World premiere: Milian Mori + Mitakadai Quartet
Swiss composer and digital artist collaborates with Japanese shō players? Milian Mori meets the shō, a Japanese instrument used in gagaku (ancient Japanese court music).
On July 1, 2024, Swiss composer and digital artist Milian Mori, known for his work with algorithms, pixels, and minimal music, will present a collaborative work with Japanese shō players from Mitakadai Quartet at WALL_alternative, Tokyo! Don’t miss out on this world premiere collaborative music performance, which combines contemporary electronic music and traditional Japanese shō music.
On July 1, 2024, Milian Mori presents a new musical collaboration with the Mitakadai Quartet at Wall_alternative in Tokyo. This composition, created in collaboration with shō players Remi Miura, Hanako Nakamura, Ai Saotome, and Yuki Deai, blends traditional Japanese shō with contemporary electronic music. The work is recontextualizing both the usual traditional Japanese setting of the shō and Milian Mori's pure digital musical language. The collaboration aims to illuminate both the shō and Milian Mori's musical language in an unusual light, combining ambient Tokyo sounds, electronic effects, and the serene tones of the shō.
As with Milian Mori's previous projects, this one will also have a visual component. During the compositional process Milian Mori was strongly inspired by the Plaza by Junya Ishigami's at KAIT University in Kanagawa. In May 2024, the ensemble performed and video documented their collaboration within the Plaza.
This is the world premiere of a new piece by Swiss and Japanese talents. Don't miss it!
Premiere: Milian Mori + Mitakadai Quartet
Shō: Ai Saotome, Hanako Nakamura, Remi Miura and Yuki Deai
Electronics: Milian Mori
Composition: Milian Mori with the help of Mitakadai Quartet
Programm:
Movement 1
Interlude
Movement 2
Interlude
Movement 3
Date and Time: July 1st, 2024, doors at 18:30 pm. / starts at 19:00 pm.
Venue: WALL_alternative (4 Chome-2-4 Nishiazabu, Minato City, Tokyo 106-0031) Map
Ticket: 3,300 JPY (tax included)
Registration: ArtSticker
Co-organizer: WALL_alternative, Embassy of Switzerland in Japan / Vitality.Swiss
※We recommend that you lie on the floor and relax while experiencing the performance. Please bring your favorite cushion!
Milian Mori is a composer and digital artist based in Switzerland. As part of his solo work, he integrates dance, algorithms, pixels, and club music. In the last 13 years Mori has developed a musical language that aims to expand, project and reinterpret dance music's common vocabulary. Milian shares his deep interest in combining mathematics, geometry and data with emotion, dance and fulfillment: technology meets nature, binary meets fluids, algorithm meets spirituality, dualism meets triality, machine meets human, randomness meets self- similarity. All of his works are trying to open the space which exceeds dualism. His art doesn’t want to answer, nor does it aim to question.
Ai Saotome (shō): Ai Saotome graduated from Kunitachi College of Music in 2007 with a major in composition. She studied shō under the Ohno Tadaaki and Mayumi Miyata and joined Reigakusha in 2011. Ai has performed at significant events such as Japonismes 2018 in Paris and the Japan Society Performing Arts 2019 in New York.
Hanako Nakamura (shō): Hanako Nakamura completed her master's degree in music at Kunitachi College of Music. In 2006, she was selected as a trainee under the domestic program for upcoming artists by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. She is a member of Reigakusha, contributing her expertise in shō performance.
Remi Miura (shō): Born in Tokyo, Remi Miura studied musicology at Kunitachi College of Music, where she developed a fascination with the shō. She studied under Mayumi Miyata, Hideaki Bunno, and Sukeyasu Shiba. Remi began her career as a gagaku musician in 1994 while still in college. After graduating, she joined Reigakusha, performing globally at venues and festivals such as the National Theatre, Suntory Summer Festival, and ULTIMA Music Festival.
Yuki Deai (shō): Yuki Deai studied shō under Tadaki Ohno, General Director of the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency, and Ohno Tadazumi. Yuki focuses on expanding new possibilities through the shō.
Support: Burgergemeinde Bern, Vitality.Swiss, Swissnex, Kanton Bern, Kanton St.Gallen, Stadt Bern, Stadt St.Gallen
Video Credits
Production Company: JKD Collective, Director / Ex-Producer: Bruce Ikeda (JKD Collective), Producer: Kei Okazaki (JKD Collective), Production Manager: Kanchi Takano, Director of Photography: Chris Rudz, 2nd Camera: Dixon Wang, Assistant Camera: Javier Sauve, Sound Engineer: Takahiro Yamaguchi, Stylist: Arata Aoyama, Make-up Artist: Motoki Saika
Organizers:
WALL_alternative is an alternative space with a counter bar and an art gallery where Avex exhibits and sells contemporary art and other works in Nishiazabu, Tokyo, where music and culture intersect with art at the core. With a counter bar featuring natural wines, this is an evening hangout where a diverse range of people organically mingle.
The Embassy of Switzerland in Japan / Vitality.Swiss
In 2024, the Vitality.Swiss program celebrates the 160th anniversary of bilateral relation between Switzerland and Japan on the road to Expo 2025. This year, 2024, will host “Swiss Vitality Days” to celebrate the 160th anniversary with several events. For more information check the vitality.swiss web site.
Story’s cover:
© Milian Mori