Events

December 12, 2022 at 7:00 pm
Trio Getsuro (Elizabeth Brown and Ralph Samuelson, shakuhachi; Issui Minegishi, ichengin) presents
Music from a Garden~one breath one note 2022
Including Aki Meguri Kite, and the premiere of Toward the Sun (2022) for shakuhachi and ichigenkin
MUSICASA ( 3-33-1 Nishihara, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo), 4000 yen　
Tickets/enquiries: ichigenkintokyo@gmail.com
Celebrating the release of our CD Music from Innisfree

November 29th, 2022 at 2:30 pm
Brooklyn College presents Momenta Quartet in a free concert, performing Just Visible in the Distance on a program with music by Alvin Singleton, and Julián Carrillo
Buchwald Theater, Brooklyn College

September 24th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Interwoven performs The Secret Life of Birds (in a new arrangement for violin and koto) on their AMI series
Tickets here
Center for Remembering and Sharing
123 4th Ave #2, New York, NY 10003

September 15th, 2022 at 7:30 pm
As part of Momenta Festival VII, to benefit Music for Food,
Momenta Quartet performs Just Visible in the Distance on the program Distant Songs, curated by cellist Michael Haas
Broadway Presbyterian Church, 601 West 114th Street, NY, NY 10025
(corner of Broadway and West 114)

September 11, 2022 at 3 pm
Sylvan Winds performs Pentalogue on the program Beethoven and the Ladies
Doctorow Center for the Arts, 7971 Main Street, Hunter NY

September 3, 2022 at 2 pm
Sounds Modern performs Arcana in Women Musicking  Women, in conjunction with Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s Women Painting Women exhibition

August 28, 2022 at 4 pm
I’ll be guest shakuhachi with Yoko Reikano Kimura on her series
Four Seasons in New York – Gems of Japanese Music, Vol. 24 Summer
Center for Remembering and Sharing
123 4th Ave #2, New York, NY 10003

7:30pm August 11, 2022 Loon Lake Jewish Center
7:30pm August 12, 2022 Historic Saranac Lake Laboratory
10:30am August 13, 2022 Saranac Lake Free Library
Loon Lake Live: Chimera performs music for Flute, Viola, and Harp, including the premiere of Gently Through the Night

7:30 pm August 6, 2022 Sugar Hill Meeting House, Sugar Hill, NH
6:00 pm August 7, Mountain View Grand Resort, Whitefield, NH
North Country Chamber Players perform Pentalogue on the program Profiles in Courage: Women Composers

June 26, 2022 at 7 pm
Duo Satsuzen perform Ellipse, for shakuhachi and flute/alto flute, during Fête de la Musique Genève
Hôtel de Ville de Genèven
Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville 4, 1204 Genève, Suisse

June 19, 2022 at 3 pm
Please join 月露 Trio Getsuro in Innisfree Gardens for music celebrating nature and the seasons. Coming directly from Japan, in her only U.S. performance this season, Issui Minegishi and her rare and beautiful Japanese ichigenkin (one-stringed zither) will join shakuhachi players Ralph Samuelson and Elizabeth Brown in a program of traditional and recent music. The quiet sounds of these instruments, blending with the natural sounds of the gardens, will bring us all into harmony with the living landscape.

May 3, 2022, at 8 pm EDT
The National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa, Canada presents Liguria in a chamber program curated by principal flutist Joanna G’froerer.
free Livestream  here

April 2, 2022, at 11 am
Duo Satsuzen premiered Ellipse, for shakuhachi and flute/alto flute
Temple de la Servette, 55 avenue Wendt, 1203 Genève

March 23, 2022 at 7:30 pm
Momenta Quartet performed Just Visible in the Distance
Casedeus Concert Hall, Univ. of Binghamton

March 17, 2022, at 7:30 pm
Afterimage: 19th and 21st Century Masterpieces for Silk and Bamboo
Two masterworks of Yamada Kengyō (1757-1815), founder of the Yamada School of koto and one of the most revered composers of classical Japanese music, are paired with two magnificent contemporary works by New York composers Ned Rothenberg and Elizabeth Brown.
Yoko Reikano Kimura, koto, shamisen, voice
Sumie Kaneko, shamisen, voice
Elizabeth Brown, shakuhachi
Ralph Samuelson, shakuhachi
Clearlight Performance Space at The Blue Building
222 E. 46^th St. (between 2^nd and 3rd Avenues), NY 10017
Tickets: $20. Purchase in advance at Eventbrite, or at the door.

