Music of Asia, from both American and Asian composers and performers, has gradually gained greater attention in the United States, especially during the last 30 years. A number of Asian composers and performers have immigrated to the US, often after studying here. The music of these artists reflects a new confluence of multiple cultures - a powerful cross-fertilization of aesthetics and musical characteristics from both East and West. The music is reflective of a variety of aspects of contemporary Asian and American societies, while at the same time deeply rooted in traditional cultures that have evolved over many years.
Hamilton College, a small liberal arts school in upstate New York, has hosted three two-day symposia since 1992 (March 1992; April 1994; April 1997) on new Japanese art music - Music of Japan Today: Tradition and Innovation. Each symposium addressed this topic from several different perspectives; these included lectures by distinguished visiting Japanese composers (Joji Yuasa, Tokuhide Niimi, Masataka Matsuo, Masao Honma, Isao Matsushita, Masao Endo, Harue Kunieda; partially sponsored by the Japan Foundation), and composers from other parts of Asia including Hong Kong (Richard Tsang - Vice-Chairman of the Asian Composers League and of the International Society for Contemporary Music - partially sponsored by the Asian Cultural Society), and Vietnam (P.Q. Phan, who has resided in the US since 1981); papers and lecture/recitals by visiting American and Asian scholars and composers; panel discussions; a performers competition of music by Takemitsu and Mayuzumi; and musical performances by Hamilton students, faculty, and visiting artists, ranging in genre, resources, and size from a *sound-text* work (written for a group of speaking voices, appropriate for both trained musicians and non-musicians, performed by members of an undergraduate, twentieth-century music history class), to solo instrumental and chamber music, to music for various combinations of acoustic and electronic sources, to works for large orchestra (commissioned and performed by the College Orchestra of students and faculty). Even though the primary focus was on the music, connections between Japanese music and culture (as well as between Japanese, Israeli, and Chinese cultures) were also probed in topics relating to aesthetics (The Aesthetic Principals of hana, yugen, and jo-ha-kyu as they apply to the vocal production and rhythmic structures of the music of Noh - Gerald Large, Assistant Professor of Theatre, Hamilton College), religion/philosophy (Time in 20th-Century Japanese Music: A Zen Approach to Fukushima*s Requiem - Kristen Taavola, Eastman School of Music), sociology (Nihonjinron - Gregory Shepherd, Assistant Professor, Kauai College, Lihue, Hawaii), and politics (Music from the Right: The Politics of Toshihiro Mayuzumi*s Essay for String Orchestra - Steven Nuss, Assistant Professor of Music, Colby College).
We organized the symposia from our dual professions of college educators and performing artists, for several purposes. One was a perceived scarcity of information in the West (especially English-language) on this topic. Many sound recordings and scores (published and unpublished) are either unavailable, or difficult to acquire outside of Japan, and only a few writings of significant Japanese musicians have been translated to English (the best information available - some valuable translations of writings by Yuasa, Takemitsu, and Yuji Takahashi - is in a series of articles [1989-93] in the journal, Perspectives of New Music. A book-length monograph of TakemitsuÕs has also recently been translated and published). Whereas the study of traditional Japanese music (hogaku) has provided important insight into Japanese culture, comparisons of contemporary art music to tradition as well as contemporary culture (Post WW II) has only just begun. We hope to stimulate this study, as well as share existing information.
Secondly, through the central role played by distinguished composers and performers from Japan, we wanted to emphasize the importance of analyzing and understanding this music not just from a Western *outsider* perspective, but from a Japanese (insider) perspective. Joji Yuasa has observed that one of the major sources in the genealogy of his musical concerns is tightly linked to his own identity - that of one who was born and grew up within the cultural zone of Japan; a zone that adheres to tradition as a structure that frames thought. A liberal arts environment, with its traditional openness to interdisciplinary and multiple viewpoints, seemed an appropriate place to attempt to define contemporary Japanese music as an important barometer of Japanese society and culture. We were not interested in duplicating the well-known concert series in New York (Music From Japan), but, rather to go further by disseminating information and provoking discussion in the academic and general communities, in addition to the musical/artistic community. We hoped that students, many who are destined to be leaders in a variety of careers, would internalize aspects of this experience - music not only reflects but often forecasts cultural change, and only by examining it and its ideas in their cultural context, can their unique qualities be accurately defined.
Several commissioned works have recieved premieres at these symposia. Masataka Matsuo*s Hirai V, written for and premiered by the Hamilton College Orchestra in 1992, was recorded by the Orchestra and released on an Opus One CD in February 1996. It has received critical notice both in the US and Japan. A recent review in Fanfare Magazine (an international journal) stated: *Hamilton College is a small liberal arts school of only 1650 students; for them to filed a seventy-piece symphony orchestra that can handle such a complex modern work is a staggering achievement.*
Most recently, Hamilton College hosted a two-day symposium of performances, lecture-recitals, panel discussions, and paper presentations on topics that concern Asian music in America from the widest possible range of disciplines and expertise. Three guest composers of international stature were present at the symposium - P.Q. Phan (born in Vietnam and living in the US since 1980), Bun-Ching Lam (born in Macau and living in the US since 1978), and Toshimitsu Tanaka (distinguished composer from Japan whose career spans almost 50 years).
