Worldfest at Wheaton presents Japanese music and dance

On Friday, April 20 at 8:00 pm, Worldfest at Wheaton will host the performance of Tomie Hahn, accomplished Japanese dancer and shakuhachi (flute) performer, and Masayo Ishigure, a master of the stringed instruments koto and shamisen. The concert will include duets of classical Japanese music and dance.

Tomie Hahn is assistant professor of music at Tufts University where she teaches ethnomusicology. She began studying nihon buyo, Japanese traditional dance, at the age of four. In 1989 she was given her professional stage title, Samie Tachibana, from the Tachibana School in Tokyo. Hahn also teaches and performs the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. She has lectured at the American Museum of Natural History, Japan Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institute and numerous universities. Her current research spans a variety of topics from issues of identity and creative expression of multiracial individuals, Monster Truck rallies and gestural controllers as an interactive performance media.

Masayo Ishguire, a native of Japan, began the study of the koto at a very early age. After graduating with a major in traditional Japanese music, hogaku, from Takasaki College for the Arts, Masayo studied contemporary koto music under Tadao and Kazue Sawai. Masayo has performed at the Bang on a Can Festival, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Yale University, Harvard University and others throughout the United States, France and Asia. Since 1998 Ms.Ishguire has participated in programs to educate school children in the New York metropolitan area, introducing them to the sounds of koto, taiko drums and traditional Japanese dance. She has appeared with her students in concert on a cable television program and in 1998 and 1999 participated in the ''Asian Night '' ceremonies prior to the New York Mets baseball game at Shea Stadium. Since 1992, she has taught koto and shamisen at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Masayo is currently head of the Sawai koto school in New York City.

Worldfest at Wheaton presents and evening of Japanese music and dance on Friday, April 20 at 8:00 p.m. in Watson Theatre. For more information, contact Betsy Cronin at 508-286-3644. For directions to Wheaton, go to www.wheatoncollege.edu/about/directions or call 508-286-5602.