TEACHERS

EVENT #7 2 JUNE 2024

IMPROVISATION & SHAKUHACHI


NED ROTHENBERG

Ned Rothenberg composes and performs on saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute and shakuhachi.

He began studying shakuhachi with Ralph Samuelson in New York in 1979 and has used it himself in performance since 1987. He also had the opportunity to study in Japan with the great masters Yamaguchi Goro and Yokoyama Katsuya. He has worked there extensively, collaborating with musicians including pianists Satoh Masahiko and Takahashi Yuji, koto/shamisen players Sawai Kazue, Tanaka Yumiko and Yagi Michiyo as well as many other leading figures in traditional and improvised music. In 1996 he premiered Home Away at the Japan Society in NYC together with Yokoyama-sensei.

His shakuhachi playing can be heard on his albums Ryu Nashi, Ghost Stories, and Inner Diaspora on Tzadik, Harbinger and Port of Entry with his trio SYNC, solo releases Intervals and The Crux (on which he also performs shakuhachi honkyoku on the alto sax), John Zorn’s Big Gundown, duo with Tuvan vocalist Sainkho Namchylak, Amulet, in collaboration with Paul Dresher, Opposites Attract and on various film and TV spots.

www.nedrothenberg.com

DETTA DANFORD

Detta is a composer, artist and flutist who’s practice spans Western and Japanese traditions, drawing on folk music, contemporary music and improvisation.

She has performed at the Barbican Centre, Japan Matsuri festival and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. She plays with drumming ensemble Taiko Meantime and performed and collaborated as part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s innovative production of Naoki Higashida’s The Reason I Jump. Detta has worked collaboratively with artists including Jane Cheadle (Procreate Project Commission 2020) and Eelyn Lee (The Monster Trilogy).

She plays western flutes, shakuhachi and shinobue and has studied shakuhachi with Clive Bell (London) and Jumei Tokumaru (Tokyo). 

www.dettadanford.com

JULIET COLYER

Juliet Colyer is a cellist, composer and facilitator with a passion for collaboration, improvisation and making music with people of all ages and abilities.

As a performer she specialises in interdisciplinary collaboration, working with contemporary dancers, actors and visual artists.  Her work has taken her to venues such as the Barbican Centre, Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke’s and Snape Maltings, as well as more intimate and non- conventional spaces including The Spitz, Arts at The Old Fire Station, art galleries, public gardens and studios.  

Recent work includes the commissioning of a new immersive solo work for Cello and Electronics, I See You, for Emergence festival in Frome.  She has also been working with Improbable Theatre as one of four improvising musicians who recently formed the Improbaband, which had its debut performances in early February. 

As a composer-facilitator, she works in a wide variety of contexts, leading workshops for Wigmore Hall, Spitalfields Music, Barbican Creative Learning, Southbank Centre and the RPO among other organisations. She has worked extensively with people living with dementia, young people with disabilities, hospital patients, prisoners and young musicians. 

Juliet studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she completed a BMus in Performance and an MMus in Leadership.