Creating virtuosity and re-creation from tradition: Naoyuki Manabe's revolution in Japanese shō solo and ensemble performances
21 April 2026, 14:30 – 16:30 l Seminar / 23 April 2026, 19:00 - Concert
Seminar
Guest Speaker: Naoyuki Manabe (shō master, Tokyo University of the Arts), Mikako Mizuno (composer-musicologist, Nagoya College of Music)
Moderator: LIAO Lin-Ni (TPMC – IReMus)
Supported by: STMS Lab-Ircam, DRAC Île-de-France, Rohm Music Foundation and IReMus
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Zoom Link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89308294137?pwd=niPEnJzvjjaL5OaLu1ezdV6bB6Te5C.1
ID de réunion: 893 0829 4137
Code secret: 563714
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Abstract
This seminar begins with an introductory demonstration of the history of gagaku and the instrumental structure of the shō. Japanese composers have used the shō in their works since the 1970s. One notable work by Toru Takemitsu is the duet for shō and oboe titled Distance. Takemitsu's ensemble piece Syuteiga (In an Autumn Garden, 1973) has become a modern gagaku classic. The latest virtuosity and these epoch-making modern repertories will be presented with the performance Naoyuki Manabe. The seminar will also cover temperament, pitch structure, breathing, aitake and choshi.
The shō is a Japanese free reed instrument made of 17 pieces of bamboo in the shape of a phoenix. It is the only gagaku instrument that produces chordal sounds. Two of the 17 bamboo pipes of the traditional shō have no reeds and therefore make no sound. The instrument must be physically supported by both hands while playing and the middle and ring fingers of the right hand must remain fixed to the silent bamboo pipes throughout the performance.
Due to the physical structure of the instrument and the aesthetics based on gagaku, which has been practised for over 1300 years, the possibilities for combining and transitioning pitches are fairly limited. The eleven chords, called 'aitake', that have been used in gagaku for centuries are composed of two kinds of pentachords and six kinds of hexachords. All eleven chords include the pitches A5 and B5, i.e. gyo and shichi . Four of the eleven chords have an octave and include either the F♯ octave or the E octave. However, D, C♯, B and A never form harmonies, even though they have octave-related pitches at the level of the single pipe.
The second part of the seminar will focus on Manabeʼs revolutionary virtuosity and his reinterpretation of the gagaku tradition. Manabeʼs technical innovations in search of new fingering techniques have led to a perspective that transcends cultural boundaries. Manabeʼs compositional series, Kokyu and Invention IV, and his collaborative work with Motoharu Kawashima, have introduced new levels of virtuosity to the shō that were previously unseen in traditional performances. These new phases enable phrases, chords and melodies common in Western music. During the seminar, exemplar phrases will be presented, such as a descending scale, contrapuntal two-voice leading, flexibly arranged triads, chord alterations based on two whole-tone scales, parallel progression of various pentads composed of third accumulations, and chorale textures composed of fourths and fifths.
Even whilst engaged in such avant-garde pioneering, his attitude towards tradition has remained strong. The Naoyuki Manabe Gagaku Ensemble (NMGE), inaugurated in September 2020, aims to create a new style of gagaku performance based on
contemporary space design that resonates with both tradition and the avant-garde. The ensemble is re-creating traditional pieces such as Omeribuki, as well as re-interpreting Takemitsu's Syuteiga and Toshi Ichiyanagi's Ōgenraku (1980/96). As a composer himself, Manabe interprets musical scores based on the composers' interpretation of tradition. This could be described as a double-phased interpretation.
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Concert Program
Naoyuki MANABE: KOKYU II, III, IV and Invention IV
Joji YUASA: to the Genesis
R. HP. Platz: sen-ko-hana-bi
Motoharu KAWASHIMA: Hando Play on the 17 Holes
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Naoyuki Manabe
After graduating from the Music Course at Kanagawa Prefectural Yaei High School, Naoyuki Manabe studied composition and vocal music at Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, as well as Gagaku at the Tokyo University of the Arts.
Mr. Manabe has won numerous awards for both composition and performance. Notable honors for his compositions include prizes at the 14th and 18th Kanagawa Prefectural Chorus Music Composition Competitions and the First Prizeat the 1st National Theater Composition Competition. As a performer, he was awarded second prize at the Tokyo International Association of Artists’ 4th JILA Music Competition and First Prize at the Tokyo Hogaku Competition.
