Carmel Valley: Wind and Rain Ensemble to perform at library on May 11

May’s free family music program, sponsored by the Friends of the Carmel Valley Library, will be presented on Wednesday, May 11, at 7 p.m. in the library’s community room. Mary Lu Brandwein and Yuki Easter will present a program of music for two traditional Japanese instruments, shakuhachi and koto. The former is an end-blown bamboo flute with a unique sound that is familiar to many because of its wide use in movies. The koto is a stringed instrument sometimes called the “Japanese Harp.” The program will last 45 minutes.

Mary Lu Brandwein began studying shakuhachi in 1984 with the master Masakazu Yoshizawa in Los Angeles, and studied with him until his death in 2007. She began performing in 1999 and has performed across the country in schools, meditation centers, book stores, art galleries, and other venues. She also gives workshops on the shakuhachi and the study of music as a spiritual practice. She founded the Wind and Rain Ensemble with Yuki Easter in 2007. You can find essays and audio samples of her music on her website at www.shakuhachi.org.

Yuki Easter began studying the koto at the age of nine at the Miyagi Michiyo Kai and later at the Sawai Koto Academy of Music in Tokyo. In 1996 she received a koto instructor’s license and an award from the Grand Masters Tadao and Kazue Sawai in Japan. Since 1993 she has performed at UCSD, SDSU, other universities, and many California community colleges. She founded the Southern California Koto Ensemble and teaches at the Buddhist Temple of San Diego and the Japanese American Cultural Center in Vista. She is also a member of the Sawai Koto Ensemble.

The library is located at 3919 Townsgate Drive in Carmel Valley. For more information call (858) 552-1668.

Related posts:

1. Carmel Valley Library event to explore the flourishing age of early music
2. Carmel Valley Library to host flute master class
3. ‘The Life of Claude Debussy’ at the Carmel Valley Library on Jan. 12
4. Carmel Valley Library Corner: Morning story time geared to infants
5. Free concert offered at the library

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