In collaboration with the UCSB Gagaku Project, a multidisciplinary initiative, spearheaded in 2019 by UCSB Professor Fabio Rambelli, SBMA’s Friends of Asian Art is proud to present a Japanese gagaku performance.

This event features musicians from the Naoyuki MANABE GAGAKU Ensemble. Manabe, who holds a degree from the prestigious Tokyo University of the Arts, is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and dancer who has performed internationally. The ensemble includes leading musicians, Yoshie Kunimoto and Yutaka Ōta. Also performing tonight is special guest Maestro Hideaki Bunno, former Director of the Gagaku Orchestra at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. Bunno is the 45th generation of a family that has transmitted the art of the shō. In 2009, he received the prestigious prize from the Japanese Academy of the Arts. The Gagaku Orchestra at the Imperial Palace of Japan was established in 701; its music is recognized by UNESCO as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Gagaku is the most ancient and continuously performed orchestral tradition in the world. It is exceptional in its combination of an archaic allure with unexpected contemporary features such as free rhythms, complex sound clusters, and controlled dissonance.

This event is in person at Santa Barbara Museum of Art's Mary Craig Auditorium.

In an effort to create the safest possible environment, please note visitors who plan to attend an event in SBMA’s Mary Craig Auditorium must show proof of being fully vaccinated with a booster (if eligible) OR, in some cases, supply a negative Covid-19 medical test result (taken within 72 hours prior to each event), along with an official photo ID, before entering the venue. All visitors must also follow SBMA’s mask policy and wear a mask while attending events in SBMA's Mary Craig Auditorium.

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