March 16, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Momenta Quartet performs Just Visible in the Distance on Chamber Music Live
Lefrak Auditorium, Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College
Free admission

March 13, 2022 at 4 pm
Sylvan Winds perform Pentalogue on the program Women of Note
Christ & St. Stephen’s Church
120 West 69th Street, New York

March 12, 2022 at 6 pm
Devon Tipp and Warsaw Gamelan perform Cloudrest
Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw/Muzeum Azji i Pacyfiku w Warszawie

March 12, 2022, 5:30pm
New York Flute Club:
Massed flutes play Julia Wolfe’s Oxygen and Elizabeth Brown’s Travelogue
West 83 Ministry, 150 West 83rd Street, New York, NY

February 12, 2022 at 4pm@West Parish Church, Andover MA
February 13, 2022 at 5:30 pm@Saint Paul’s Church, Brookline MA
Mistral Music performs Island Nocturnes on the program
NO ORDINARY WOMEN Three centuries of extraordinary women composers

January 22, 2022, 7:00pm @ Brattleboro Music Center, VT
Castle of Our Skins premiered Brown’s Housetop, with text by Louisiana Bendolph, on their Sound and Appliqué program.

12/12/2021 at 3 pm POSTPONED
Duo Satsuzen will premiere Ellipse, duo for shakuhachi and alto flute
International Shakuhachi Festival Prague 2021

11/14/2021 at 4 pm
Bamboo Forest  竹の森
Elizabeth Brown, Marco Lienhard, Ralph Samuelson, James Nyoraku Schlefer and Zac Zinger perform new and traditional music for shakuhachi, including Shakuhachi Duos from Isle Royale and the premiere of Dai Fujikara’s Shakuhachi Five.
Tenri Cultural Institute, NYC

11/5/2021 at 7:30 pm
Ensemble Triolet (Joyce Lindorff, harpsichord; Wendy Stern, flute; Shelby Yamin, violin) premiered Thread
Music from Poplar Hill
Valley Lee, Maryland

10/9/2021
A Bookmobile for Dreamers was part of Mississippi Records’ Clara Rockmore Release Party
Coffey Street Studio / 153 Coffey St. Brooklyn, NY

9/11/2021
Breathing in the Garden: Music for Solo Shakuhachi
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Free with garden admission
Renowned musician and composer Elizabeth Brown will fill the garden with the gentle sounds of the shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese flute. Originally pure sound and breath, the first pieces for shakuhachi were created within the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhism, which chose blowing the shakuhachi as their chief spiritual exercise—they called it sui-zen, or blowing zen. Elizabeth Brown will play both traditional pieces and more recent music from the living continuum of this repertoire.
Innisfree Garden, Millbrook, NY
Part of a nationwide program—Gardens for Peace—in honor of the United Nations International Day of Peace. Launched by the North American Garden Association, Gardens for Peace (G4P) will bring together 14 Japanese-influenced gardens from across the continent to promote peace.

