Kaoru Watanabe

@UCfBL_1I2mRPcVK2gvyRAeNA - 442 subscribers

This is the channel of composer and musician, Kaoru Watanabe. Born in St. Louis to Japanese western classical musicians, he studied Black American jazz at the Manhattan School of Music before spending a decade on Sado Island as both a performer and artistic director of the taiko ensemble Kodo. The work there was physical and exacting—repetition measured in hours, alignment measured in breath. Sound was shaped by weight rather than amplification. For the past two decades, Watanabe has lived in NY, leading his own projects and working with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Bando Tamasaburo, Wes Anderson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Jason Moran. Watanabe has presented his work at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Sydney Opera House, and the historic Kabukiza Theatre. In 2024, he founded Bloodlines Interwoven, a collaborative commissioning and performance project that brings together groups of artists from diverse cultural backgrounds, supported by the Mellon Foundation.