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About Kaoru

SHORT BIO

Acclaimed composer and instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe's work is grounded in traditional Japanese music while imbued with contemporary jazz, improvisation, and experimental music elements. His signature skill of infusing Japanese culture with disparate styles has made him a much-in-demand collaborator working with such iconic artists as Wes Anderson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran, Yo-Yo Ma, Japanese National Living Treasure Bando Tamasaburo, Silkroad Ensemble, and Rhiannon Giddens. A trained jazz musician, he lived in Japan for a decade, during which time he became the first American to become a performer and artistic director of the iconic taiko drumming ensemble Kodo.

LONG BIO

Acclaimed composer and instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe's work is grounded in traditional Japanese music while imbued with contemporary jazz, improvisation, and experimental music elements. His signature skill of infusing Japanese culture with disparate styles has made him a much-in-demand collaborator working with such iconic artists as Wes Anderson, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran, Yo-Yo Ma, Japanese National Living Treasure Bando Tamasaburo, Silkroad Ensemble, and Rhiannon Giddens.

Born to Japanese parents who were long-time St Louis Symphony Orchestra members, Watanabe began training at a young age, eventually graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied Black American jazz music. He then moved to Japan and became the first American to perform with and lead the internationally acclaimed taiko performing arts group Kodo. Acting as Artistic Director of Kodo's Earth Celebration festival, inviting such artists as Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hidalgo, and other masters of music from across the globe, he first saw how profound cross-cultural collaboration could be: people who don’t share a common language can find ways to unite in musical conversation when done with a sense of mutual respect, open-mindedness, an open heart, and a desire to connect. In 2008, after ten transformative years in Japan, which left him deeply connected to his heritage and the land from which his parents came, he left Kodo. He returned to New York to weave together all the musical threads of his experiences. 

Watanabe’s compositions draw lines between distant points—Japan and America, ancient history and modern politics, and Eastern and Western music. Looking for the sympathetic vibrations that emerge, he weaves together Buddhist chants reimagined as antipolice brutality protests, WWII-era ZERO kamikaze fighter planes, the Sengoku Civil War era, and the culture wars of today’s America. In his work, Watanabe introduces sounds from a distant past to the 21st century, expressing the many layers of his identity and culture. 

I have long felt that Kaoru Watanabe has the greatest sound on the shinobue of any player in the world.
— Ranjo (master shinobue maker)
Kaoru Watanabe: a rare musician who traverses the traditional music forms both East and West, classical and contemporary, predetermined and improvisational. His expertise in taiko drumming and bamboo flutes gives his music both force with exteme delicacy. His superb musicianship makes him a joy to create with. He enriches any musical situation with his unique perspective.
— Jason Moran (Jazz Pianist, Blue Note Recording Artist)

Selected Activities

2023

  • Duo with Laurie Anderson at the Baryshnikov at 75 concert at Kaatsbaan Arts Center, with Regina Spektor, Diana Krall, and others

  • Artistic Lead, composer and performer- American Railroad tour with Rhiannon Giddens and Silkroad Ensemble

  • Artist in Residence - Loyola University Chicago - one semester-long course on Japanese traditional and contemporary performing arts, worked with the jazz and percussion ensembles and the choir. 

  • Asia Society of Texas presentation of Genji with members of the Houston Ballet

  • Solo Performance at Yokohama Osanbashi Hall

  • Japan Society New York presentation of Extinction Ritual with Leimay Dance Company

  • Soloist and composer with the Groton Hill Orchestra

  • Silkroad Train Station Trio performances with Maeve Gilchrist, Kinan Azmeh and others

  • Netflix’s Ultraman Rising movie soundtrack recording in Tokyo, consultant, performer

2022

  • Kaoru Watanabe’s Incense at Dartmouth College, Lincoln Center

  • Tour with Kenny Endo (10 cities including Kennedy Center, Oberlin College, UMass Amherst, etc)

  • Duo with LaTasha Nevada Diggs at Joe’s Pub

  • Silkroad and Rhiannon Giddens Tour (multiple Cities including Tanglewood, Wolftrap, NJPAC, etc.) with special guest Yo-Yo Ma