8/14/2021
Flute Force performed The Baths of Caracalla at the National Flute Association Convention on the concert “Small Gems for Large Flutes”

8/12/2021
Leone Buyse performed Antarctica, with a collage of photographs by Brooks de Wetter Smith, at the National Flute Association Convention on the concert “Sounds of Nature”

8/1/2021,8/2/2021
Aaron Packard, violin and Catherine Beeson, viola performed Catalog of Scents in the Garden at Night
Loon Lake Live, Loon Lake, NY

6/12/2021
Duo Yumeno performed Ichibō 一望 (Hope in One Glance), for shamisen and cello, on the tenth anniversary of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
Matsui Classics, Tokorozawa Civic Center, Tokorozawa, Japan

5/6/2021
Sylvan Winds premiered Pentalogue (2021) for wind quintet, a NYSCA commission

5/4/2021
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel and Christopher Molina performed Shakuhachi Duos from Isle Royale (2005)
University of Hawai’i Contemporary Music Ensemble Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai’i

2/19/2021
WNYC’s Performance Today featured Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival‘s 2019 premiere of Liguria

12/5/2020
Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival fall concert series featured Liguria, and an interview with Brown

9/29/2020
Classics for the Cows
Momenta Quartet performed Just Visible in the Distance (begins at 6:00), at the composer’s barn in Dutchess County, in a program that also included William Byrd and Haydn

7/30/2020 at 7:30 pm
Duo Satsuzen performed Brown’s Acadia
Musée Ariana – Musée suisse de la céramique et du verre
Avenue de la Paix 10, 1202 Genève
http://www.ariana-geneve.ch/

3/19/2020 at 7:30 pm POSTPONED TILL FALL
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine presents
Winds of Hope
A tribute to the resilience and compassion of the Japanese people following the devastating earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor calamity of March 2011. The music reaches out to the spirits of individuals lost in this and other global traumas, both natural and man-made, and honors the dignity and courage of those rebuilding their lives and their communities—blowing winds of hope.
Performers:
Ralph Samuelson, shakuhachi
Steve Gorn, bansuri
Elizabeth Brown, flute and shakuhachi
Sumie Kaneko, koto, shamisen, voice
Gamin, piri and saenghwang
1047 Amsterdam Avenue (at 112th ST), NYC

3/14/20 at 8 pm CANCELLED/POSTPONED
Flutist Joanna G’froerer of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada performs Arcana
WolfGANG: session 16
Mercury Lounge, 55 Byward Market Square, Ottawa, Canada
Tickets

3/10/20 at 7:00 pm
Da Capo Chamber Players celebrate Bard! performs Brown’s Liguria on a program of faculty, alumni, and composers from the region. Program includes music by Joan Tower, Kyle Gann, and Tan Dun.
Bard College, Bito Conservatory

3/8/20 at 4 pm
The Annual concert of Japanese Heritage Music – Glories of the Japanese Music Heritage XV, “Women Who Made/Make Music”
Ensemble Leonarda, with Yoko Reikano Kimura, premieres Brown’s A Glimpse at Dawn, for shamisen/voice, baroque flute, baroque violin, bass gamba and harpsichord; commissioned by IMJS: Institute for Japanese Cultural Heritage Initiatives to celebrate the 400th Birthday of composer-nun Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704).
Free, but please register here to guarantee a seat.

3/6 at 7:00
Flutist Rie Schmidt presents Flute Rarities, including Brown’s duo Lunette, with Brown joining on flute.
Free admission. David Greer Recital Hall, Bloomingdale School of Music
323 W. 108th St, New York City 10025

3/2/20 at 8 pm
Wonder Women!
Ensemble Leonarda, with Yoko Reikano Kimura, preview Brown’s A Glimpse at Dawn, for shamisen/voice, baroque flute, baroque violin, bass gamba and harpsichord; commissioned by IMJS: Institute for Japanese Cultural Heritage Initiatives to celebrate the 400th Birthday of composer-nun Isabella Leonarda (1620-1704). Elizabeth (shakuhachi) and Reikano Kimura will also perform the traditional piece Yugao.
Scorca Hall, National Opera Center
330 Seventh Avenue (between 28th/29th Streets), New York, NY 10001
Tickets here.

