Los Angeles, CA – This year, renowned Japanese American drumming group TAIKOPROJECT celebrates its 25th Anniversary with a special one night only performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Saturday, July 19, 2025, at 7pm, in Los Angeles.
The acclaimed group will be joined by Grammy winning Chicanx band, also from Los Angeles, Quetzal ,and multi-instrument soloist Sumie Kaneko, performing vocals, on the koto, and the shamisen. At the concert, TAIKOPROJECT release their fourth studio album, “25,” as well as an EP they recorded with Quetzal.
Tickets ($35.00 and up) are available starting on May 10, 2025 at www.taikoproject.com or by calling (213) 268-4011.
TAIKOPROJECT was founded in 2000 in Los Angeles by a group of young, emerging taiko drummers, led by Bryan Yamami and Masato Baba. The group defined a modern American style of Taiko, blending traditional forms with an innovative and fresh aesthetic.
Sumie (sumi-é) Kaneko is a New York based Japanese artist. A master in the traditional repertoire of these ancient instruments, she has also pioneered their use in jazz and experimental music, through solo and group performances worldwide.
She is renowned for her ability to collaborate with a diverse array of visionary international artists: Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Project, composer Evan Ziporyn, taiko artists Kenny Endo and Kaoru Watanabe, and tabla player Tanmoy Bose. In 2021, Kaneko performed shamisen solo for American Ballet Theatre’s season opening, with the principal dancers Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside.
Her career started in 1995 as a winner of the Takasaki International Competition in Koto performance. In 2002, after graduating from Tokyo National University of the Arts, she moved to Boston and studied jazz vocal at Berklee College of Music.
She has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Blue Note NY, TED talk, Google, Getty Center, Boston Ballet, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. As an educator, Kaneko has lectured at large colleges and universities: Harvard, Columbia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Wellesley, and in 2021, she lectured at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo as a renowned international artist.