Bond Chapel, University of Chicago, 1025 E. 58th St.
Ko Ishikawa, born in 1963 in Tokyo is a sho (Japanese bamboo mouth organ) soloist and a member of the Gagaku ensemble Reigakusha. He has made numerous appearances as a member of Reigakusha and as a soloist in Europe, performing in major festivals in Vienna, London, Paris, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Berlin.
Internationally renowned pipa virtuoso Min Xiao-Fen is one of the leading performers in the world of traditional and contemporary compositions for the pipa. She was featured pipa soloist in the famed Nanjing National Music Orchestra from 1980 to 1992. She moved to New York in 1992 and since then has been featured soloist for premieres by composers Tan Dun, Anthony De Ritis and Phillip Glass, including Tan Dun’s opera Peony Pavilion created with theater director Peter Sellars. Additionally, Min Xiao-Fen is widely recognized for her collaborations with experimental improvisers, including Derek Bailey and John Zorn, as well as solo performances of traditional Chinese repertoire and her own transcriptions of jazz standards. In 2003 she was invited by the Lincoln Center to play a solo concert focusing on her transcriptions of Thelonious Monk compositions.
Brazilian pianist Paulo Alvares received the Kranichsteiner Music Prize in July 1990 at the Darmstadt International Course for New Music, Germany. Subsequently he worked at IRCAM in Paris, researching the use of the piano with live electronics. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world, working on a regular basis as a pianist with the WDR Radio Orchestra, Het Spectral Ensemble in Ghent, and Musikfabrik in Dueseldorf. He has performed as a featured soloist in many festivals of new music, including Wien Modern, Trienale Koeln, Huddersfield, Musica in Strasbourg, Berio Festival in Turin, Witten Days for new music, and Festival Musicia Nova in Sao Paulo among others.