2/7/20 at 7:30 pm, Blum Hall, Music Building, Bard College
“and so the heavens turned”
The Momenta Quartet joins forces with composers Elizabeth Brown and Frances White in a multimedia evening fusing Western contemporary music with Japanese aesthetics, literary references, and a video/sculpture installation by artist Lothar Osterburg. Featuring premieres of Brown and Osterburg’s ‘Babel‘  and White’s ‘The book of evening‘ , commissioned for Momenta by NewMusicUSA and by the Sparkplug Foundation.
FREE, no reservation needed; info here

1/30/20 at 7:30 pm
The Momenta Quartet performs Just Visible in the Distance at Bates College, as Artist-in-Residence in Music

12/5/19 at 8 pm, at Roulette in Brooklyn
Interpretations Season 31
“and so the heavens turned”
The Momenta Quartet joins forces with composers Elizabeth Brown and Frances White in a multimedia evening fusing Western contemporary music with Japanese aesthetics, literary references, and a video/sculpture installation by artist Lothar Osterburg. Featuring premieres of Brown and Osterburg’s ‘Babel‘  and White’s ‘The book of evening‘, commissioned for Momenta by NewMusicUSA and by the Sparkplug Foundation.

11/12/19 at 7:30 pm
Flutist Richard Sherman performs Arcana on a faculty recital featuring women composers
Cook Recital Hall, Michigan State University
Livestream Link

11/2/19
Ralph Samuelson performs Loons, from Shakuhachi Solos from Isle Royale, in Earth/Water/Wind/Fire, a collaboration with Noh actor Koji Sawada and photographer Magdalena Sole
Presented by the Iwate Arts Project at Shoboji, the first Zen temple in the Tohuku region, built in 1318
Iwate, Japan

9/12/19
Hélène Seiyu Codjo performs Shakuhachi Solos from Isle Royale
at the opening concert of the International Shakuhachi Festival Prague 2019.

8/18/19
Centre Culturel René Magritte presents Island Nocturnes
Les Sons Intensifs, Festival de Musique de Chambre et Gastronomie
Hôpital Notre-Dame à la Rose, Lessines, Belgium

August 4, 2019 at 6:30 pm
The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival performs Liguria on a program with Mozart, Brahms, and Victoria Kelly.

4/28/19
Hudson Valley Shakuhachi choir performs in
Basilica Hudson’s
24-Hour Drone 2019
Hudson, NY

Elizabeth premieres Devon Tipp‘s Pale Blue Dot, for shakuhachi and fixed media
4/12/19 at 9 pm, Department of Physics/Astronomy Artist in Residence Showcase
4/14/19, Department of Music – Composition Studio Showcase
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh

4/12/19 at 8 pm
University of Pittsburgh Gamelan performs Brown’s Cloudrest
Bellefield Hall Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh

4/9/19 at 7:30 pm
Univ. of Washington Harry Partch Ensemble performs Brown’s Delirium
Charles Corey, director
Meany Studio Theater, Univ. of Washington

3/30/19 at 6 pm
Nathalie Joachim performs Brown’s Arcana
UNC Greensboro Flutefest

3/29/2019 at 10 pm
Elizabeth performs A Bookmobile for Dreamers at the Vivarium Festival
Ateneu Comercial, Rua Passos Manuel, 44,
4000-381 PORTO Portugal

3/11/19 at 7 pm
She Scores 2019: Kamratōn premieres Brown’s Wild Apples
Glitterbox Theater, Pittsburgh
https://www.kamraton.org/events.html

3/10/19 at 5 pm
Landscapes and Stories: music by Elizabeth Brown and Frances White
WOCO Launch Festiva, Washington DC
Blind Whino SW Arts Club

2/23/19 at 4:30 pm, Valkhof Kapel St.Nikolaas, Nijmegen, Nederland
2/24/19 at 3 pm, Centre Culturel Japonais Shofukan, Rotterdam, Nederland
“>Duo Satsuzen performs Brown’s Acadia

1/19/2019 at 2 pm
Sounds Modern performs Brown, Party of 2 in Broken Dolls
in conjunction with Laurie Simmons’ Big Camera, Little Camera exhibit
Fort Worth Modern Art Museum
3200 Darnell Street Fort Worth, TX 76107

