The MIYUMI Project Japanese Experimental Ensemble

for Chicago Film Society

Sunday, April 13th | The Music Box Theatre | 11:30AM

3733 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613

The MIYUMI Project Japanese Experimental Ensemble plays live musical accompaniment to silent film The Dragon Painter at the Music Box Theatre for the Chicago Film Society presents series.

From the organizers:

Sessue Hayakawa was an unlikely star in early Hollywood, a Japanese actor who became a beloved matinee idol in an era of intense anti-Asian prejudice. Frequently typecast in roles that trafficked in exotic stereotypes (and not always Asian ones), Hayakawa eventually set up his own production company, Haworth Pictures Corporation, to bring a more nuanced presentation of Japanese culture to American audiences, often in collaboration with his wife and frequent co-star, Tsuru Aoki, and director William Worthington. The Dragon Painter, a delicate exemplar of the Haworth house style, is a mystical love story that unabashedly wields Orientalist cliches and primitive sexual politics to open American eyes to the aesthetics of non-Western art. Hayakawa stars as Tatsu, a feral cartographer who paints in hopes of capturing the essence of his eternal love, a woman who transformed into a dragon a thousand years ago. The master artist Indara (Edward Peil, Sr.) seeks a protégé who can carry on his legacy, but no one is good enough — except for Tatsu, who lacks the discipline to carry on Indara’s tradition. In a ploy to domesticate the unpredictable talent, Tatsu is tricked into believing that Indara’s daughter Ume-ko (Aoki) is his long-lost beloved in fleeting human form. With its blend of folkloric storytelling, studied naïveté, and staggering photographic beauty, The Dragon Painter finds Hayakawa beating Hollywood at its own game, creating a showcase worthy of his talents. This new restoration from the George Eastman Museum, EYE Filmmuseum, and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival reconstructs the original American release with gorgeous tints and tones and previously unseen footage.

Preceded by: “The Death Mask” (Thomas Ince, 1914) – 21 min – 35mm from Library of Congress

Presented by Chicago Film Society and sponsored in part by AIRMWFor more ticketing information visit: https://musicboxtheatre.com/films-and-events/the-dragon-painter

AIRMW at Elastic Arts: Syzygia

Saturday April 26th | Elastic Arts | 8:30PM

3429 W Diversey Ave #208, Chicago, IL 60647

From the organizers:

Set 1 - Improvised Sonata for Piano and Flute

The Improvised Sonata for Piano and Flute is an improvised work inspired by contemporary classical music. The piece is loosely structured on and follows the traditional sonata form.

Performed by Michael Perkins (piano) and Jeff Chan (flute)

 Set 2 – Syzygia

Syzygia is a newly formed ensemble that performs improvised music and expands on the concepts stemming from pianist Michael Perkins and woodwind performer Jeff Chan’s development of the Improvised Sonata for Piano and Flute. This ensemble adds to the original duo of Perkins and Chan, with leading Chicago new/creative music artists Robbie Lynn Hunsinger and Jamie Kempkers completing the quartet.

Syzygia is Robbie Lynn Hunsinger (winds and strings), Jamie Kempkers (cello), Jeff Chan (flute, clarinet and bass clarinet) and Michael Perkins (piano)

For more information visit:

https://elasticarts.org/events/airmw-presents-syzygia-jeff-chan-robbie-lynn-hunsinger-jamie-kempkers-michael-perkins

$20 - Tickets Available at the Door Doors 8:00pm Show 8:30pm

Elastic Arts 7th Annual Benefit: Honoring Tatsu Aoki

Saturday, May 10th | Elastic Arts | 7:00PM

3429 W Diversey Ave #208, Chicago, IL 60647

From the organizers:

Please join us for the 7th Annual Elastic Arts Benefit! We need your support to remain a sustainable space for creative music, art, and performance. The event will highlight many of the things that make Elastic Arts what it is, but most importantly we will celebrate togetherness. Our community is invited to our Logan Square space for the celebration, but we welcome anyone and everyone to join us virtually as we'll be streaming the benefit in entirety live through the streaming page on our website.

The 2024 Elastic Achievement Award will be presented to the legend and dear friend Tatsu Aoki. In addition to an award ceremony, we’ll hear a live set from Tatsu’s ensemble MIYUMI Project. Tatsu is a multi-instrumentalist trained in traditional Japanese music, an educator and an experimental filmmaker. In his career as a creative improvisor, he is best known as a long-standing bassist for Velvet Lounge owner and saxophonist Fred Anderson, also having worked with George Freeman, Von Freeman, Malachi Favors, Roscoe Mitchell, Don Moye, Hamid Drake, and countless others. Aoki also facilitates cultural events that promote the history of Japanese artistic traditions and contemporary Asian influences in jazz. As the founder and artistic director of Asian Improv aRts Midwest, he hosts events such as the annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival and the Japanese American Service Committee's Tsukasa Taiko Legacy arts residency program. Many of Tatsu’s AIRMW events occur right here at Elastic Arts, so it is our absolute honor to celebrate Tatsu’s accomplishments thus far, and for many years to come. 

More information HERE.

Tsukasa Taiko & Shubukai at the Hanami Cherry Blossom Viewing

Saturday, April 26th | Garden of the Phoenix | 1:00PM - 3:00PM

6300 S Cornell Ave, Chicago, IL 60637

From the organizers: Join the Japanese Arts Foundation in partnership with the Japanese Culture Center, Chicago Park District, and Asian Improv Arts Midwest’s Tsukasa Taiko for an afternoon full of arts, drums, and of course, cherry blossoms!

We invite you to the annual Hanami, or cherry blossom viewing festival! This much anticipated Spring festival, held in Jackson Park’s historic Garden of the Phoenix and surrounding the Columbian Basin, is home to more than 180 cherry blossom trees that typically bloom each year when nature allows! Please join as we celebrate the temporal beauty of the cherry blossoms and appreciation of the fleeting nature of life. The trees are located just south of the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry and in the Garden of the Phoenix (the communal area of SKYLANDING and the Osaka Japanese Garden), on Wooded Island - a short walk south of the Columbian Basin.

The afternoon includes performances from Tsukasa Taiko, along with children’s taiko drumming workshops, springtime themed origami folding, and instruction on the seasonal art of e-tegami ! E-tegami means "picture letter" in Japanese and is a kind of mail art. Come draw a seasonal object (like cherry blossoms, vegetables, or spring moments) onto a watercolor postcard and make a one-of-a-kind letter to send!

For more information visit: https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/events/hanami-cherry-blossom-viewing-festival-jackson-park