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Called "A Master of the Shakuhachi" by The New York Times, James Nyoraku Schlefer is a leading performer and teacher of shakuhachi in New York City. He received the Dai-Shi-Han Master's Certificate in 2001, one of only a handful of non-Japanese to receive this high level award. His primary teacher was Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin, and in Japan he has worked with Yoshio Kurahashi, Aoki Reibo, Yokoyama Katsuya, Yoshinobu Taniguchi, and Mitsuhashi Kifu among others. He holds a Master's degree in Western flute & musicology from Queens College and currently lectures on music at the City University of New York. He has performed at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall, World Financial Center, the Metropolitan, Brooklyn and Philadelphia Museums, & the Knitting Factory. Schlefer has three solo recordings, Wind Heart (which travelles 120,000,000 miles aboard the Space Station MIR) Solstice Spirit (1998,) and Flare Up (2002.) His music has been featured on NPR's All Things Considered.


Nyoraku is a member of the Japanese music group Ensemble East, which performs traditional and modern music for Japanese instruments, including the shamisen and the koto. He has performed and lectured at the Juilliard School, Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music, Vassar College, Hunter College, and at Japanese music festivals in the US and Japan.


Schlefer began his musical career as a Western flutist and continues to perform on this instrument. He has composed several works for solo shakuhachi and shakuhachi ensemble, including a grant from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust for a new work to accompany dance, and a commission for an orchestral work with shakuhachi and koto to be premiered in 2004. His annual Winter Solstice concerts have become a seasonal highlight of New York's musical life. A dedicated and respected teacher, Nyoraku Sensei is head of the Kyo-Shin-An teaching studio in New York City. He has edited books of traditional notation and written an etude book for shakuhachi technical development.

Speciality: Shakuhachi
Email: james@nyoraku.com
Homepage: http://www.nyoraku.com/

Teachers:

Yokoyama Katsuya
Kurahashi Yoshio
Mitsuhashi Kifu
Seldin, Ronnie Nyogetsu
Aoki Reibo II

Students:

Buchbinder, Steve Shinraku
Ritchie, Brian Tairaku
Spicer, Karl Yoraku

Albums released:

	Flare Up
	Solstice Spirit Several honkyoku, a composition by Fukuda Rando, and two of Nyoraku's own including an extended suite for an orchestra of 18 variously-sized shakuhachi.
	Wind Heart Honkyoku and modern music for the shakuhachi.

Track	Album
Amazing Grace   (Listen)	Prayer for the Missing, A
Azuma no Kyoku (Kinko Ryu)   (Listen)	Solstice Spirit
Banji   (Listen)	Flare Up
Esashi Oiwake   (Listen)	Wind Heart
Flare Up   (Listen)	Flare Up
Ichijo   (Listen)	Flare Up
Kokû (Nezasa Ha)   (Listen)	Flare Up
Kumoi Jishi   (Listen)	Wind Heart
Matsukaze (Nezasa Ha)   (Listen)	Solstice Spirit
Miyama Higurashi   (Listen)	Solstice Spirit
Night Pond   (Listen)	Wind Heart
Omae   (Listen)	Wind Heart
Reibo (Echigo)   (Listen)	Wind Heart
San'ya (Brooklyn)   (Listen)	Flare Up
San'ya (Echigo - Betsuden)   (Listen)	Wind Heart
San'ya (Echigo)   (Listen)	Wind Heart
San'ya (Jinbo)   (Listen)	Flare Up
Solstice Spirit   (Listen)	Prayer for the Missing, A
Solstice Spirit   (Listen)	Solstice Spirit
Tabibito no Uta   (Listen)	Wind Heart
Tsuru no Sugomori (Don't know which version)   (Listen)	Solstice Spirit
Tsuru no Sugomori (Futaiken)   (Listen)	Flare Up
Variations on Amazing Grace   (Listen)	Solstice Spirit

Year	Title	Kanji	Alternate Title
	Darani Revisited
	Headbell
	Ronin Sunrise
	Solstice Spirit
	Timeless Moment
	Winter Triptych
1996	Variations on Amazing Grace
1999	San'ya (Brooklyn)
2002	Flare Up