ISSUE Project Room is pleased to present Nakatani Gong Orchestra at The Green Building in collaboration with Gowanus Art + Production. A non-traditional orchestra directed by master percussionist and acoustic sound artist Tatsuya Nakatani, each performance brings together a locally selected ensemble of players, who receive specialized training in Nakatani's unique bowed gong techniques and sign conducting.
Orchestra features performers Lea Bertucci, Bob Bellerue, Kim Brandt, Matt Chilton, Steve Dalachinsky, Sandy Gordon, David Grubbs, Chris Haag, Yuko Otomo, Stefan Tcherepnin, and Philip White.
Tatsuya Nakatani's approach to music is visceral, non-linear and intuitively primitive, expressing an unusually strong spirit while avoiding any categorization. He creates sound via both traditional and extended percussion techniques, utilizing drums, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects and bells, as well as various sticks, kitchen tools and homemade bows, all of which manifest in an intense and organic music that represents a very personal sonic world. His approach is steeped in the sensibilities of free improvisation, experimental music, jazz, rock, and noise, and yet retains the sense of space and quiet beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music.