11/15/18
One breath, one note
Elizabeth Brown and Ralph Samuelson, shakuhachi
Issui Minegishi, ichigenkin (one-string koto)
Hokutopia
1-11-1 Oji, Kita-ku, Tokyo

10/8/18 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm: Elizabeth performed as thereminist
in Martinu’s Fantaisie with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players
Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church
152 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023

9/15/18 at 7 pm
Duo Yumeno premiered Brown’s Hope in One Glance for shamisen and cello
Bagaduce Music Lending Library, 49 South ST, Blue Hill, ME

7/31/18-8/4/18: Elizabeth Brown was invited to perform at the World Shakuhachi Festival 2018 in London. Brown premiered Dialect, for solo shakuhachi, and gave a workshop teaching Loons, from Isle Royale Shakuhachi Solos.

7/28/18 at 7:30 pm, Sugar Hill Meetinghouse, 1411 Route 117, Sugar Hill, NH
7/29/18 at 4 pm, Mountain View Grand Resort, Mountain View Road, Whitefield, NH
North Country Chamber Players perform Lost Waltz 2014 on a program featuring Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday. Flutist Susan Nidel, to whom the piece is dedicated,  will join Cal Wiersma and Ronnie Bauch, violin; Ah Ling Neu, viola; and Chris Finckel, cello.
tickets here.

7/8/18 at 2 pm: Jiyu Gakuen Myonichikan Auditorium, Tokyo
6/17/18 at 2 pm: Kosho-ji Temple, Kyoto
Duo Yumeno performed Hope in One Glance 一望

6/1/18 at 8 pm: flutist Tessa Brinkman and guitarist Caroline Delume performed Brown’s Augury
Espace Des Arts Sans Frontières
44 Rue Bouret, 75019 Paris, France

Brown performed as flutist in Music from Japan‘s 43rd season
Scandinavia House/Victor Borge Hall, NYC
58 Park Avenue, New York (between 37th and 38th Streets)
February 17th, 8pm: The Works of Tokuhide Niimi
February 18th, 5:30pm: Diversification of Japanese Contemporary Music

1/27/18: Bronwyn Kirkpatrick, shakuhachi, performed Brown’s Acadia at the Australian Shakuhachi Festival in Melbourne.

1/13/18 at 2 pm: Microtonal Pittsburgh (Free)
Elizabeth Brown played shakuhachi in Devon Tipp‘s Self Portrait with Alia Musica, and in her own Acadia, with flutist Sarah Steranka.
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium and Art Gallery, Univ. of Pittsburgh, as part of
Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival and Symposium

1/5/18 at 8 pm
Duo Yumeno premiered Brown’s Hope in One Glance for shamisen and cello – a newly commissioned work by the duo. The piece is inspired by two poems written by survivors of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Bargemusic Here and Now Winter Festival, tickets here, directions here.

11/30 at 8 pm, 12/1 at 1:30 pm, and 12/2 at 8 pm:
Elizabeth Brown plays theremin with the Boston Symphony in Derek Bermel‘s Elixir, in a program conducted by Andris Nelsons; Bermel, Prokofiev and Strauss, featuring violinist Leonidas Kavakos.

U.S. tour, from September 28-October 22
Shakuhachi and Ichigenkin: Discovery in a Single Tone
Elizabeth Brown and Ralph Samuelson, shakuhachi
Issui Minegishi, ichigenkin (one-string koto)

