kuniko kato
© michiyuki ohba
An Italian choreographer Luca Veggetti, known for his international projects, premieres his latest piece Pléiades at the Japan Society. Pléiades is a collaborative work with two distinguished Japanese artists, percussionist Kuniko Kato and Megumi Nakamura, a former NDT dancer with Jiří Kylián’s Nederlands Dans Theater. The work stems from the choreographic possibilities offered by Pléiades, a mesmerizing score by Greek composer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) for a sextet of mixed percussion. The all sextet parts of the piece will be prerecorded by the film being performed by Kato, and those films will be projected onto the screen lined up in a row as if six individual percussionists are playing live, while Nakamura dancing a newly choreographed solo by Veggetti. The stage sound will be realized by the unique surrounding system at a highly advanced quality.
Direction & Choreography: Luca Veggetti
Musical Direction & Percussion: Kuniko Kato
Dancer: Megumi Nakamura
Kuniko Kato
Kuniko Kato studied under the legendary marimba player Keiko Abe at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan, and advanced her studies under Robert Van Sice at Rotterdam Conservatorium in the Netherlands. She graduated with the highest honors (summa cum laude) as the first percussionist in the institution’s history. She continued to develop her professional career while studying, playing various concertos and solo recitals including the Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra by Akira Miyoshi.
Her critically acclaimed CD kuniko plays reich was released by Linn Records in 2011, and was their best-selling album of the year. kuniko plays reich features unique multi-tracked arrangements of classic 1980s minimalist works by Steve Reich, personally endorsed by the composer. She performed her Reich arrangements live in Tokyo, New York, Modena, Reims, and at the Cheltenham Festival in England in 2011.
She has been working with learning-disabled children in Japan since 2004, including with a series of log drum (slit drum) workshops. She received the 12th Keizo Saji Prize from the Suntory Foundation for Arts in 2013.
Yuko Osaka, Akitoshi Ito
Production Manager
kuniko kato arts project
5-14-18-902 Minami-Shinagawa,
Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0004
Tel: +81-3-3450-6310
E-mail: info◆kuniko-kato.net
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Japan Society, NYC
