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The Australian Shakuhachi Society is pleased to announce the World Shakuhachi Festival 2008 (WSF08, to be held in Sydney Australia. Tentative dates are 3-9 July 2008; these dates are subject to change, though unlikely to do so.
The WSF08 venue will be the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM), located near Sydney's Circular Quay, the Rocks, and the Sydney Opera House. The facilities include five concert venues, all with superb acoustics. The main hall, Verbrugghen Hall, is magnificent. We will also have access to numerous classrooms, seminar rooms, rehearsal rooms, etc.
SCM is ideal for our purposes. Almost all concert, workshop, symposia, and lecture venues will be under one roof. Travel time between some venues and events can be counted in seconds, so participants will be able to attend more of the WSF08 events of their choosing than would otherwise be the case.
To preview the venues, go to: http://www.music.usyd.edu.au/talent_fac … nues.shtml
SCM is a short walk away from all sorts of accommodation, from the most inexpensive backpackers and youth hostels to five star luxury. It is also a few minutes away from the Sydney Opera House, where we hope to have the main Festival Concert. This is contingent on availability of the Concert Hall during WSF08; we'll be trying to book this iconic venue as soon as possible.
Pleas note: for those of you who hope to perform during WSF08, please be advised that performers will be chosen using the highest criteria possible and may include some sort of blind audition. Having performed at a previous international shakuhachi event does not in any way guarantee a spot on the WSF08 programme.
My advice to anyone who dreams of playing at WSF08 is to start practicing frequently, diligently and with proper guidance NOW. Even those of you who are already teaching and performing regularly might think seriously of improving your craft in every way possible. Conversely, teaching and performing in public is in no way a prerequisite to being chosen as a performer at WSF08.
There are many superb shakuhachi performers around these days, especially in Japan. Consequently the organisers of WSF08 have the luxury of setting the standards extremely high. At present, the only people guaranteed an invitation to perform at WSF08 are the two Japanese Living National Treasures and several of their contemporaries.
We will keep you updated on WSF08 as things develop. We should have a website dedicated to WSF08 sometime this southern hemisphere winter (it's autumn here now).
For the time being, please put the WSF08 dates on your calendar and start saving now. See you in Sydney in 2008!
Best regards, Riley Lee
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Hi Riley,
I may be going out on a limb here but what are the chances of Miyata Kohachiro being invited? It has always seemed to me that his absence has been a conspicuous omission from these festivals. May I also say I completely back your decision to set the bar high. One of the most important functions of this kind of event is to provide motivation for aspiring performers and present inspirational performers to both the shakuhachi community and the public at large. My best wishes and encouragement to you in this demanding endeavor. I'm looking forward to seeing you then.
Larry Tyrrell
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I met with Riley last week and one of the topics discussed was this festival. We talked about trying to get a lot of folks from the US, Europe and other regions to attend. It's beautiful down here and it should be a really good gathering of performers and other participants. There will be daily concerts at a variety of venues. Anyone planning to attend?
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I would like to go.
I better start saving;-) Australia is far.
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Even though it is a long, expensive trip, I have started getting committments from members of KiSuiAn Dojo, and hopefully we will have a respectfull size group coming from the East Coast of the USA/Canada.
If anyone would like to join us, let me know!
Ronnie
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So let me get this straight...
I'd be flying 26,000 km, round trip, for a week of listening to people from other far away places blow air through bamboo tubes and then talk about it?
Excellent. I'm game. Saving starts now...
-Darren.
P.S. - No really, I mean it. This sounds truly fantastic! Thank you to the organizers of this -- I can only imagine what it takes to orchestrate such a gathering!
Last edited by dstone (2006-11-09 16:31:40)
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I would love to go...
But, I can buy a great Shakuhachi for 2000 bucks...
Maybe I will be rich enough in a year.
Geni
Last edited by geni (2006-11-09 23:36:02)
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Just applying for money to go there this moment. Hopefully I will be successful and see ya' all!
Remember we have Colmar, France July 2007!
Kiku
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