Performances during the symposium included a broad range of works for different genres (solo instrument, chamber music, orchestra) by Phan, Lam, and Tanaka, as well as other Asian composers. They included the premiere of a new work for orchestra by Phan. The performers for these concerts included members of the Syracuse Society for New Music, and faculty and students of the Hamilton College Department of Music.
This symposium is the fourth at Hamilton College since 1992 to address Asian Music. Visit the website of the other three to view programs, abstracts, papers, and lecture transcriptions - Music of Japan Today: Tradition and Innovation I (1992), II (1994), and III (1997).
Richards and Tanosaki are organizing a fifth symposium, Music of Japan Today 2003, to be held April 4-6, 2003 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Schedule of Events:
8:00 PM Concert by Syracuse Society for New Music
- May Memorial, Syracuse, New York
music of Phan, Lam, Tanaka, Lee, Jin, and Long
Saturday, April 10
10:30 AM -12:15 PM Open rehearsal - HC Orchestra (music of P.Q. Phan)
1:15-3:30 PM Lecture: Toshimitsu Tanaka
Lecture: Bun Ching Lam
Lecture: P.Q. Phan
3:30-4 PM Demonstration - Khac Chi
4:15-6:15 PM Papers, Lecture Recitals
Cross-cultural Syntheses of East Asian and Western Musical
Resources in Post-1945 Art Music: Analytical Paradigms and Taxonomy
- Yayoi Uno, Assistant Professor of Music, University of Colorado at Boulder
An Examination of Intercultural Borrowing in Contemporary
Southeast Asian Theatre
- Craig Latrell, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater, Hamilton College
Lecture-Recital: Contrapuntal Harmonic Singing in Original Works
- Stuart Hinds, Houston, Texas
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8:00 PM Concert: Khac Chi (traditional Vietnamese music)
Sunday, April 11
9-10:20 AM Papers, Lecture Recitals
Towards a Global Music: the Universal Egg and Toru Takemitsu's *November Steps*
- JoAnn Koh, Assistant Professor of Music, Depauw University
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10:30-11:30 Panel Discussion: Tanaka, Lam, Phan, Tanosaki, Richards
11:30-12:10 Lecture/Recital
Contemporary Chinese Music and the Harpsichord
- Joyce Lindorff, Associate Professor of Keyboard Studies, Temple University
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12:10-12:40 PM Masterclass: Toshimitsu Tanaka & Robert Bridge
3:00 PM Concert
Guest Composers
Toshimitsu Tanaka is one of the most prolific composers today in Japan, with a repertoire of over eighty compositions for all media. Notable among these are the tetralogy of Requiems for orchestra - The Grave, Gunzo, PATHOS, and maze - spanning twenty years, from 1972 to 1992, and his diverse percussion music, from the Sadlo Concerto for marimba and orchestra, commissioned by Peter Sadlo of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, to Persona (a competition for roto-toms and marimba players on one side, and, on the other, percussionists in traditional Japanese demonic masks, all playing one large gojinjo daiko Japanese drum.
The music of Toshimitsu Tanaka is performed internationally and has been featured in festivals and series in Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Amsterdam, Kiev, and in several cities in the United States. Born in nothern Japan in Aomori Prefecture, Tanaka graduated in 1956 in composition from Kunitachi College of Music (Tokyo), the largest music school in Japan, and then completed the College's graduate course in composition in 1957. While a compositon student at the College, he was engaged for three years as an accompanist by several of the leading Tokyo dance companies, from which period comes his strong interest in composition for both ballet and traditional Japanese dance. From 1958 to 1973, Tanaka was a member of the music section for drama at the NHK Broadcasting Company of Japan. He composed the music each week for one of the NHK drama presentations on radio, which was recorded by ensembles from the NHK Symphony Orchestra, with Tanaka conducting for the weekly broadcast.
Tanaka was appointed Lecturer at Kunitachi College of Music in 1968, Associate Professor in 1974, and since 1980, holds the title of Professor of Composition. As head of the composition department for four years, he introduced the medium of computer music into the department and initiated the collaboration with the College's Center for Computer Music and Music Technology that has resulted in department courses focused on computer music and technology. Tanaka is, as well, Visiting Professor at Kiev National Cultural University.
