Sheng! L'orgue à bouche #21
shō Master - Mayumi Miyata
with Mikako Mizuno and Wataru Miyakawa (composers et musicologists)
Mikako Mizuno : The expansive theatrical space of Mayumi Miyata
In the mid-1980s, contemporary Japanese composers and audiences discovered a young shō player named Mayumi Miyata. After graduating from the piano course of Kunitachi College of Music in 1975, she devoted herself to music aesthetics and began studying gagaku under Tadamaro Ono, Hiroshi Togi, and Sukeyasu Shiba. In 1983, Miyata gave the first solo recital for shō. Several composers immediately began creating new pieces for shō , heralding a new phase of identity for the traditional instrument. Miyata collaborated with Japanese composers, such as Shigeaki Saegusa, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Maki Ishi as well as Jean-Claude Eloy and Cort Lippe before working with Toshio Hosokawa.
This presentation shows how Miyata opens theatrical space through expansive sound, looking at her fruitful collaboration with composers in the 1980s and her recent projects with young musicians and orchestral work.
Wataru Miyakawa: The collaboration between Mayumi Miyata and Toshio Hosokawa
Mayumi Miyata has played a key role in the development of the shō’s contemporary repertoire. Among the many composers with whom Miyata has collaborated, Toshio Hosokawa occupies a particularly important place due to his prolific work for the instrument. Since 1985, he has composed sixteen works for shō, alone or with other instruments, always entrusting the shō to Miyata.
In this presentation, we will look at the collaborative work between these two musicians, studying various aspects, such as historical context, Miyata's contribution to Hosokawa's musical development, and the characteristics of his writing for shō. Interviews with both Miyata and Hosokawa played an important part in the research for this presentation.