Concert Schedule
9/28 at 8 pm: Leshowitz Recital Hall, Chapin Hall, John J. Cali School of Music, Montclair State University. Free.
10/2 at 8 pm: Bito Auditorium, Bard College. Free.
10/4 at 5 pm: Composer’s Symposium, Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford.
10/5 at 7 pm: Katonah Village Library, 26 Bedford RD, Katonah, NY 10536. Free.
10/8 at 4 pm: Center for Remembering and Sharing, NYC, $20-$25.
10/11 at 7:30 pm: Heller Center, UCCS (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs)
10/13 at 8 pm: Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Univ. of Pittsburgh.
10/16 at 7 pm: Niles Gallery, University of Kentucky, Lexington.
10/18 at 7:30 pm: Harris Concert Hall, Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music,  Univ. of Memphis.
10/20 at 7:30 pm: Troutt Theater, Belmont University, Nashville.
10/21, 2:00-3:30 pm: public lecture at College of Education Building (COE 160), 1756 MTSU Blvd, Murfreesboro, TN
10/21 at 7:30 pm: St Paul’s Episcopal Church, 116 North Academy Street, Murfreesboro, TN

This project brings together two traditional Japanese instruments that share an underlying aesthetic concept: the discovery of the world that lies within one note, one sound. The music and performance practice of these instruments are steeped in the aesthetic of Zen Buddhism. Ideally, this music is heard in a tranquil setting conducive to calm, focused listening. The ichigenkin’s philosophy of “one string” is a natural partner to the “one note” aesthetic of the shakuhachi, and while the shakuhachi is becoming more familiar to audiences around the world, opportunities to hear the ichigenkin are truly rare. Largely through the efforts of Minegishi Issui, the ichigenkin is gradually finding a new place in contemporary Japan and abroad. Our trio of musicians, two from America and one from Japan, presents numerous concerts in Japan. Now we are bringing knowledge of these beautiful instruments and their music to an American audience. Our concert program includes both traditional works and new compositions such as Elizabeth Brown’s 秋廻り来て “autumn comes round again”, which sets tanka poetry written by survivors of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Supported in part by IMJS: Japanese Cultural Heritage Initiatives, and by the Japan Foundation.

October 1, 2017 at 7 pm
Air from Another Planet
Curated by Emilie-Anne Gendron (part of the Momenta Quartet’s Momenta Festival III; the other concerts are wonderful too)
Music by Heinrich Biber, John Cage, Kee Yong Chong, Michael Small, Elizabeth Brown, and Arnold Schoenberg
with Elizabeth Brown, theremin, and video art by Lothar Osterburg (our 2007 collaboration Piranesi)

In addition to Piranesi, I’ll also play theremin in Entrückung (Rapture), the last movement of Schoenberg’s 2nd String Quartet.
Dixon Place Theater, 161A Chrystie St, NYC

September 1, 2017 at 7:30 pm
Flutist Rachel Drubetsky performs Arcana on ‘Premiere’, the debut concert of Ensemble Muse.
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Sydney, Australia

August 9, 2017 at 6:30 pm
The Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival premieres Island Nocturnes>, commissioned with support from NYSCA.

May 11, 2017
Brown performs Alex Gardner’s Juniper, for solo shakuhachi, and New Skin, for alto flute and electronics, on Alex’s concert on Brooklyn’s Musical Ecologies series.

April 1, 2017
Bronwen Kirkpatrick and the Kedumba Quartet performed Mirage, for shakuhachi and string quartet, in Wentworth Falls, Australia

Flutist Leone Buyse performed Arcana:
Feb. 20, 2015 Oberlin College and Conservatory
Oct. 31, 2015 Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln
Nov. 12, 2015 School of Music, Wichita State Univ.
Nov. 15, 2015 Emporia State University, Kansas
April 2, 2016 Texas Christian Univ. Flute Festival
May 8, 2016 Boston Flute Academy

November 16, 2016 at 7 pm
Momoka Enomoto, biwa, premieres Brown’s View from the Bottom of a Stream.
Text from ‘Yamanashi’, by Kenji Miyazawa. With Shinpei Tomita, percussion.
Nihonbashi Kokkaido, Tokyo, Japan

September 27-October 12, 2016
Japan tour: Elizabeth Brown and Ralph Samuelson, shakuhachi, and Issui Minegishi, ichigenkin.
Concerts: in Aomori, in Morioka and in Jiko Temple in Kuji (part of the Iwate Art Project)