On an Endless Road
Ito Noe & the women composers of her time.
A unique opportunity to see renowned singer and musician Akiko Kubota perform in the UK, in a programme of music by and about trailblazing Japanese women.
Online tickets have been taken offline for processing, tickets can be brought from Box Office (open 1 hour before the event begins) subject to availability.
At its heart is a new composition for voice and biwa, written especially for Akiko by British composer Francesca Le Lohé, and first heard in Tokyo in 2023. The biwa is a stringed instrument traditionally used to accompany narrative songs that chronicle the achievements of warriors in battle. This new work celebrates the brief life of a brave and radical woman: writer and feminist anarchist It? Noe (1895-1923), killed by Japanese state forces when she was just 28. It is sung in Japanese with English surtitles.
Alongside this new work, sits beautiful music for violin and piano by three of Noe’s contemporaries, women who broke new ground by writing in the Western Classical tradition: K?da Nobu (1870-1946), Toyama Michiko (1913-2006) and Yoshida Takako (1910-1956) performed by international soloists Midori Komachi and Yura Zaiki. Special guest speaker Dr Irena Hayter (Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Leeds), will be here to tell us more.
Akiko Kubota has performed across Asia, South America and Europe including with the Vienna Philharmonic. Francesca Le Lohé’s is active in the UK and Japan. Her opera ‘The Key’ won the prestigious Keizo Saji Prize in 2019 and she is an LSO Soundhub Associate 2022-2024.
“An outstanding British talent…This is the timeless way creation should happen.” The Asahi Newspaper on Francesca Le Lohé.
Presented in the UK by Hera in association with Illuminate Women’s Music. Generously supported by the Daiwa Foundation, Japan Foundation and Hinrichsen Foundation.
Programme:
Koda Nobu (1870 – 1946) Violin Sonata
Toyama Michiko (1913-2006) Suite after Japanese Folk Songs; ‘Lullaby’, ‘Forked Road’, ‘Rice Polishing’ (for violin & piano)
Yoshida Takako (1910-1956) Supplication Hundredfold (for violin & piano)
Francesca Le Lohé (1990-) It? Noe: On an Endless Road (for voice & biwa)
Photographer Credit: Hiraga Maasaki
