In the Tune of Art

Koto & Shakuhachi & saxophone
tuesday, October 28, 2025
7:00-8:30PM
ADMISSION IS FREE,  RSVP REQUIRED (CLICK HERE)

Why not music inspired by art while surrounded by art? In this new series, "In the Tune of Art," we select music that matches the theme and artwork of the current exhibition and invite you to enjoy the melody in that environment. Musicians will also give special perform improvised performances inspired by the art.
For the fourth session, we are pleased to present a unique musical dialogue between Japanese classical and Western instruments, in conjunction with the traveling exhibition YOKAI PARADE: Supernatural Monsters from Japan. LA-based musicians Kozue Matsumoto (koto), Shoshi Watanabe (shakuhachi), and Patrick Shiroishi (saxophone) will perform a program of both traditional songs and contemporary pieces. They will also give special perform improvised performances inspired by the art.

Immerse yourself in the lively sounds of a room filled with yokai!

PERFORMERS:

Kozue Matsumoto
Born and raised in the Tohoku region of Japan and having also lived in Tokyo, Kozue Matsumoto is now based in the Los Angeles area. She collaborates across a wide range of art forms globally, including various genres of music, as well as dance, movement, media arts, and the entertainment industry. As a soloist, she performed at the Genshin Impact Symphony Concert at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles and in Chicago in 2023 and 2024. Her koto playing has been featured in the TV series Shōgun (2024, Disney on Hulu), the video game Ghost of Tsushima (2020, Sony/PlayStation), and other video game and television productions. Kozue is also frequently invited as a guest artist at institutions, where she shares insights into the history and culture of Japanese music, along with her experiences as an Asian female musician performing on a non-Western instrument.

Shoshi Watanabe
Shoshi Watanabe is a Los Angeles–based ceramicist and shakuhachi player. A pupil of the renowned shakuhachi performer Kinohachi, he regularly performs honkyoku, sankyoku, and minyo (with shamisen, koto, voice, and taiko), as well as contemporary music. He has appeared at venues including the Norton Simon Museum, Armstrong Theater, Whiskey a Go Go, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Fullerton, UCLA Royce Hall, 2220 Beverly, and Dosa Studio. In 2024, he served as a Shakuhachi Instructor at CalArts.

Patrick Shiroishi
Born Patrick Shiroishi is a Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles who is perhaps best known for his extensive and incredibly intense work with the saxophone.  Over the last decade he has established himself as one of the premier improvising musicians in Los Angeles, playing solo and in numerous collaborative projects.  Shiroishi may well be considered a foundational player in the city’s vast musical expanse.  He has presented work and performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum, the International Museum of Surgical Sciences and has toured around the world in various solo and band configurations including The Armed, contemporary classical ensemble Wild Up and Upsilon Acrux.