In addition to presentations in Japan, Tanaka has lectured recently at the Tchaikowsky Conservatory in Kiev, the Kiev National Cultural University, the Berlin Art Festival, and the Frankfurt Music Festival. Since 1994, he is the conductor of the Ogikubo Arts Center Orchestra, Tokyo. Among the commissions that Tanaka has received include those from the NHK Broadcasting Company of Japan; the Japan Choral Association; the Midori Nishizaki Dance Company; the Takashi Nishida Dance Company; the Radio Broadcasting Company of Aomori; Peter Sadlo, percussionist of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra; Columbia Records of Japan.
Tanaka has received, among other distinctions, eleven Arts Festival Prizes of the Ministry of Education of Japan, the Award for Staged-Production Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Music by the Government of Aomori Prefecture of Japan.
The music of Toshimitsu Tanaka is published by Ongaku no Tomo Sha Corp. of Tokyo, and is recorded by Columbia, Victor, Toshiba, and Fontec.
Born in the Macao region of China in 1954, Bun-Ching Lam began studying piano at the age of seven and gave her first public solo recital at fifteen. In 1976, she received a B.A. degree in piano performance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She then accepted a scholarship from the University of California at San Diego, where she studied composition with Bernard Rands, Robert Erickson, Roger Reynolds, Paulien Oliveros, and earned a Ph.D. in 1981. In the same year, she was invited to join the music faculty of the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she taught until 1986.
A winner of the Rome Prize (1991), Lam has also been awarded first prizes at the Aspen Music Festival, the Northwest Composer's Symposium, and the highest honor at the Shanghai Music Competition, which was the first international composers contest to take place in China. She has also been a recipient of grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation of the Arts, Meet the Composer/ReaderÕs Digest Commissioning Program, King County Arts Commission, and Seattle Arts Commission. She was in residence at the Rockefeller FoundationÕs Bellagio Study and Conference Center, and most recently received a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council for a three month study trip to Japan, and The Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is currently working on a major piano solo titled Six Phenomena supported by an NEA ComposerÕs Fellowship. The work will be premiered by Ursula Oppens.
Ms. LamÕs orchestral works have been performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, WomenÕs Philharmonic, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Holland, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. Her compositions have been featured in music festivals around the world such as Bang on a Can (New York), New Music America (Los Angeles), Tokyo Summer Festival, Pacific Sounding (Japan), Hong Kong Arts Festival, ISCM World Music Days (Hong Kong), Aspeckte Steirische Herbst (Austria), and the 24 Heures Communication (Belgium).
Bun-Ching Lam now lives and works in New York, and served as a Visiting Professor in composition at the School of Music at Yale University during Fall 1997. Her music has been recorded on CRI, Tzadik, Nimbus, Koch International Classics, Sound Aspect and Tellus.
P.Q. Phan was born in 1962 in Vietnam. He became interested in music while studying architecture in 1978 and taught himself to play the piano, compose, and orchestrate. In 1982, he immigrated to the United States and began his formal musical training. He earned his BM from University of Southern California and his DMA in Composition from University of Michigan.
Phan's music has been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, England, France, Belgium, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Russia, Israel, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Japan. His music has been performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony, Radio France, the Kronos Quartet, the American Composers Orchestra, Saint Louis Chamber Group, Cincinnati Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, Society for New Music, and Cleveland Chamber Symphony (among others). Mr. Phan has received numerous commissions, including from the Kronos Quartet (3), the Cleveland Chamber Symphony (2), the Greater East Lansing Symphony, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (2), the Samaris Piano Trio, the First Music 8 - New York Youth Symphony, La Sierra University, trombonist David Taylor, the Deknatel Consort, William Albright, oboist Harry Sargous, etc. Phan has received the '97 Rome Prize, many ASCAP Standard Awards, Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships, Charles Ives Center for American Music, the Concordia Orchestra, and residencies at the MacDowell Colony. He was a guest composer at several music festivals, including the New Music Festival at Hamilton College (New York) in April '97, the '97 Piccolo Spoleto with the Charleston Symphony, the '96 residency with the Kronos Quartet at Univ. of Iowa - Hancher Auditorium, the '95 Asian Composers' Forum in Sendai - Japan, the '94 New Music Festival at UC Santa Barbara, the '92 Music Lives in Pittsburgh, etc.
At the moment, Mr. Phan focus in composing music which integrates the musical aesthetics of Southeast-Asia and the West. He is currently an Assistant Professor in composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which was the same position he held at Cleveland State University from 1993-96.
The music department is housed in the List Art Center and Schambach Center, which contains a marvelous 700-seat concert hall (Wellin Hall) with state-of-the-art recording equipment, practice rooms, the music library, faculty offices, and several comfortable seminar rooms.
for further information, contact:
E. Michael Richards Associate Professor Department of Music University of Maryland, Baltimore County 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD 21250 phone = 410-455-3064 fax = 410-455-1180 email = emrichards@umbc.edu
OR
Dr. Kazuko Tanosaki Department of Music UMBC 1000 Hilltop Circle Baltimore, MD 21250 email = kazukotanosaki@netscape.net