Saturday, March 23, 2019, 6:30pm
138 South Oxford Street, The Great RoomBrooklyn, NY 11217

Japan-USA: Musical Perspectives Series 8~	 Contemporary Guitar Works ~About Our Group, JUMPJUMP (Japan-USA: Musical Perspectives) is a composers’ collective, created forthe purpose of organizing a series of contemporary music concerts both in the US and inJapan. We present experimental works, collaborating with active contemporary artists
and musicians. We seek to expand cultural exchange between Japan and the US throughmusic and arts.
In our past concerts we focused on works that involved computer technology andvisual arts as well as Japanese culture, including Japanese traditional instruments. This
time we feature the Tokyo-based guitarist Junpei Ohtsubo, who specializes in anexciting and challenging repertoire. Five composers have created unique works
specifically for Mr. Ohtsubo. He will also present these pieces at his recital in Tokyo on
April 13th, 2019. Guest artist Sahoko Sato Timpone, a mezzo-soprano currently basedin the US, will sing two of our pieces.
Searching for beauty in music is an endlessly fascinating subject for me as acomposer. How does one define it? Beauty is very personal. In this concept I include
all of the ugly, fearful, sad, and crazy things that live inside of us. I believe that internalbeauty, and not the outward appearance, attracts people. I very much hope that you will
experience this kind of beauty through our music.
It is very important for composers to receive feedback from the audience. Please,feel free to talk to the composers and musicians after the performance. We also would
like to thank all of you for coming.

Miyuki ITO, Founder1

JUMP, Series 8PROGRAM＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Douglas Geers | Hinge Flock Traces (2019) *Satoshi Tanaka | Labyrinth (1994)
Lyudmila German | Three Rhapsodies (2019) *Toshio Hosokawa | Yuri no To o… from Renka (I) (1986) for soprano and guitar
Marcelo Toledo | Music for Japan (2019) *Miyuki Ito | The Bells (2019) for mezzo soprano and guitar *I. Silver Bells II. Golden Bells III. Brazen Bells Text by Edgar Allan Poe
Etching by Mayuka Wakai

Tomoyuki Hisatome | Somewhere on the Earth (2019) ** World Premiere

Junpei Ohtsubo
guitarSahoko Sato Timpone
mezzo soprano＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊2Program Notes

Hinge Flock Traces (2019) for guitar, by Douglas Geers“Hinge Flock Traces” was influenced by the recent and untimely death of Dave Koenig, an amazing
person who left our world much sooner than I ever would have expected. Amid my grief at the lossof Dave, I reflected on the idea of the hinge, like the squeaky hinge of a door. Dave had found joy incomposing electroacoustic musical works by concocting clouds, mountains, and oceans of soundusing recordings of squeaky hinges. He wrote his own composition software that allowed him toplay hundreds of hinge sounds simultaneously, at various speeds and transpositions. In Dave’smusic, these orchestras of hinge sounds would fly from loudspeakers, huge and powerful. My work,“Hinge Flock Traces,” takes Dave’s fascination with hinges as its inspiration and pulls that universeback to the size of one squeaky hinge on one door, exploring the pitch space possibilities of theguitar beyond those demarcated at its frets. In this work, glissandos happen through use of a slide,which also serves as reference to blues and bluegrass traditions, including the early recordings of Leo
Kottke, whose album “Six and Twelve String Guitar” remains one of my favorite
recordings. Moreover, the “surface noises” of performance – sliding sounds, buzzing sounds,
scratching sounds—are not only welcome in this piece but in fact are thematic. Here, simple andstable sounds dialogue with their slippery, inharmonic peers, allowing listeners to decode the beautyof both in relation to the other. This piece is dedicated to the memory of Dave Koenig.

Labyrinth (1994) for guitar, by Satoshi Tanaka
This piece consists of five movements. Each movement has a proportional notation, using which theperformer can play phrases freely within the time frame indicated in the score. When I wascomposing this piece I was very much interested in a kind of tempo rubato character of guitar
playing. The last movement contains tremolo music and has the structure of an infinite scale. Thetitle of Labyrinth comes from this movement.

