Work of the Week - Toshio Hosokawa: Voyage X

On 14 June the Bach Festival in Leipzig will present the world premiere of Toshio Hosokawa's Voyage X - Nozarashi for shakuhachi and ensemble, the tenth part of Hosokawa’s Voyage series.  The work was commissioned by the Bach Festival for a concert entitled "Soundscapes" which will feature Hosokawa's new work along side Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No 5.  The evening is hosted by the Japanese Embassy and will take place in the historic St Thomas Church where Bach worked from 1723 to 1750.

The contemporary music ensemble, musikFabrik from Cologne, will be performing under the baton of Ilan Volkov with soloist Tadashi Tajima who is playing the shakuhachi, a traditional Japanese bamboo flute.  The combination of European Avant-Guard and traditional Japanese music is a reoccurring feature in Hosokawa’s music and can be found in many other works such as Cloud and Light and Landscape V.

The 2009 Bach Festival takes place from 11 to 21 June in Leipzig.  One of its primary aims is to focus on the connections between different historical periods in music with challenging concerts like the Bach-Hosokawa evening on 14 June.

• Toshio Hosokawa - Profile
• Bach Festival 2009