East Hawaii Cultural Center will welcome shakuhachi flutist Riley Lee back to Hawaii for a 7 p.m. concert on Saturday, June 29. Lee last played here in 2008. The concert will feature Lee’s original music, plus some Hawaiian favorites and
East Hawaii Cultural Center will welcome shakuhachi flutist Riley Lee back to Hawaii for a 7 p.m. concert on Saturday, June 29. Lee last played here in 2008. The concert will feature Lee’s original music, plus some Hawaiian favorites and traditional Japanese music.
Ticket prices are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Please call 961-5711 for reservations.
An internationally acclaimed musician, Lee has made more than 50 commercially released recordings. He began playing the shakuhachi in Japan in 1971, studying with Chikuho Sakai until 1980, when he became the first non-Japanese to attain the rank of dai shihan, or grand master. He has been a student of Katsuya Yokoyama since 1984.
Lee’s studies with traditional teachers in Japan have included such peculiar methods as practicing barefoot in the snow, blowing into his flute under waterfalls and in blizzards until icicles form at its end, and running the Boston Marathon and then playing taiko drums at the finish line.
Lee holds a B.A. and M.A. in Music from UH-Manoa and a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from the University of Sydney. He founded the Chikuho School of Shakuhachi of Hawaii and helped found the Australian Shakuhachi Society.
Lee has performed with several symphony orchestras, most notably the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has toured extensively in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia, where he lives. He has received two World Music of Australia Awards.