Three Rhapsodies (2019) for guitar, by Lyudmila German
Being an organist I have always felt superior to other instrumentalists for the spurious reason of
being able to play simultaneously with hands and feet. While guitarists do not play with their feet,the variety of hand and finger techniques available to them can astound a keyboardist. Regardless ofwhat I play, I press the organ keys or pedals with fingertips or toes. The guitarist’s hands take theextraction of sounds to a new level. Besides the traditional performance manner (the left handpresses the frets and the right hand plucks the strings), both hands can also play on the fingerboard,
making sounds at the same time in a variety of techniques. Fingers are also engaged in ways morevaried than one can imagine: tapping, plucking, strumming, slapping, sliding, flicking, and knocking
are part of the list. Playing with fingernails, finger pads or palms of hands are quite common. (This is
not an exhaustive list.) Modern guitar playing has adapted the natural instrument of the human bodyto the man-made instrument of the guitar.
While composing Three Rhapsodies I chose those techniques that allowed me to achieve the utmost
expressivity. The pieces are contrasting: the first and the third are dynamic, with a strong rhythmic
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drive, while the middle piece is elegiac and rhapsodic. All three share improvisatory elements, which
define the genre of rhapsody.

Renka (I) (1986) for soprano and guitar, by Toshio Hosokawa
There are three sections in this piece. Only the third section is performed tonight. Its title, Yuri noTo o… , comes from the poem “Shin Kokinshu” by Soneno Yoshitada. The poem dates from the XVcentury.
Its oars lost,
Hopelessly adrift
On Yura Bay,The boatman’s craft
Is like my love which
Knows no path to follow. (English translation)

Music for Japan (2019) for prepared guitar, by Marcelo Toledo
Music for Japan is a new work for guitar that I composed in March of this year specifically for thisconcert. The work uses a prepared guitar. The preparation consists of the replacement of the threehigh strings for three low ones, creating a symmetry 6-5-4-4-5-6. All strings use scordatura. Thepreparation is completed with three guitar slides placed on specific frets on the fingerboard. In thisway the guitar is divided into four different zones. The tuning of the strings gives to each zone acollection of microtonal pitches within a range of a fifth. The total pitch collection of 24 notes
creates a microtonal scale of almost two octaves. The traditional timbres or tone colors of the guitar
are transformed completely by the placements of the guitar slides. I coined the term “Japaneseguitar” for this instrument because there is a remote connection to he sounds of the Koto. The titlemakes a reference to two things. First, there is an evocative and remote element of Japanese musicthat comes naturally, without using any specific ethnic elements (scales, melodies, rhythms etc.).
Second, the title was borrowed from a work by Bunita Marcus for flute, clarinet, xylophone, harp,and piano, written in 1983 and dedicated to Morton Feldman.
Many thanks to Miyuki Ito and Junpei Ohtsubo for presenting me with the challenge to write a piece
for guitar on short notice, and, also, for inviting me to think of Japan, a country and a culture that Iadmire deeply.

The Bells (2019) for mezzo soprano and guitar, by Miyuki Ito
I. Silver Bells II. Golden Bells III. Brazen Bells
Text by Edgar Allan PoeThis piece was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells”. The first three sections of thispoem were used as an inspiration. All sections are performed without a break. Although in myprevious six pieces for guitar I explored several challenging extended techniques and different
tunings, occasionally using microtones to search for my own timbre, in this piece I followed thesound images suggested to me by Poe’s poem. The result became more rhythmical than in myprevious pieces. Three different images of bells that Poe expressed with words were created using
4voice, guitar, Japanese wind bells, and finger cymbals. The sound of bells has a special meaning in
my music in general, which is related to Japanese culture and aesthetics. For example, Japanesetemple bells are rung the second time only after the reverberation has faded away. In contrast, in theWestern tradition bells are generally rung regularly, without waiting for the reverberation to dieout. According to Japanese aesthetics, one needs to be immersed in each reverberation in order tofully experience it. This time, however, I tried to present the bells as they might have appeared inPoe’s imagination.
Mayuka Wakai, artist, created four etchings for this concert in collaboration with Miyuki Ito. The
four works accompany Ito’s composition “The Bells”, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem. Wakai’s
artistic aspiration is to express with her print works what we cannot see or feel with our senses:
certain sounds, smells, atmosphere, etc. For this collaboration she tried to portray in etching thevarious bell sounds which one can hear in the night sky.
After graduating from Nagoya University of Arts, School of Fine Arts, Japan, by completing a
Design Course, Wakai continued her studies at École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Dijon,France. She spent two months at an artist residency at la Cité international des arts á Paris in 2016.
Wakai’s works have been selected or the Mini Print International of Cadaques (2015, 2016, 2017)and Lessedra World Art Print Annual Mini Print (2016, 2017). She has also exhibited solo as well as
in group exhibitions in Japan, Germany, France, and Algeria.

