Kento Iwasaki is a composer and koto performer. Commissioned for his intercultural voice and theatric sensibilities, he creates with theater and music new mythologies that acts as a bridge to the lexicon of traditional arts. He was born in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in Champaign, IL; Ottawa; Princeton and Philadelphia before moving to New York City. He studied koto with Satomi Fukami as part of an expenses-paid program by Columbia University and continues his koto studies with Yoko Reikano Kimura. Kento has received training in opera composition from Libby Larsen, John Corgliano and and William Bolcolm as part of the John Duffy Composers Institute. Kento received his B.A. in Music Composition at Temple University and his M.M. in Classical Composition at Manhattan School of Music. Previous composition teachers include Mark Jurcisin, Matthew Greenbaum and Richard Danielpour. Kento is currently developing portable operas that utilize traditional Japanese instruments. Kento's opera Beloved Prey premieres on November 24th at the Secret Theater - a production of the Traveling Opera Company. 

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SUMIE KANEKO 

YOKO REIKANO KIMURA, koto/shamisen performer and singer, has concertized around the world. Her koto performance was touted as “exquisite and compelling” by Kyoto Aoyama Music Award jury. The New York Times described her shamisen playing and singing as “superb.” A graduate of the Tokyo University of the Arts, she was awarded the top prize for her graduation recital. She also studied at the NHK School for Young Professionals and the Institute of Traditional Japanese Music. Her teachers include Kono Kameyama, Akiko Nishigata, and a Living National Treasure, Senko Yamabiko. She holds Master qualifications for both Yamada school and Kato style shamisen. Currently she is a faculty member of the Institute of Traditional Japanese Music in Japan. Awards include the First prize at the prestigious Kenjun Memorial National Koto Competition and the Great Wall International Music Competition. She received a scholarship from the Agency of Culture Affairs of Japan and won the Japanese music audition for NHK radio. Yoko also works extensively with cellist Hikaru Tamaki, as Duo YUMENO commissioning new music and expanding the repertoire. The Duo received Chamber Music America Commissioning Award in 2014 and Kyoto Aoyama Barock Saal Award in 2015. As a soloist, she has performed Kin'ichi Nakanoshima’s Shamisen Concerto at the National Olympic Memorial Center in 2004. In 2013 Yoko performed Daron Hagen’s Koto Concerto: Genji with the Euclid Quartet, Ciompi Quartet, Freimann Quartet and the Prairie Ensemble Orchestra, conductor Kevin Kelly. In 2014, Yoko premiered Kaito Nakahori’s Japanese Footbridge for koto and chamber ensemble at Jordan Hall, Boston and in the following year, performed James Nyoraku Schlefer’s Concertante at the Round Top Music Festival. As a collaborator, Yoko has worked with Heiner Goebbels, the Wien Solisten Trio (Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra members), Kyo-Shin-An Arts, Kenny Endo among others. Yoko has toured Poland, Switzerland, France, Lithuania, Korea, China, Israel, Qatar, Italy, Turkey and multiple countries in South America.  reikano.yamadaryu.com