BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) presents percussionist Ayano Kataoka on Thursday, September 14, at 7 p.m. in a performance of "Eternity," a work for solo vibraphone by Vermont composer Stuart Saunders Smith.
Kataoka is a professor of percussion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a performer with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She gave the world premiere of Smith's "Eternity" in 2022. She is known for infusing her performances with remarkable physical energy. "Her dynamic yet controlled technique is well suited to the theatrical and improvisational aspects of Smith's work as well as his colorful, atonal, and rhythmically complex musical language," say organizers.
Kataoka performs and gives master classes around the world. She has played with cellist Yo-Yo Ma; premiered compositions by George Crumb, Paul Lansky, and Alejandro Viñao, and has been featured at Lincoln Center.
A native of Japan, Kataoka began studying the marimba at age 5 and percussion at 15. She holds degrees from Tokyo University of the Arts and the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, and an Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music.
Composer Stuart Saunders Smith of Sharon, Vermont, has created a body of musical and literary compositions. Many of his works are theatrical, asking the performers to speak, sing, act, and perform pantomime in addition to playing their instruments. His music is recorded on O.O. Discs, Capstone Records, New World, and on labels in Austria, France, and Germany.
Of his approach to musical composition, Smith has said, "I never use pre-compositional engineering plans [...] I want a music which can contradict itself and go off on tangents. I am not interested in consistency [...] I am in search of magic, and like a magic trick, I want my hand to turn into a bird that flies away!"
The performance will take place in the museum's Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery, amidst the exhibition "Aurora Robson: Human Nature Walk."
Admission is free for BMAC members, and $5 for all others. Purchase tickets at brattleboromuseum.org, at the door, or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101.
This The Arts item was submitted to The Commons.