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SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The final 2004-05 Wittenberg Series event will offer music lovers a unique experience when Tomoe Kaneko, virtuoso shakuhachi player, performs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, in Weaver Chapel on campus. The event is free and open to the public.
The shakuhachi (bamboo flute) is Japan’s best-known woodwind instrument, dating back to the seventh century when it was used in court music. One of the finest young shakuyhachi players in Japan, Kaneko received her master’s degree at Toyko Geijitsu Daigaku (Tokyo University of Fine Arts). The first woman to graduate in performance under the teaching of famed shakuhachi player Goroh Yamaguchi, Kaneko has received acclaim for performances throughout the world in recent years.
An ensemble of three instrumentalists will share the spotlight with Kaneko, performing traditional and modern Japanese music on shakuhachi, biwa (Japanese lute), koto (13-string zither) and shamisen (a three-stringed lute-like instrument).
The ensemble will be in residence at Wittenberg from March 26 through March 30, during which time it also will perform a concert at an East Asian Studies colloquium at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, in Ness Family Auditorium, Hollenbeck Hall.
The concerts at Wittenberg will be the ensemble’s only appearance in the United States during the 2004-05 season. This visit was made possible with support from the Freeman Foundation, an organization committed to increasing, strengthening and popularizing the teaching of Asia in college and university classrooms. Wittenberg received $1.9 million from the Freeman Foundation in 2002, the largest single foundation grant ever received by a Wittenberg program or department, enabling the university’s acclaimed East Asian Studies program to give all students, regardless of their course of study, an encounter with Asia as part of their undergraduate experience.
For more information about the Wittenberg Series, an annual university program that brings an array of cultural and intellectual programs to campus, contact Gwendolyn Scheffel, Series coordinator, (937) 327-7918.
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