Her residency, at the Cable Factory, is based on a collaboration between HIAP, the Sibelius Academy and Tokyo Wonder Site, a Japanese residency programme. Chikako has been working on a research project she calls Language of the Senses, which focuses on the ways in which compositional frameworks can create situations which foreground the performer’s sensibility as the core of the work’s ‘meaning’.

Two new works for solo performers have been written during her residency. Lizard (shadow), a piece for solo clarinet, will have its world premiere in a concert entitled Language of the Senses held in Puristamo, Cable Factory, on November 17 at 6 pm. In the same concert the on-going collaborative research piece for solo 13-string koto with Nobutaka Yoshizawa will also be presented. The audience will be able to experience the pieces as performed by Heather Roche on clarinet, Nobutaka Yoshizawa on koto and Timothy O’Dwyer on saxophone (video-screening).

A further composition entitled ‘Hair’ variations will be screened at the concert. According to the composer, hair is an emblem of surging desire. The original piece and each of the variations correspond to six human sensations — Mind (Longing), Tongue, Nose, Eye, Ear, Body and Mind (Will). The composition which explores the spectrum from notation to improvisation will be performed by Timothy O’Dwyer in the Johan Tobias Sculpture Studio at HIAP Suomenlinna on November 12 at 4.15 pm.

Entrance is free to both concerts.

Chikako Morishita will also give lectures on her research and new compositions in the Auditorium of the Music House on November 10 and November 17, both at 2 pm.

Finally, collaborative research sessions with the clarinettist Heather Roche and the koto (Japanese traditional ziter) player Nobutaka Yoshizawa will take place at HIAP Cable Factory from November 8 to November 17, 2011.

LECTURE: Sibelius Academy composer lecture series 1

10th November 2011, 2 pm at Music House Auditorium

Presenter: Chikako Morishita

LIVE: ‘Hair’ variations

12th November 2011, 4.15 pm, at HIAP Suomenlinna Johan Tobias studio

Performer: Timothy O’Dwyer (saxophone, improvisation)

LECTURE: Sibelius Academy composer lecture series 2

17th November 2011, 2 pm at Music House Auditorium

Presenter: Chikako Morishita

LIVE: Language of the Senses

17th November 2011, 6 pm at Puristamo, Cable Factory

Performer: Heather Roche (clarinet) and Nobutaka Yoshizawa (13-string koto)

::Program::

1. ‘Hair’ variations for solo alto saxophone (2010) *video screening

Chikako Morishita +Timothy O’Dwyer

2. Lizard (shadow) for solo clarinet in B flat (2011) *world premiere performance

Chikako Morishita +Heather Roche

3. New work for solo 13-string koto (2011) *first presentation

Chikako Morishita + Nobutaka Yoshizawa

Composition: Chikako Morishita (Japan/Germany)

Chikako Morishita is a Japanese composer and pianist based in Tokyo and Berlin. Her work has been performed in Asia and Europe including Asian Music Festival (Tokyo), Bethanien-Kreutzberg Art Festival (Berlin) and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (Huddersfield, UK). As a pianist, she has regularly played in Tokyo Philharmonic at major venues such as Tokyo Opera City Composium (Tokyo) and Suntory Summer Festival (Tokyo) where she worked with composers Helmut Lachenmann, Joji Yuasa and Dai Fujikura. Her work focuses on the area of intercultural exchange and explores interrelationship between performer’s sensibility, their physicality and music’s form. Currently she is engaging with ELISION Ensemble, Richard Hayes/Paul Hubner/Stephen Menotti trio, and several solo performers. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Huddersfield, UK, under the supervision of Liza Lim and Aaron Cassidy.

Saxophone/improvisation: Timothy O’Dwyer (Australia/Singapore)

Timothy O’Dwyer is a saxophonist, composer and educator currently Head of the School of Contemporary Music at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore. He has been a member of an Australian contemporary ensemble ELISION since 1994. Trained as a jazz musician at the Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne, Australia), studied with composer Richard Barret in Amsterdam and with saxophonist/improviser Evan Parker in London. His career has constantly stretched across borders of genre, performance practice and art forms: he has performed and recorded with some of the leading jazz, contemporary classical, and improvised music artists in the world as well as toured with his own free jazz group the Tim O’Dwyer Trio in Europe and Asia.

Clarinet: Heather Roche (Canada/Germany)

Born in Canada, Heather Roche is Cologne based clarinettist who has trained extensively in England. She has appeared at Musica Nova (Helsinki), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (Huddersfield, UK), musikFest (Berlin), BachFest (Leipzig), somewherethere (Toronto) and at the TransArt Festival (Bolzano) with musikFabrik (Köln), ensembles Garage (Köln), Echoi (Freiburg), ensemble Interface (Frankfurt) and others. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Huddersifiled where she explores the nature of performer-composer relationships. Her practice explores how a dialogue-based, process-focused approach leads to the possibility of a more ‘intimate’ collaboration, and work more integrated with the practices, personalities, aesthetics and goals of both the performer and the composer.

Koto: Nobutaka Yoshizawa (Japan)

Nobutaka Yoshizawa (b. 1982) is a Japanese koto player. Yoshizawa has been invited and given performances of both traditional and contemporary works in Japan, France, Vienna, Turkish Republic, New Zealand, South Korea and USA. After finishing his Master degree in Tokai university in Japan, he has attended Ensemble Modern Academy (2010) where he was selected as one of the talented young players and gave the final concert with the members of Ensemble Modern. He has been given awards and scholarships by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (2006), Kenjun award (2008) and Utsunomiya citizen prize (2009).