Four Seasons in NY | Yoko Reikano Kimura

New York’s music scene reflects the diverse and vibrant culture of the city. Yoko Reikano Kimura, started “Four Seasons in New York – Gems of Japanese Music -” in the fall of 2015. As a Japanese instrumentalist, Kimura hopes to introduce the brilliance of traditional Japanese music, which is still being passed on from generation to generation after many centuries. Japanese music aesthetics uniquely balance the outer natural world with the inner spiritual world, bringing forth a music of special depth and beauty. Many elements of traditional Japanese music – microtonal pitch nuance, rhythmic elasticity, and subtle ornamentation, for example – lie naturally within the soundscape of contemporary composition, and indeed the musical instruments of Japan have gradually become a part of our globalized musical world.

Kimura has performed over 65 classical pieces since the beginning of the series, and occasionally fine contemporary works are included in the programs. The acoustic instruments, made of organic materials, lend themselves perfectly to the intimate setting at Setsugekka, which is the destination of matcha connoisseurs in New York.

This concert series is co-presented by Yoko Reikano Kimura and Setsugekka, and supported by Hogaku Journal.　

Next concert
– Vol. 34 Winter –

Sunday, February 8, 2025
5:00 pm (EST)
Sestugekka East Village

https://www.setsugekkany.com/activi ties/events/four-seasons-in-ny-202601

with Souheki Mori,
Tea master at Setsugekka, NYC

Vol. 33 – Autumn

Sunday, November 2, 2025
Setsugekka

Akikaze no Kyoku – Autumn Wind – (by Mitsuzaki-kengyō)
Matsukaze – The Wind Through Pine Trees –

Japanese matcha tea is served after the concert.

Vol. 32 – Summer

Sunday, August 24, 2025
Setsugekka

Kagerō no Odori – Mirage Dance – (by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima)
Suite for Sangen (by Lou Harrison)

Yoko Reikano Kimura
Souheki Mori, Tea master at
Setsugekka

Vol. 31 – Spring

Saturday, May 24, 2025
Setsugekka

Miyako no Haru – Spring time in Kyoto – (by Shōin Yamase III)
Hana-Kazashi (by Seihō Kineya) and more

Vol. 30 – Spring

Thursday, April 4, 2024
Queens Public Library

Sakura-gari (by Yamada-kengyo)
Choryu – Tide – (by Seiju Suzukii) and more
This concert was presented as a lecture concert

Yoko Reikano Kimura
Christopher Pelham (CRS)
Elizabeth Brown

Vol. 29 – Autumn

In-person concert: Sunday, November 19, 2023

Tsuki no En – Ode to Moon – from Noh song, Miidera Temple (by Seihō Kineya)
Godan Ginuta (by Mitsuzaki-kengyō)
Special guest: Elizabeth Brown (shakuhachi)

Vol. 28 – Summer

In-person concert: Saturday, August 5, 2023

Sarashi (by Kitazawa-kōtō, Fukakusa-kengyō)
Niijio – New Wave – (by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima)
Special guest: Hiroko Ohno (visual artist)

Vol. 27 – Spring

In-person concert: Sunday, April 2, 2023

Jōmyō for solo sangen (by Seihō Kineya)
Chikubu-shima (by Chiyoda-kengyō)
Hōshun (by Katsutoshi Nagasawa)
Special guest: James Nyoraku Schlefer (shakuhachi)

Yoko Reikano Kimura
James Nyoraku Schlefer

Vol. 26 – Winter

In-person concert: Sunday, February 5, 2023

Rokudan no Shirabe (by Yatsuhashi-kengyō)
Shōchikubai – pine, bamboo, plum – (by Mitsuhashi-kōtō)
Special guest: Elizabeth Brown (shakuhachi)

Vol. 25 – Autumn

In-person concert: Sunday, October 30, 2022

Aki Shizuka – Tranquility in Autumn – (by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima)
Matsukaze – The Wind Through Pine Trees – (by Shōsei Nakanoshima)
Banshikii-cho for solo sangen (by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima)

Vol. 24 – Summer

In-person concert: Sunday, August 28, 2022

Kumiuta: Shiki no Tomo (by Hisamura-kengyō)
Chidori no Kyoko (by Yoshizawa-kengyō)
Piece for sangen based on the theme of Chidori (by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima)
Special guest: Elizabeth Brown (shakuhachi)

Vol. 23 – Spring

In-person concert: Sunday, April 17, 2022

Haru no Uta (by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima)
Yuya (by Yamada-kengyō)
Special guest: Ralph Samuelson (shakuhachi)

Yoko Reikano Kimura
Fujiko Aoki (mochi Rin)
Ralph Samuelson

Vol. 22 – Winter

In-person concert: Sunday, February 13, 2022
Online streaming: Sunday, February 27, 2022 – March 3

Hachidan no Shirabe (by Yatsuhashi-kengyō)
Suma no Arashi – Storm in Suma- (by Manwa Yamato)
Shinsenchō for solo sangen (by Kin’ichi Nakanoshima)
Special guest, Kaoru Watanabe (fue, taiko)

Vol. 21 – Autumn

In-person concert: Sunday, November 21, 2021
Online streaming: Sunday, Nov 28, 2021- Dec 2

Nasuno – Fire Fox – (by Yamada-kengyō)
Meikyō (by Seihō Kineya)
Koto-Uta (by Toshio Hosokawa)
Special guest, James Nyoraku Schlefer (shakuhachi)

Vol. 20 – Summer
20th Anniversary Concert

Online streaming: Saturday, August 28, 2021 – August 31

Ishiyama Genji – Jō – (by Chiyoda-kengyō)
Kaze no Satouta – Singing in the Wind – (by Jirō Censhu)
Special guest, Dr. Melissa McCormick (Professor of Japanese Art and Culture, Harvard University),
Keiko Tokunaga (Vn)