REDUCTION
TAIKO LEGACY &
2025 presentations
at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Edlis Neeson Theater
Friday, December 19 : REDUCTION 11
Saturday, December 20: TAIKO LEGACY 22
* Tickets available soon from the MCA website*
REDUCTION 11
Friday, December 19 @ 7pm
co-presented by Asian Improv aRts Midwest / Tsukasa Taiko, and the
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
In tandem with the exhibition Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko is delighted to present Reduction 11, as part of our annual end-of-year concert series.
This year's program features the music of Yoko Ono's SKYLANDING, a project recorded by Tatsu Aoki's The MIYUMI Project in 2016 and a collaboration with Yoko Ono for her sculpture in Jackson Park. The MIYUMI Project plays with Tsukasa Taiko to present this project on the theatrical stage with traditional Japanese music & dance.
Reduction 11 also marks the last of 30th anniversary of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival programming, celebrating three decades of jazz and experimental music by Asian and Asian Americans in Chicago.
Featuring: Tatsu Aoki, Nicole Mitchell, Michael Zerang, Hamid Drake, Dee Alexander, Mwata Bowden, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Rami Atassi, Jamie Kempkers, Eigen Aoki, Kioto Aoki, and Gintenkai at Tsukasa Taiko
Pre-show programming at 6:30pm will be the final public presentation for Kioto Aoki & Helen Nagata's Folk Arts Mentorship program grant received from the Illinois Arts Council.
* Tickets available soon from the MCA website*
TAIKO LEGACY 22
Saturday, December 20 @ 2pm
Presented by Asian Improv aRts Midwest / Tsukasa Taiko
Asian Improv aRts Midwest & Tsukasa Taiko present Taiko Legacy 22 with a return to the original essence of theatrical taiko. Tsukasa's performance unit Gintenkai is joined by the next generation of community performers and longtime collaborators Melody Takata and members of GenRyu Arts from San Francisco to present the simplified grandeur of contemporary taiko with traditional aesthetics.
Featuring: Melody Takata & GenRyu Arts, Yoshinojo Fujima, Ikunojo Fujima, Kioto Aoki, & Tsukasa Taiko.
* Tickets available soon from the MCA website*
Taiko Legacy 22 is a program of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and is supported by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), The Field Foundation, the Walder Foundation, the Joyce Foundation and a special project grant from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Taiko Legacy 22 and Reduction 11 are programs of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and are supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council Agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), The Field Foundation & The Joyce Foundation.
Previous production:
TAIKO LEGACY 21
Taiko Legacy is one of the largest taiko concerts in the midwest built on the efforts of community activism in Asian American and Japanese American performing arts across the country. Led by Chicago’s renowned taiko group, Tsukasa Taiko presents a conceptually diverse and dynamic musical performance full of original arrangements that pay homage to ozashiki (geisha chamber music), ohayashi (classical/folk/theater music), and matsuri taiko (festival taiko music).
Taiko Legacy returns for the 21st edition of this annual concert rooted in the traditions of ozashiki (geisha chamber music), ohayashi (classical/folk/theater music), and matsuri taiko (festival taiko music). The performative arrangements of original compositions from Tsukasa Taiko recontextualize the cultural traditions within contemporary ecologies of art, music and theater. Led by professional taiko artists and the longstanding Gintenkai community performance ensemble from Tsukasa Taiko, Taiko Legacy 21 also feature next generation youth members who form a vital part of this ongoing legacy; alongside guests Hyakkyou Fukuhara from Tokyo, and Melody Takata and GenRyu Arts from San Francisco.
REDUCTION 10
Reduction is a theatrical presentation with a goal to construct a bridge between tradition and modernity in a single performance and define the contemporary Asian American and Japanese American musical experience. Accentuating the potential and artistry of refined subdued taiko performance, Reduction presents an influx of free fluid improvisational compositions amongst the steady melodies and rhythms of traditional Japanese instrumentation.
Asian Improv aRts Midwest celebrates a decade of Reduction, reinterpreting the possibilities of theatrical taiko emphasizing the refinement of musical silence and improvisational artistry. The Reduction series presents a convergence of classical and contemporary musical traditions, intertwining traditional Japanese instrumentation with performative experimentation. For Reduction 10 Tsukasa Taiko is joined by special guests Hyakkyou Fukuhara (Tokyo, Japan), Nicole Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, Yoshinojo Fujima & Ikunojo Fujima of Shubukai to continue cultivating a contemporary artistic vernacular of the Japanese musical experience.
This year's pre-show* features the final public presentation of Kioto Aoki & Helen Nagata's apprenticeship for Ethnic and Folk Arts Master/Apprentice Program (MAP) from the Illinois Arts Council for 2024.
*This program partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
Taiko Legacy 21 / Reduction 10 are programs of Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW) and are supported in part by general operating support received from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Alphawood Foundation, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), the Walder Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and the National Endowment of Arts.
