Yumi Kurosawa, a master of the 21 string koto, Japan’s national instrument, will be joined by BSM faculty members Eric Phinney, and Naho Parrini, in a program featuring her innovative compositions for koto, tabla and violin. Audience members will experience the most recognizable and evocative sounds of Japan on what is a stringed zither, with North Indian tabla drums, and the Western violin.

Limited seating capacity - first come first served

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Masks required

An award-winning Koto star from a young age, Yumi Kurosawa is one of today's most exciting soloists on Japan's national instrument. Born and raised in Japan, she started studying the Koto when she was three under her parents Kazuo & Chikako Kurosawa. She started studying 20 strings Koto under Nanae Yoshimura when she was 15 years old. Ms. Kurosawa received first prize at the National Japanese Koto Competition in 1989 and 1992, and a scholarship from The Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan in 1998. She toured U.S., Canada, Malaysia and Russia. Her extensive performances in Japan in her teenage years have included appearances at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and on NHK Broadcast TV programs. Ms. Kurosawa has been based in New York since 2002. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2006 and continues creating music for her original projects with Tabla, Violin, and dance. Ms. Kurosawa has released three records: Four Seasons (Vivaldi/Kurosawa, 2017), Looking Up At The Sky (2015), and Beginning of a Journey (2009). Ms. Kurosawa holds a Bachelor Degree in International Relations from Keio University Tokyo, Japan. Certified master from the SEIHA school. Currently Ms. Kurosawa is teaching at the Music Performing Program at Columbia University.

Violinist, Naho Parrini, a native of Japan, has given numerous solo and chamber music recitals in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and Bulgaria. She received her BM from North Carolina School of the Arts, and her MM and DMA from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her principal teachers include Kevin Lawrence, Mitchell Stern, Philip Setzer, and Pamela Frank. She performs regularly with New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, South Country Concert Series, Mirror Visions Ensemble, and Performance Santa Fe. She is a Resident Teaching Artist and Director of a pre-college program, Music Access Project at Bloomingdale School of Music in New York City. She also serves as co-director of the Adult Chamber Music Workshop and violin faculty of Junior Session at Kinhaven Music School in Vermont.

Eric Phinney is an accomplished percussionist with performance experience in many diverse musical traditions. As a member of Ethos Percussion Group, he has performed at major venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, London's Wigmore Hall, the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center. Orchestral highlights include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Albany Symphony, St. Cecilia Orchestra, Berkshire Opera Orchestra at Tanglewood, and the New World Symphony, including US tours with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. He is a major advocate of contemporary music and has worked with composers of various music styles resulting in 30 new commissions with Ethos. Eric has performed with New York’s New Music Consort at festivals in Tokyo and Moscow. He has performed chamber music with Yo-Yo Ma and the Music from China ensemble at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, including a recording of the music of Zhou Long with Music from China, as part of the Silk Road Project.