Somewhere on the Earth (2019) for guitar, by Tomoyuki Hisatome"Somewhere on the Earth" is the final chapter of the series "From the Ancient", evoking the ancientsound image. Charango, Ronroco (plucked strings instrument of South America) and Tumutumu(Maori’s wooden percussion of New Zealand, used for prayers) are referred to. This piece wasconceived by dreaming about an imaginary history, the subject of which could be “ What if there wasan exchange between Latin America and Polynesia in ancient time…”. Many cultures have always
shown respect to their ancestors and tried to communicate with them through rituals. I am also
trying to dialogue with my ancestors in this composition. For this reason, the fifth and the sixth
strings are tuned extremely low. As for the first through fourth strings I have adopted unusual
sounds and various tremolo-like techniques. As a metaphor for prayer, the music concludes byimitating Tumutumu sound by striking the body side of the guitar and ritual actions by blowing into
the sound hole. I dedicate this piece to my father and all the ancestors of humanity.

About the Composers
Douglas Geers is a composer who uses technology in nearly all of his works, whether in the compositional process,as part of their sonic realization, or both. He has created concert music, installations, and several large multimedia
theater works. He has also performed as an improviser, playing laptop and his own custom electronicinstruments. Reviewers have described his music as "glitchy... keening... scrabbling... contemplative" (New YorkTimes), "kaleidoscopic" (Washington Post), "fascinating...virtuosic...beautifully eerie" (Montpelier Times-Argus),"Powerful" (Neue Zuericher Zietung), "arresting... extraordinarily gratifying" (TheaterScene.net), and have praised its5

"virtuosic exuberance" (Computer Music Journal) and "shimmering electronic textures" (Village Voice.) Geers
completed his DMA at Columbia University, where he studied with Brad Garton, Tristan Murail, Fred Lerdahl, andJonathan D. Kramer. His works have been performed widely, and he has won numerous awards and grants, includingfrom the Jerome, McKnight, Argossy, and Bush foundations, among others. Today Geers is a Professor of Music
Composition at Brooklyn College, a campus of the City University of New York (CUNY). There he is Director of theCenter for Computer Music and the MFA program in Sonic Arts. He also serves on the Ph.D. composition faculty ofthe CUNY Graduate Center. www.dgeers.com
Born in the Ukraine, Lyudmila German received her education in New York, earning a BA from Brooklyn
College and MM and DMA degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. German’s compositions include works forpiano, organ, string quartet, voice, percussion, chamber music, electronics, orchestra, and choir. In the past few years
her compositions featuring Japanese instruments have been performed at Tenri Cultural Institute. In addition, she hascomposed a number of works for children, including incidental music for Brave Tin Soldier. Her Three Songs on
Poems by Philip Larkin were premiered at the Source Song Festival in Minneapolis, MN. German’s Six Miniaturesand Four Fragments for clarinet and cello were broadcast live from National Sawdust. In the summer of 2018 apremiere of a one-woman play Clara: Confessions featured her incidental music. German’s current projects include
commissions from clarinetist Thomas Piercy for a trio for clarinet, ryuteki (Japanese flute) and piano, and fromFontenay Chamber Players for a septet. German is a recipient of Miriam Gideon Scholarship from Brooklyn College,
Meet the Composer Grant, Ivar Mikhaschoff Grant for New Music, Cantate Chamber Singers Award and RobertHelps Prize. Together with Ito, she co-produces the JUMP series. She teaches music theory and solfege privately andat Stamford Music and Arts Academy (CT) and serves as an organist at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Redding, CT.

