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Yoko Hiraoka is a senior master performer of Koto, Shamisen and Jiuta voice. Her professional performance career originated in Kyoto, Japan and spans almost 30 years. As a Jiuta singer she draws on literary sources as varied as the Kokin-waka shu and the Tales of Genji and Heike, performing classical pieces from the early 17th. Century onwards. Her repertoire includes Twentieth Century contemporary Japanese works for koto and shamisen.

She performs extensively in both countries at festivals, concerts, lectures-recitals, and in television and studio recordings. She has been a member of Kyoto Hogaku Group (an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments) and Kyoto Sankyoku-kai in Japan. She also plays with the Kyoto-based Shikandaza Ensemble. Performances have included playing on the album Mandala by Kitaro, and performing at the International Shakuhachi Festival, Art Institute of Chicago, Bowdoin College, the Aspen Dance Festival and at other venues including Emory University, Portland Art Museum, the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and major music festivals throughout the USA.

Ms. Hiraoka has taught world music ensemble at the University of Colorado and currently teaches students at Naropa University in Boulder. Her repertoire includes contemporary compositions and improvisations with Western instrumentalists.

Speciality: Koto
Email: shin-on@mindspring.com
Homepage: http://www.csd.net/~yhiraoka/