2021

  • Alyson Shotz, Nasheet Waits at Carrie Mae Weems's Land of Broken Dreams at the Park Avenue Armory

  • Silkroad with Rhiannon Giddens, Harvard University

  • Kaoru Watanabe’s Incense at Joe’s Pub

  • Laurie Anderson, Jason Moran, Vernon Reid Party at the Bardo at Park Avenue Armory

  • Kaoru Watanabe Oto Ga Tatsu with Wu Man, Yuta Sumiyoshi from Kodo, Tamangoh, Semba Kiyohiko (online)

2020

  • Eva Yerbuena Cuentos de Azucar in Paris

  • Adam Rudolph Field and Focus at Roulette

  • Edward Perez, Kaoru Watanabe duo Tanglewood Music Festival (online)

  • Kaoru Watanabe Haruka and Akira (online)

  • composition Merge inducted into the archives of the Library of Congress

  • Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad Ensemble Asia tour (canceled due to COVID)

  • Musical Director of True Colors Concert with artistic director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (canceled due to COVID)

  • Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Yokihi  (canceled due to COVID)

2019

  • Eva Yerbuena Cuentos de Azucar in Granada, Cordoba, Brussels, Sevilla, Zaragoza, etc

  • Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad in Beirut

  • Tamangoh’s Samurai Noir in French Guiana

  • Michi Wianko’s Murasaki’s Moon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Silkroad’s Heroes Take Their Stands US Tour 

  • Kaoru Watanabe with Maeve Gilchrist and Satoshi Takeishi US Tour

  • Imani Uzuri Hush Arbor Lincoln Center

  • BOROGUSAKAGU trio with Rogerio Bocatto and Sameer Gupta

2018

  • Eva Yerbuena Cuentos de Azucar Tour in Spain and France

  • Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad Ensemble Tours in Lebanon and the US

  • Imani Uzuri Hush Arbor Harlem Stage

  • Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Taikoz (two orchestral premieres)

  • Premiere of Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, performances at the Berlin Film Festival and NY Met Museum

  • Alicia Hall Moran’s Breaking Ice, ice skating opera singers, taiko drummer in ice rinks

2007-2017

  • Various performances with Alicia Hall Moran, Damion Reid, Kenny Endo, Marvin Sewell, Brooklyn Raga Massive, Kakunuma Koji, Tamangoh, Semba Kyohiko, Simone Leigh, Jen Shyu, So Percussion, and Kodo. Tours in Japan, US, France, Germany, Barbados, French Guiana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Mongolia, Canada, Brazil, etc.

2000-2007

  • KODO One Earth Tour in Asia, Europe, and the US. Approximately a total of eight months of the year on tour. Highlights include Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, Red Rocks Amphitheater, NY Summerstage, and Minamiza with Tamasaburo Bando. Albums released: Mondo Head (produced by Mickey Hart), Prism Rhythm, and One Earth Tour Special. 

2005-2007

  • Artistic Director of KODO’s Earth Celebration, an annual world-music festival inviting international guest artists to collaborate with Kodo. Determined concept, programming, personnel, stage design, and lighting concept. Guests include Carlos Nunez, Zakir Hussain, Giovanni Hildalgo, Yamashita Yosuke, Koji Kakinuma.

1998 

  • Stefon Harris Cloud of Red Dust Blue Note records featuring Mulgrew Miller, Steve Turre, Greg Osby, and Jason Moran

Teaching Experience

  • Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop, DePauw University, Faculty

  • Tanglewood Music Festival, faculty

  • Princeton University, rotating guest lecturer

  • KaDON Online resource, instructor

  • Kaoru Watanabe Taiko Center, founder, instructor - Brooklyn, NY

  • Wesleyan University, instructor, Japanese Taiko – Spring 2011 to 2013

  • Dickinson College, instructor, Japanese Taiko- Fall 2012

  • Colby College, instructor, Japanese Taiko - Winter 2011


Education

  • Kodo Cultural Foundation - apprentice 1998-2000, Sado Island, Japan. Studies include various Japanese folk dances, song and drumming, tea ceremonies, farming, woodworking, Noh Theater, and Kyogen Theater.

  • Manhattan School of Music New York, NY, BA in Jazz Performance 1993-1997 

  • Interlochen Arts Academy 1991-1992