Since 2000, he has hosted the “Naoyuki Manabe Shō Recital” series to explore the potential of the shō. These recitals have been held at prestigious venues such as Kioi Hall, Yokohama Minato Mirai Hall, Asahi Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall. His third recital was named one of the “Best Five Classical Concerts of the Year 2003” by the Yomiuri Newspaper.
In addition to solo works for shō, he has composed duos for shō with 17-string koto, violin, double bass, and percussion. As an active Gagaku performer, he plays not only the shō but also the gakusou, gakubiwa, and Umai(traditional dance) within the Ono Gagaku Kai and Jyu-Ni On Kai ensembles. His CD, Kokyu ~ Naoyuki Manabe Shō Recital, was released by Kojima Recordings.
Appointed as a Japan Cultural Envoy by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Government of Japan), he spent a year from May 2011 to May 2012 performing in Germany and 12 other countries across more than 30 cities, giving over 50 recitals. Since returning to Japan, he has been deeply involved in organizing events to introduce Gagaku and the shō to a wider audience.
As a world-renowned soloist, Naoyuki Manabe has performed at many international festivals, including Ruhrtriennale (2011), MaerzMusik Berlin (2012), Romanischer Sommer Köln (2013), the International Eurasia Music Festivalin Yekaterinburg (2013), the Krasnoyarsk International Festival of Chamber Music (2016), and the ACC 1st Anniversary Festival in Gwangju (South Korea).
He has received commissions for shō and string orchestra from the Krasnoyarsk International Chamber Music Festival and for choir and orchestra from the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay.
In 2000, he formed the Naoyuki MANABE GAGAKU Ensemble. This ensemble performs traditional Gagaku while developing new styles and engaging with contemporary music to present the "Gagaku of Today and the Future". These contributions were recognized in 2024 with the 16th "Tradition Creates Award" from the Japan Arts Foundation.
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Mikako MIZUNO
Composer/musicologist. Basically being active in Japan, her music has been heard in a lot of locations including France (Bourges, Paris, Reims), Germany (Berlin, Köln), Austria (Salzburg, Linz, Vienna), Hungary (Budapest), Italy (Venice, Alba, Treviso, Udine) , Republic of Moldova, and international festivals and conferences like ISEA, ISCM, EMS, Musicacoustica, ACMP, WOCMAT, NIME, ICMC, NYCEMF. Her pieces cover from orchestra, chamber music, vocal ensemble, Japanese traditional instruments (sho, koto, shakuhachi, biwa, No-flute etc.) to networked remote performance on ipv6. Her orchestral pieces were premiered by Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra, Aichi Chamber Orchestra etc. Prize of Ars Poetica, Japan-France contemporary music contest, Japan Foundation for Orchestral Music, Aichi Art Prize, Suntory Saji-Keizo prize etc.
In 2024, <Time of Laodamia, for trumpet, piano and 4ch audio> was performed as a guest piece for ICSAF in Japan and performed again in ISCM World New Music Days2024 in Faroe Islands (Denmark). Her latest electroacoustic pieces were featured in NYCEMF 2023, 2024, 2025 and Mid-Japan Sound Complex Festival 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. Piano concerto <Shifting Waves> was premiered by Aichi Chamber Orchestra with the maestro Kazufumi Yamashita in 2024. She is now also working for the research series of The Mouth Organ, which covers technical and aesthetic themes both of Chinese and Japanese mouth organ.
Many writings and articles were published, including Japanese Sound Performance as Conceptual Representation (2025), Iannis Xenakis’s Hibiki Hana Ma and the Japanese Team for Tekkhokan (Steel Pavilion) at Expo ‘70, Osaka (2024), Terminology of the French Philosophy (2017), Remoteness and Compensation in Electroacoustic Music (2016), Japanese Composers in GRM before 1970 (2016), The History of Japanese Contemporary Music After WWⅡ (2006).
Currently professor of Nagoya College of Music, president of Japanese Society of Electronic Music (JSEM), Asia/Oceania Regional Director of ICMA, board member of
Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and Aichi International Art Festival.
https://researchmap.jp/read0094523
https://vimeo.com/search/library?q=mikako+mizuno
