JICC 45th Anniversary | Sound of the Shamisen
About this Event
This event is free and open to the public.
Doors open at 6:00 PM and event starts at 6:30 PM.
JICC 45th Anniversary | Sound of the Shamisen
Presented by the Japan Information & Culture Center, Embassy of Japan.
For centuries, Japanese musicians have performed and composed for the Shamisen, a traditional string instrument. The JICC is pleased to welcome award-winning musicians Sumie Kaneko, Fumi Tanakadate, and Shu Odamura for a dynamic performance of traditional and modern pieces on shamisen, jazz guitar, and the Shinobue, a traditional Japanese flute.
In addition to spanning across time periods, the program will explore how classical Japanese and Western music can play off each other, with pieces featuring modern jazz elements complimenting and contrasting with the Shamisen.
We hope you can join us for this special concert at the JICC!
Sumie Kaneko
Sumie (Sumi-é) Kaneko is a Yamada school licensed koto and shamisen player and vocal artist. Not only a master in the traditional repertoire of these ancient instruments, she has also pioneered their use in jazz and experimental music, through solo and group performances worldwide. She is renowned for her ability to collaborate with a diverse range of international artists: Pulitzer Winner Paula Vogel, composer Evan Ziporyn, taiko artists Kenny Endo, saxophonist Lew Tabackin, and In 2024, she performed Dai Fujikura’s shamisen solo piece “Neo” for The American Ballet Theatre’s company premiere at David H. Koch Theater in New York City.
Her career started in 1995 as a winner of the Takasaki International Competition in Koto performance. In 2002 after graduating from Tokyo National University of the Arts, Sumie moved to Boston and studied jazz vocal at Berklee College of Music. She has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Blue Note NY, TED talk, Google, Getty Center, Hollywood Bowl, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. As an educator, she has lectured at large academic scenes: Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Rhode Island School of Design, Wellesley College, and in 2021-2022, she has lectured at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo and Texas A&M University.
Sumie also tours overseas as a cultural ambassador. She has performed in over 20 countries and has worked closely with the Embassy of Japan. In India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, she has visited non-profit organizations for street children to encourage future education. In 2018, she expanded her career in Europe, and until 2024, she toured various EU cities sponsored by the Japan Foundation. A representative performance was given at the opening of the House of Music, Magyar Zene Háza in Budapest in 2022.
Her passion is always towards original compositions. She has released new works to sound libraries: Splice, Artlist and Epidemic Sound, and the second album with her own jazz set Dead of the Night has been well received for her unique and exquisite sounds. Currently in 2024, a commissioned work with pianist Nik Bärtsch is being created. Her Japan tour was successfully done in September 2024 with saxophonist Lew Tabackin and Nagauta percussionist Takinojo Mochizuki.
Fumi Tanakadate
Fumi Tanakadate is a New York–based musician, performer, and educator specializing in Japanese taiko drums and bamboo flutes (shinobue and nohkan). Rooted in both Japanese traditional performing arts and Western classical music, her work spans concert performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, and contemporary music-making. Drawing on her background as a classical pianist, Fumi approaches music as a form of storytelling, exploring how rhythm, timbre, and musical gesture can evoke character, atmosphere, and emotional narrative. She is particularly drawn to collaborative projects that bring together music, movement, and theater, and to expanding the expressive possibilities of Japanese instruments in contemporary settings. Fumi has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, Joe’s Pub, BAM, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as at international festivals and conventions in the United States and abroad. An active collaborator with theater artists, dancers, and composers, she currently teaches at Wesleyan University and serves as a primary instructor at the Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center.
Shu Odamura
Shu Odamura is a New York–based guitarist, composer, and improviser originally from Kyoto, Japan. He was the youngest finalist in the Gibson Jazz Guitar Contest, earning the Special Jury Prize. In 2006, he moved to the U.S. to study Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music, graduating cum laude.
Shu leads the Shu Odamura Trio and co-leads the chamber jazz group Jazz Triangle 65-77. His debut album, "Cloud Illusions", was released on What’s New Records. He has collaborated with musicians such as Matt Moore, Zac Zinger, Patrick Brennan, Joseph Daley, Jeff Pearring, Haruna Fukazawa, and performed at venues such as Blue Note, Nublu, Downtown Music Gallery, iBeam, and La MaMa Puppet Festival, Edgefest, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
In addition to jazz, Shu has composed and performed with the experimental theater group Watoku-Za for over a decade, contributing music to eight original productions. He has also written for independent films, college jazz big bands, flute ensembles, and virtual theater projects. Internationally, he tours throughout Japan and Thailand. He is an in-demand guitarist across a variety of styles—from Asian pop to jazz, experimental, Latin, and musical theater.
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