Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center

Kaoru will be performing a solo show at Joe's Pub on Sunday, November 7th at 8 pm.

New material that he's been developing during the pandemic and is very proud to be putting out in the world.

Kaoru Watanabe: Incense New works for Japanese flutes and percussion.

We are finally restarting our classes! Please check out the schedule here:

Classes — Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center Private Lessons in Taiko or Fue (Japanese bamboo flute)We offer private lessons in both taiko and fue for individuals, small groups or other taiko or music groups/organizations. Please consult with us on pricing and scheduling. 

Barbara Merjan, Fumi Tanakadate, Midori Larsen, and Sumie Kaneko will be performing at Japan Village in Brooklyn tomorrow night 6pm-9pm (free entrance). There will be some audience participation too!
Please join us!

RE:OPEN JAM at Japan Village Music live performance event held in New York, Japan Village.

Join us, Soh Daiko, Biwanko, We love COBU , Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center , Manhattan Taiko , OMNY Taiko, Taiko Masala, and Taikoza in this virtual concert on May 8!! We are super proud to join our fellow NYC taiko groups, to share our love for the art of taiko and the history, tradition and values it represents to help uplift our AAPI community.

This concert is in celebration of AAPI Heritage month to share and uplift our art, heritage and culture. Donations made at this concert will help to support the work of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AADELF), a national organization founded in 1974 that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans.

October 10th and 17th
Two-Part Series Concert by Kaoru Watanabe
杳と暁
HARUKA AND AKIRA

New music for shinobue, taiko, koto and electronics

2020 has been the best of years and the worst of years. The global pandemic, the loss of so many beloved cultural figures and close family and friends that all shape our worlds, the historic and systemic racism rampant in all levels of society, the senseless explosion in the Beirut, apocalyptic wildfires up and down the Pacific coast, the crumbling of ethics, morals and a sense of decency with roughly half the US population. Personally, my means of making a living has been decimated by the COVID epidemic, not to mention actually getting sick with COVID in early April.

However, all this has been met with what feels like an awakening – people young and old responding with passion and vigor to the overwhelming devastation created by both man and nature. Many have been agonizing about their purpose in life and their role in society in ways that perhaps they wouldn’t have in more “normal” times. For me, instead of constantly traveling, I’m spending time caring for and being cared for by loved ones. I have been maintaining my discipline as an artist, continuing to compose music, and develop my voice, greatly inspired by fellow artists and people who continue to fight against the oppression, racism, sexism and classism that pervades our society.

I would like to use this two-part concert series as an opportunity to connect to an audience, to mourn the loss of loved ones and to a way of life, and a way to celebrate the way forward as we pull together to face the new world we now inhabit. All the music that will be presented during this two-part concert series will be compositions created in 2020, most of it after the quarantine began. The title of the series, HARUKA TO AKIRA comes from the name of my father and uncle who were named by my grandfather, who happened to pass away in May 2020 at the age of 106, a product of a forgotten age. My father Haruka’s name (杳), which can be interpreted as “deep” or “distant hope” is a reflection of one of the darkest times of modern history, World War II, while his younger brother, whose name AKIRA (暁), “the light of dawn” or “enlightened”, was born after the end of the war.
- Kaoru Watanabe

For more information and to purchase tickets:

kaDON LIVE Concert Series: Haruka & Akira - A two-part concert with Kaoru Watanabe - kaDON   Artist Profile Composer and musician Kaoru Watanabe grounds his performance in traditional Japanese music while inhabiting a startling combination of musical worlds. He is renowned for his ability to collaborate with a diverse array of visionary artists: Yo-Yo Ma, … Continued