VIOLIN & PIANO RECITAL

Ray Iwazumi and Junko Ichikawa team up to present a dreamy and moody program including works by the composer that Rachmaninoff claimed to be the greatest of his contemporaries, Nikolai Medtner, the latest evolution of the NY-based Japanese composer, Satoshi Kanazawa, and a tried-and-true classic by Brahms.

This concert will be one of the last to be performed at the Blue Building under its current owner. On this late October Sunday evening, come listen to violin and piano duos and experience a reprieve from the chaos of 2025.The program is about 65 minutes, with no intermission.

Nikolai Medtner | Violin Sonata No.1 in B minor, Op.21

Satoshi Kanazawa | 幻影 -Shimmer of mirage (world premiere)

Johannes Brahms | Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op. 108

Violinist, Ray Iwazumi, concertizes as soloist and chamber musician, and is globally recognized for his live, recorded, and written scholarly contributions to music research, editing, and performing art presentations. Frequently invited to present concerts, lectures and masterclasses at prestigious institutions in the U.S.A., Europe, and Japan, his combination of virtuosity, scholarship, research, and performance is guided by the artistic principles of his mentors, Dorothy DeLay and Igor Oistrakh.

Ray’s musicological contributions are internationally recognized, particularly for his contributions to research, editing, and analysis of the works of the great Belgian violinist and composer, Eugène Ysaÿe. He has helped catalog rare materials and manuscripts at The Juilliard School, written articles for journals such as The Strad, Notes, Fontes, Revue belge de musicologie, and Revue de la Société liégoise de Musicologie with a four-year serial in the Japanese journal, String. He has also edited the works of Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, and Ysaÿe for G. Henle Verlag in Munich, Germany.

Fiercely passionate about delivering profound musical experiences to audiences both within and normally outside performing arts circles, Ray is the founder of Kontomo, a dynamic playbill app, and Pushuké, a neo-theater-centric music initiative.

Ray is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he received his Bachelor, Masters, and Doctorate degrees, and is also a graduate of the Koninklijk Muziekconservatorium Brussel (Royal Conservatory of Brussels), where he received further Masters in Violin and Masters in Chamber Music, both with highest distinction.

https://www.rayiwazumi.com

Instagram: @rayiwazumi

Seymour Bernstein once said of Junko's playing, "A dream... You are not allowed to play better than I do." in his documentary film, "Seymour: An Introduction" directed by Ethan Hawke.

Seymour Bernstein was the reason Junko left Japan to study piano in America. Born in Obihiro on Japan’s Northern Island, Hokkaido, Junko began playing at the age of four. At age fifteen, Junko made her American concert debut playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 with the Obihiro Reed Orchestra in Salt Lake City, Utah. She performed as a soloist with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (Tokyou), the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, the Wiener Residenz Orchestra and many more.

Junko Ichikawa was born in Obihiro, Hokkaido. Currently based in New York City, Junko has performed all over the world, including solo recitals at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon and many other recital halls around the world.

Most recently, she has been performing special invitational solo recitals aboard CUNARD’s Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria super luxury ocean liners.

She also collaborates with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York philharmonic. Junko is a graduate of Tokyo National University of Arts, New York University, Mannes College of Music, and has earned her DMA at Rutgers University.

https://www.junkoichikawa.com

Instagram: @junkoichikawapiano

This event is co-hosted and supported by Tokyo University of the Arts New York Alumni Association and supported by THE BRICKS NYC.

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