Hara Museum ARC

The world-renowned percussionist Kuniko Kato performs works by Steve Reich (US, b. 1936) and Arvo Pärt (Estonia, b.1935), two major figures in minimal music.
One of the most gifted percussionists of her generation, Kuniko Kato has played with ensembles and orchestras throughout Japan and Europe and currently focuses her energies on solo performances. She constantly explores new possibilities in percussion through a wide range of endeavors that include collaboration with contemporary dancers and has won widespread recognition. She was cited as one of the 35 top marimbists in the world by the Percussive Art Society in 2000. This concert, which marks the 80th birthdays of Reich and Pärt, includes Kato’s own percussion arrangements of signature works by these two masters featured on Kato’s highly acclaimed 2013 album Cantus. Using sophisticated sound technology, Kato creates dynamic “solo duets” by multiplexing recorded performances of herself with her live, on-stage performance. The result is a dazzling, kaleidoscopic whirlpool of sound that is sure to enchant.

Profile: Kuniko Kato
After completing graduate studies at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan, Kato continued her studies at the Rotterdam Conservatorium in the Netherlands where she graduated at the top of her class. Her many awards include the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis from the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt and the Toyohashi Culture Foundation Award. In 2011, she released the album kuniko plays reich with Linn Records, a Scottish label renowned for its high sound quality. The album, which features the world’s first arrangements for percussion of Reich’s famous Counterpoint series, was voted best album in the same year, and for a live rendition of the album, she received the12th Keizo Saji Award from the Suntory Arts Foundation. In 2013, Cantus, her second album with Linn, was globally released, featuring the premiere percussion arrangements of four of the great Estonian composer Arvo Pärt’s signature works. The album won praise in major publications throughout the world, including The Times and Gramophone. In the same year, the album received the Best Recording Award at Japan’s Music Pen Club’s 26th Music Awards. In April 2015, she released her third album on Linn Records entitled IX, featuring the 20th-century composer Xenakis’s major work PLEIADES and solo piece for percussion Rebonds. She teaches part-time at the Toho Gakuen School of Music and is endorsed globally by Adams and Pearl.

Venue

The Hall at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art

Organized by

Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, kuniko kato arts project

Performed by

Kuniko Kato

Sound design and operation by

Yuji Sagae