Miyuki Ito, born in Nagoya, Japan, received her B.A. from Aichi University of the Arts, Japan, M.A. from theManhattan School of Music, and D.M.A. from Columbia University. She pursued research at IRCAM (Paris) with anartist grant from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan. Her works have been performed at festivals and venues
across the globe, including Centre Acanthes (France), ISCM, Résonances (IRCAM), ICMC, SMC, Re:New andVisiones Sonoras (Mexico). She has received commissions from Tokyo Opera City (Japan), Music From Japan (NY),
Attack Theater (Pittsburgh), Onix Ensemble (Mexico), Aichi Arts Center (Japan), Sinus Ton (Germany), as well asfrom individual musicians. Her awards include the Nagoya Cultural Promotion Agency Prize (Japan), JapanSymphony Foundation Prize and the First Prize in Concorso di Composizione Franco Evangelisti (Rome). She had
been a fellow at the Djerassi Artist Residency in California with an Oshita Fellowship and at CMMAS in Morelia(Mexico) with a grant from Japan Foundation. She has taught at Nagoya University of Arts, Chiba Commerce
University and Aichi University of the Arts in Japan as well as Shichuan Conservatory of Music in China as a guest
composer. Ito is a co-founder and producer of the composer collectives NymphéArt and JUMP. The NymphéArt’stenth concert was awarded as the 14th Keizo Saji Prize from the Suntory Foundation for Arts, Japan. Ito released asolo CD, titled The Sands of Time, which focuses on works with electronics, on ALCD80. Her work “Réminiscenced’un ancien esprit” is published by Edizioni Suvini Zerboni (Italy). www.miyuki-ito.com
Argentinean New York-based composer Marcelo Toledo has almost completely eliminated the traditional
importance given to pitch in order to focus on a new aural matter which is the product of his personal research on all
the instruments of the orchestra. Pitch, timbre, texture, and noise arrive at a new sonic entity that evolves almost
biologically and is at the center of his compositional interest. Marcelo Toledo earned his Master in Music
Composition at Syracuse University and his Doctoral degree from Columbia University, where he works as an
Assistant Professor of Music. Since 1999 Marcelo Toledo is giving workshops, lectures, master classes and seminars
at several universities and institutions in Latin America and United States. Not satisfied with the American academia
and its approach to the teaching of music composition Marcelo Toledo founded, with composer Arthur Kampela,“The Unknown University, Composition Seminars”. It is a new educational and artistic platform for composers,performers, and artists based in New York City and currently moving into cities such as Mexico, Buenos Aires, and6

Rio de Janeiro. For the last 20 years Toledo received commissions by European, North American and LatinAmerican ensembles, museums, institutions, new music festivals, and radio stations such the South West German
Radio, KlangForum Wien, The Essl Museum in Vienna, Center Pompidou, IRCAM, Musik der Jahrhunderte,
Ensemble Intercontemporain, Wien Modern, New Music Summer Festival Stuttgart, Darmstadt Summer Stage,
Berliner Kunstlerprogramm Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Neue Vocalsolisten, Borealis Festival inNorway, BIT20 Ensemble, Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, Wien Modern, Berlin Poesie Festival, Ensemble Dal Niente,Ensemble Counter)induction (NY), Ensemble Recherche, Radio Clasica Spain, Ergo Ensemble (Canada), CBC,Ibermusicas, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, and others.

About the Performers
Junpei Ohtsubo, guitar, was born in Hiroshima, Japan. He started to play electric guitar when he was 15 years old.
He began to take classic guitar lessons at the age of 16. Ohtsubo is a graduate of Elisabeth University of Music inJapan. He studied under Bunken Nagano, Masakazu Tokutake, and Norio Sato. He received prizes in Japan GuitarCompetition, Classical Guitar Competition, East-End International Guitar Competition, Pan Pacific Contemporary
Music Competition, and Japan Guitar Ensemble Competition. Ohtsubo has begun giving recitals while he was still astudent at the University. His repertory includes many contemporary works. Ohtsubo has also commissioned andpremiered many works by Japanese contemporary composers. He held solo recitals of the works of Satoshi Tanaka(2016) and Tomoyuki Hisatome (2017) in Japan.

Sahoko Sato Timpone, mezzo-soprano, a native of Tokyo, grew up in Japan, Germany and the U.S. She madeher Carnegie Hall debut with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has since performed in many operas andconcerts throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including the Baltimore, Syracuse, Berkshire, and Chautauqua
Operas, Opera Maine, Saito Kinen Festival, Seiji Ozawa Ongakujuku, Tokyo Opera Nomori, and the Seattle, Oregon,West Virginia, Chautauqua, Singapore, and Sapporo Symphonies. Her 2018-19 season includes participation atCohen’s Alzheimer’s Stories at the ACDA conference in Kansas City, performances of Verdi’s Requiem at
Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA and the role of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly with St. Petersburg Opera (FL). ThisJuly she is invited to teach and perform at the Lunigiana International Music Festival in Tuscany, Italy. SatoTimpone has performed solo recitals in Bangkok, Thailand, sponsored by the Nomura Cultural Foundation, as well asin Granada, Spain, where she won the First Miguel Zanetti International Spanish Song Competition in 2008. She is a
graduate of New England Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music and has received
her DMA from Rutgers University, where she was the recipient of the Irene Alm Memorial Award for excellence inperformance
andscholarlyresearch.
SatoTimpone
iscurrently
anassistantprofessor
at Florida State University. www.sahokotimpone.com

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