Japanese Inspired Music at Duck Creek

On Saturday, August 19, at 5 p.m., composer and musician Kaoru Wantanabe performs “Incense,” a free concert at Duck Creek Arts Center in Springs.

Watanabe grounds his performance in traditional Japanese music while inhabiting a startling combination of musical worlds. He is renowned for his ability to collaborate with a diverse array of visionary international artists: Jason Moran, Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad, Spanish flamenco dancer Eva Yerbabuena, visual artists Simone Leigh and Alyson Shotz, calligrapher Koji Kakinuma, Japanese National Living Treasure Bando Tamasaburo, vocalists Alicia Hall Moran and Imani Uzuri, tap dancers Tamango and Kazunori Kumagai, Galician bagpiper Carlos Nuñez, So Percussion, Semba Kiyohiko, Reigakusha, Brooklyn Raga Massive, Adam Rudolph and Go:Organic Orchestra, the Aizuri and Parker String Quartets and pipa virtuoso Wu Man.

Born to Japanese parents who were both members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Watanabe started playing western classical music at an early age, then graduated from the Manhattan School of Music as a jazz flute and saxophonist, followed by a decade in Japan performing with and eventually directing the internationally acclaimed Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble Kodo. Watanabe returned to New York City to continue developing his ever-evolving musical voice, specializing on transverse bamboo flutes such as the shinobue, noh kan and ryuteki and various Japanese percussion.

He was an advisor, composer and featured musician on the Oscar-nominated score of Wes Anderson’s film “Isle of Dogs” and was a guest artist on the Silkroad’s Grammy Award-winning album “Sing Me Home.”

As a passionate educator, Watanabe has taught at such institutions such as Princeton and Wesleyan University and the Tanglewood Music Festival. Watanabe receives the support of the preeminent taiko maker Miyamoto Unosuke Shoten of Tokyo and master shinobue flute maker Ranjo of Chiba Prefecture. In 2018, Watanabe debuted as an orchestral soloist and composer with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House

Watanabe has performed his compositions at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Kabukiza and in all 47 prefectures in Japan. Watanabe continues to perform regularly around the world.

Duck Creek Arts Center is at 127 Squaw Road, East Hampton. For more information, visit duckcreekarts.org.