Kitanodai Gagaku Ensemble
The Kitanodai Gagaku Ensemble, established as a public interest incorporated association in Japan, has engaged in activities to promote international cultural exchanges, and to educate and raise the aesthetic sensibilities of the younger generation through gagaku.
Gagaku is the classical Japanese court music and dance with over a thousand-year history, which has been registered as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO for its historical and artistic values.
The Ensemble has given performances at commemorative friendship events hosted by the government of Japan and many workshops at academic institutions in Western and African countries, as well as in Australia, as projects subsidized by the Japan Foundation.
It has been holding concerts at various venues in Japan and workshops to introduce gagaku to elementary and junior high school students through the cultural experience programmes sponsored by the Chiba Prefectural Government.
In recent years, the Ensemble players have been receiving lessons to improve their techniques from Mr. Shogo Anzai, a former principal conductor of the Music Department at the Imperial Household Agency.
Gagaku is the classical Japanese court music and dance with over a thousand-year history, which has been registered as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO for its historical and artistic values.
The Ensemble has given performances at commemorative friendship events hosted by the government of Japan and many workshops at academic institutions in Western and African countries, as well as in Australia, as projects subsidized by the Japan Foundation.
It has been holding concerts at various venues in Japan and workshops to introduce gagaku to elementary and junior high school students through the cultural experience programmes sponsored by the Chiba Prefectural Government.
In recent years, the Ensemble players have been receiving lessons to improve their techniques from Mr. Shogo Anzai, a former principal conductor of the Music Department at the Imperial Household Agency.
Shogo Anzai became a court musician of the Music Department of the Imperial Household in 1969 and was appointed a principal conductor of the Music Department in 2009. After his retirement in 2013, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to training young musicians to perpetuate the gagaku tradition for further development.
He plays and performs the ryuteki (flute), the so (harp), the sa-mai (Left School Dance) and the Kagura-uta (Kagura song). Being a member of Jūnion-Kai (“Twelve-Tone Group”), a gagaku music ensamble, he participated actively in various concerts throughout the country and the world, and was honoured with the status of Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure) before retirement.
He plays and performs the ryuteki (flute), the so (harp), the sa-mai (Left School Dance) and the Kagura-uta (Kagura song). Being a member of Jūnion-Kai (“Twelve-Tone Group”), a gagaku music ensamble, he participated actively in various concerts throughout the country and the world, and was honoured with the status of Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure) before retirement.
SPONSOR
HONORARY PATRONAGE
HONORARY CONSUL OF JAPAN
IN KRAKOW
