Ryoko Aoki（Noh singer）
Noh singer
Ryoko Aoki is the pioneer of and inspiration for a new artistic form combining utai - traditional Noh recitation - with contemporary music. More than 50 works have been written for her by world-renowned composers including Peter Eötvös and Toshio Hosokawa. Singing with orchestras and performing in operas, she has worked to expand the audience for Noh recitation. She has performed in Wolfgang Rihm's opera "The Conquest of Mexico" at the Teatro Real de Madrid as well as with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Spanish National Orchestra, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Ensemble Musikfabrik and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. She has participated in music festivals including the Festival d'Automne in Paris, the Musikfest Berlin, the Bartok Festival, the Ars Musica, the Tongyeong International Music Festival and the Suntory Hall Summer Festival. She has also performed at major concert halls including the Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Kölner Philharmonie and the Suntory Hall. As part of her Contemporary Music x Noh project, Ryoko Aoki has commissioned a series of new works for Noh voice. During Covid-19 pandemic, she has broadcasted the online concert "HO NOH - Pray for an end to the Covid-19" as live-streaming distant session on her YouTube Channel. She released "Noh x Contemporary Music" recording in 2014 and "Yoru no Kotoba" recording with the cellist of Ensemble Intercontemporain, Éric-Maria Couturier in 2021. Ryoko earned her BA and MA from the Department of Music at Tokyo University of the Arts (majoring in the Kanze School of Noh theatre), before gaining a Ph.D. from SOAS, University of London. She was appointed a "Japan Cultural Envoy" in 2015 by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and was awarded "The Creative Tradition Prize" in 2019 by the Japan Arts Foundation. She was appointed as a Minato City Tourism Ambassador since 2019.
Official website https://ryokoaoki.net/
Twitter https://twitter.com/ryoooaoki
Instagram https://instagram.com/ryoooaoki
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/RyokoAoki
WORKS
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CD "Noh × Contemporary Music" (ALCD-98)
Photo：©Hiroaki Seo -
CD「Yoru no Kotoba Works for Noh voice and violoncello」（ALCD-131）
Photo：©RYO HANABUSA -
José María Sánchez-Verdú "Hacia la luz (... ἐς φάος ...)" (2019-20)
Photo：©José Luis Pindado -
Toshio Hosokawa "Futari Shizuka, The Maiden from the Sea" (2017)
Photo：©Ensemble intercontemporain -
HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.1, For Italy YouTube Live
Photo：©Toshifumi Tsuyama -
HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.2, For France YouTube Live
Photo：©Toshifumi Tsuyama -
HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.3, For Spain YouTube Live
Photo：©Toshifumi Tsuyama -
HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.4, For Netherlands YouTube Live
Photo：©427FOTO 
HO NOH – Pray for an end to the Covid-19 vol.5, For Germany YouTube Live
Photo：©427FOTO
