Hiroya Miura, composer, will talk about his recent work Sharaku Unframed, a micro-opera, which explores the mysteries surrounding 18th-century woodblock artist Toshusai Sharaku. The opera is being given its world premiere by the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in San Francisco, and features Hidejiro Honjoh, a renowned Japanese shamisen player [who will also be present for this talk].

>> Performances Saturday and Sunday, October 5 & 6

Miura also recently had his Shakuhachi Concerto premiered by the Berg Orchestra at the 12th International Shakuhachi Festival in Prague, Czech Republic (September, 2019). Miura is an active composer and performer in North America, and a native of Sendai, Japan. He is Associate Professor at Bates College where he teaches composition and directs the Bates College Orchestra. He also serves as Artistic Director of Columbia University’s IMJS/Japanese Cultural Heritage Initiatives. He received master’s and doctoral degrees in composition from Columbia University.

Acclaimed by Allan Kozinn of New York Times as “acidic and tactile,” his compositional output typically mirrors his multiple musical roles, and creates “the charm resulting from continuous changes of balance.” Miura has composed works for American Composers Orchestra, le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Juilliard Percussion Ensemble, So Percussion, Momenta Quartet, Speculum Musicae, New York New Music Ensemble, Mise-en, and members of Reigakusha (Japanese court music ensemble based in Tokyo), which were presented in venues and festivals such as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Miller Theater, Annenberg Center, Smithsonian Institution’s Freer Gallery, Carnegie Hall’s JapanNYC Festival, Vacances Percutantes (Marmande, France), Centro de Arte Pepe Espaliú (Córdoba, Spain), Ostrava Days (Ostrava, Czech Republic), Centro Cultural Moca (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and Yomiuri Hall (Tokyo, Japan). For the 2016–17 season, Miura was selected as one of the four American Composers to be sent to the Havana Contemporary Music Festival in Cuba as part of the American Composers Forum’s artist delegation program. He is also a founding member of the electronic improvisation unit, No One Receiving, whose debut album from the Grain of Sound has won critical acclaim in Europe and the US.