As of April 13, tickets are sold out.
The Yoko Awaya Koto Music Conservatory (Awaya-kai) will present the 40th Anniversary Awaya-kai Koto Concert on Saturday, April 15 from 2 p.m. at the James Armstrong Theater in Torrance.
The concert program is a diverse, international mix of musical genres to be performed by Awaya-kai members and special guest musicians and dancers.
Awaya-kai was founded in 1975 by Yoko Awaya, a koto and jiuta sangen performing artist and teacher trained at the famed Michio Miyagi School of Koto in Tokyo. Since then, Awaya-kai has been dedicated to raising awareness of koto and sangen music and fostering cultural appreciation.
Awaya-kai members have performed over 1,500 times in the past 40 years, in major venues throughout the United States.
Mrs. Awaya enjoys exploring many styles of music and collaborating with international artists. This concert is no exception. Awaya-kai members will be joined by Flamenco artists Paco and Yolanda Arroyo, who hail from Spain, and Chinese erhu player Yun-he Liang.
In addition to Flamenco-style music such as “Burlerias,” “Pendulum” and “Cancion,” there will be koto classics and Japanese folk songs, and an exciting song from a Manga about koto. Program highlights from Okinawa include folk music, dancing and the Nation of Ryukyu Festival Drums.
The James Armstrong Theater is located at 3330 Civic Center Drive in Torrance. Tickets are $25 presale, and $30 at the door.
For information and tickets, visit www.awayakai.com,
email hiromiko@cox.net or call
Katsuko Teruya at (310) 997-6132, or
Beverly Findlay-Kaneko (714)651-0734.
Tickets are also available at
Sakuraya in Gardena (310) 323-7117, or
Uyehara Travel in Little Tokyo (213)680-2499.
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