement of seeing family and friends, or bracing to tolerate yet another familial get-together during Thanksgiving, sometimes the spirit of the holiday can get lost in the shuffle.
The act of giving is a natural impulse that can dissolve differences, mend (spoken and unspoken) misunderstandings and fuel connection. With an unarmored heart, the grace of gratitude emerges in each of us quite easily.
To reconnect with this quality, we will explore gentle movement, mindful breath work and awareness exercises along with energetic attunements to prepare you for the Thanksgiving holiday ahead. We aim for you to move through your holiday gatherings feeling centered, balanced and embodying your innate graciousness.
For more information, please contact:
Reiki Master Nathalie Jaspar
natjaspar@me.com
or
Holistic Coach Michele Kong
clearcoachingintl@gmail.com

Japanese Music Concert with Seasonal Sweets
2015-11-28 11:00 - 13:00
CRS & Mar Creation, Inc. invite you to discover traditional Japanese music by the acclaimed koto and shamisen player Yoko Reikano Kimura offered together with an exclusive taste of beautiful Japanese seasonal sweets prepared by Rin NYC. The first concert will take place on Saturday, Nov 28 at 4 pm at CRS. Tickets are $20 and include wagashi (sweets). Seating is limited and advanced purchased (online, by phone 212-677-8621, or in person at CRS) is strongly encouraged.
“…Yoko Reikano Kimura, playing the shamisen and singing, is superb….” — New York Times
“…Kimura’s performance on the solo shamisen was quite stunning. An elegant refined presence perfectly poised, she played with precision, beauty and the utmost confidence….” — San Francisco Examiner
This will be the first in a seasonal series of music concerts called Four Seasons in New York — Gems of Japanese Music. After many centuries, the brilliance of traditional Japanese music is still being passed on to the present day. Come and experience the sounds of koto and shamisen and enjoy the taste of the four seasons here in New York. This concert series will feature each season’s representative traditional works along with the colorful and delicate Japanese style confectionaries.
Each season is expressed through ingredients. Spring traditionally begins with sakura (cherry blossoms), broccoli rabe, strawberries and raspberries, followed by elderflower, rose, edamame and sansho (Japanese pepper) in summer. As autumn approaches we’ll pick chrysanthemum, apples, grapes, chestnuts and hazelnuts; and yuzu and kumquats in winter…. Even within one season, the taste and the form change gradually from hashiri through nagori.
mochi Rin / Bite-sized mochi dessert made with organic bean paste, seasonally fruits and flowers in NY.
We present a new type of mochi that doesn’t quite exist in Japan, by infusing New York’s locally-sourced ingredients into Japan’s popular traditional dessert —the stuffed mochi rounds, such as daifuku and sakura-mochi — and mixing in rin, the element of restrained grace. http://www.rin-nyc.com
More about Yoko
As a frequent soloist and collaborator, Japanese born Koto/Shamisen performer and singer Yoko Reikano Kimura has performed in NYC, Chicago, Tokyo, Kyoto and many other cities, featuring a wide-ranging repertoire from classical Japanese music to improvisational pieces. Yoko has won numerous awards including the First Prize at the prestigious 10th Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition as the first Yamada style koto performer. She received the First Prize at the 4th Great Wall International Music Competition and the Osaka Chinese Counsel Award and won the Japanese music audition for NHK-FM radio and her solo shamisen performance was broadcasted nationally. Since then she has performed numerous koto and shamisen pieces for the radio and regularly toured internationally.
Since Yoko moved to the US in 2010, her mission has been to promote Japanese music to American audiences. As part of this mission she is performing and giving workshops at various venues, such as the UN, Merkin, Bargemusic, Roulette, Princeton University, Japan Society, Harvard University, Princeton University, the New England Conservatory, the University of Chicago, Duke University and many others. http://www.yamadaryu.com/reikano/
As part of the award-winning Duo Yumeno, she has just released the album Flowers, Birds, Wind, Moon: The Music of Marty Regan. Listen and purchase here.

Exhibition: "Debris of Angel" by Su
2015-11-29 - 2015-12-19
CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) presents an exhibition of painted and collaged images of angels assembled from photographs of the debris of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 by the Iwate, Japan-based artist Su. Much of this vast quantity debris has accumulated along the coast of Japan and though the waves and the weather slowly break them apart, many forms are still recognizable as the door of someone’s house or a family’s beloved vase or shrine or jewelry box, fragments evoking memories of lives lost and torn asunder. Su believes that by transforming these remnants into new works of beauty, it is possible to renew the love and hope in the hearts of the people who experienced this loss.
Hiromi Suzuki（Su）
Su was born in 1970 in Iwate prefecture in Japan and lives as a transsexual. He is half way through a journey to discover what is the “essence of living.” Even though he has been familiar with pictures since his childhood, one of Picasso’s pictures gave him a shock when he saw it in his art text book in his junior high school.
It gave him the message that “It’s ok to draw free! It’s ok to live free!” and it freed him from the belief that drawing should be realistic.
After he grew up, Su established his career as a nurse. But he couldn’t stop his enthusiasm for drawing pictures and expressing himself creatively. From 2003 he started to study art design by taking correspondence courses through Kyoto University of Art and Design and to learn western painting by correspondence through Musashino Art University. As he continued to focus his investigations on what is the essence of living, he began to bring DNA and crystals into his artworks. He also began producing self-portraits. Su believes that Art can have a universal meaning and connect with people across borders. He has been dreaming of exhibiting his art works in a foreign gallery so as to communicate with people all over the world. Participating in the CRS gallery exhibition in 2015 is a first step for him to find one of the answers of his journey.
Awards
In 2012 : Won a Iwate Art Festival’s President award
In 2008 : Won a Iwate Art Festival award
In 2005 : Won a Morioka Art Festival award
Exhibition History
In 2015 : Group exhibition of Iwate TV and Group exhibition of Sendai Media Park
In 2014 : Group exhibition of Iwate TV
In 2013 : Group exhibition of Iwate TV
In 2012 : Group exhibition of Iwate TV
In 2011 : Group exhibition of Iwate TV
In 2010 : Group exhibition of “Hatten Go” in the Numata museum in Tokyo
In 2008 : Group exhibition of “Hatten Go” in the gallery Bun Bun in Obihiro, Hokkaido
In 2000 : Participated with Es Do Alt exhibition
Su has been participating in many exhibitions.
His art works have been selected continuously by Nikakai Art Exhibition since 2011.
He will continue his journey internationally and domestically until he find his “Essence” via art works.
