Heartfelt congratulations to our friend and local dance legend, Heidi Durning, for her upcoming 60th birthday celebrations! Join Heidi and her friends at Urbanguild for a three-day festival of music and dance at Urbanguild later this month! Tapestry - Dance & Music Project Celebrating Heidi S. Durning’s 60th Birthday in November a collaboration of traditional & … [Read more...]
Enso Watt Perform CRYST0piA(e) @ UrbanGuild; 11.19.2017
The shaman speaks of a crystal city beyond time’s horizon, imperial and immortal, where the mind-lake sparkles, a perfected form where all is immediate. Multi-media performance group ENSO WATT are back with their latest production “CRYSTOPIA” – an operatic piece set in a dystopian dimension where a neo-humanity searches for the “beautiful objects of eternity.” This is … [Read more...]
The Soldier’s tale / The Ronin’s tale: A Mixed Media Performance at MoMAK Kyoto; October 6th
Many thanks to Marguerite Paget for letting us know about this great event which will be held at MoMAK (The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto) on October 6th as part of the Nuit Blanche Kyoto arts festival. The Soldier’s Tale is a theatrical Faustian story of a soldier who sells his prized violin to the devil in return for untold riches. Written in 1918 by C. F. Ramuz … [Read more...]
A Traditional Live Music Show at Ran Theatre Kyoto
A couple of months ago Mewby and I were invited to attend a traditional live music show at "Ran Theater Kyoto". During the show we were entertained by a large number of talented and enthusiastic musicians playing a variety of traditional instruments from all over the Japanese archipelago. I found the show highly enjoyable, but the audience was a little sparse when we went and … [Read more...]
Maiko Dinner Show at Kyoto Restaurant Yasakadori Enraku
Many thanks to Anna Kase for sending in the following information. Much has been written about Kyoto's maiko, the famous apprentice geisha (properly called geiko in Kyoto) who entertain wealthy guests with traditional music, dance, songs, games and good conversation. In the past it was quite difficult for overseas visitors to gain access to the traditional tea houses … [Read more...]
Kyoto Experiment 2017 – International Performing Arts Festival; Oct 14th – Nov 5th 2017
Many thanks to Juliet Knapp for sending in the following information. THEATRE / DANCE / PERFORMANCE / MUSIC / VISUAL ART / DESIGN Taking place every autumn for around one month, Kyoto Experiment is Kyoto’s first international performing arts festival, bringing together cutting-edge theater and dance from around the world. The Official Program comprises a dozen or more … [Read more...]
A Close Encounter with Butoh Dance at the Kyoto Butoh-kan
Today we have a special guest post from Florentyna Leow on the world’s first theatre expressly devoted to regular Butoh performances. Butoh is an avant-garde dance style originating in Japan. First developed by Kazuo Ono and Hijikata Tatsumi in the 1960s, one of the central features of Butoh is its very indefinability - it is difficult to attach a definition or set of … [Read more...]
Music on the Edge of Silence: Shakuhachi Concert with Adrian Freedman
A solo shakuhachi concert with Adrian Freedman in the beautiful garden of Eiun-In temple, part of the Kurodani temple complex in Kyoto. April 13 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm Location: Eiun-In temple, Kyoto-shi, Sakyou-ku, Kurodani-cho 33, Kyoto, Kyoto Japan +Google Map Tickets on the door: ¥2,000 Bridget Scott says, 'A friend of mine, who lived here many years ago and is a … [Read more...]
Ensō Watt Perform Clonologic Horizone® at Urbanguild Tomorrow!
Our favorite experimental multi-media performance group will be blowing minds again at Kyoto's Urbanguild tomorrow night. Don't miss this if you are free and in town. Date: 5 November 2016 Time: 19:30–1:00 Venue: UrBANGUILD Kyoto http://www.urbanguild.net/ map : https://goo.gl/maps/wHTfPYvzDEN2 door 2800 yen adv 2000 yen student 1500 yen +1 drink ensō watt … [Read more...]
BRDG presents “117 -one one seven” “Ghost House Gone House” @ Urbanguild; 10/23
Our friend Bridget Scott writes... I’d like to tell you about a performance that I have been involved in. It began with me being interviewed by Keiko Yamaguchi,the director of a Kyoto based theatre group BRDG. The first question she asked me was, "Tell me about the house you grew up in.” After two hours, she declared it could be the starting point of a play. Yamaguchi also … [Read more...]
Vent & Eau – A Concert by Yannick Paget
Yannick Paget will conduct an original concert "Voice of 風水" for La Nuit Blanche at Kyoto Art Center on October 1st from 16.00 - 17.30. Here's Yannick with some background to the piece: “It was an exciting challenge to start the new KAC’s cycle “listening to the voice of Feng shui”, especially in a town like Kyoto that had a minister of Feng Sui for so many years and … [Read more...]
Pictures from Enso Watt & Instant Eternity!
Enso Watt performed Sanka's 5th Season Ritual at Urbanguild on Sunday night and as always it was a fantastic show. If you are not familiar with what they do, it is a choreographed multi-media extravaganza, of experimental music, pre-recorded soundscapes, live video, art, poetry, heaps of talent, color, and a whole lot of enthusiasm. All of it conducted by classical … [Read more...]
Ensō Watt Return to UrbanGuild for Sanka’s Fifth Ritual!
Oh boy! They are back! This is going to be great! From Marguerite Paget: Dear Friends Ensō Watt is coming back for the Sanka’s Fifth season Ritual ! After completing the “seasonal cycle” (the rites of summer, autumn, winter and spring), honoring the 100th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky’s revolutionary Rite of Spring, the musical/visual ensemble Ensō Watt will add a … [Read more...]
NUIT BLANCHE 2015 -KYOTO OPENING PERFORMANCE « Langage, texture et mouvement »
From Marguerite Paget NUIT BLANCHE 2015 -KYOTO OPENING PERFORMANCE « Langage, texture et mouvement » October 3rd 2015 Kyoto International Manga Museum - 19:00 UrBANGUILD Open 20:00 - Starts 20:30 «Langage, Texture et Mouvement» is a unique mix-media live performance which gathers classical conductor, composer and percussionist YANNICK PAGET, filmmaker and … [Read more...]