2019/2020 Season
AUGUST 2019
HIROKO TAMANO (BUTOH) AND EVA SOLTES (BHARATANATYAM) LED A 6-DAY CROSS-CULTURAL DANCE WORKSHOP IN WHICH PARTICIPANTS WERE IMMERSED IN TWO PROMINENT ASIAN DANCE FORMS: BUTOH, THE POST WORLD WAR II AVANT-GARDE JAPANESE ‘DANCE OF DARKNESS’ AND BHARATANATYAM, INDIA’S OLDEST SACRED DANCE TRADITION. THE WORKSHOP CULMINATED IN A COMMUNITY GATHERING AND RECITAL.
Hiroko Tamano, protégé of Butoh founder Hijikata Tatsumi, and her husband Koichi Tamano are responsible for introducing the Butoh dance form to the western United States. They have performed at venues internationally and joined Kitaro on his world tour.
Eva Soltes received decades-long dance and music training from the legendary Bharatanatyam master T. Balasaraswati and her family. She is a faculty member of the Balasaraswati Performing Arts Institute in Chennai, India and founder/director of Harrison House Music, Arts & Ecology.
JULY 2019
INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED EXPERIMENTALIST AND PIANIST THOLLEM PERFORMED A CONCERT OF NEW WORK FOR PIANO AND FOUND OBJECTS INSPIRED BY HIS HARRISON HOUSE RESIDENCY AND REFLECTIONS ON LOU HARRISON’S LEGACY. THOLLEM’S COMPOSITIONS MADE USE OF A PREPARED PIANO, A WOODEN CHAIR AND THE HARRISON HOUSE CENTENNIAL GATE. HE EXPRESSED THE SOUND OF THESE OBJECTS BY EXPLORING THEIR PHYSICAL DIMENSIONS WITH WOODEN SPOONS AND DRUMSTICKS.
Thollem studied the standard classical repertoire, composing and improvising since he was a child. He has played over 1,500 concerts throughout North America and Europe as a soloist and in collaboration with other musicians. He is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a Mexican-American cross border ensemble for musical exchange.
