In this two-part video, acclaimed composer and instrumentalist Kaoru Watanabe performs “Fugaku Sanju Rokei,” as part of the Silkroad Ensemble’s American Railroad premiere at the Center for the Arts in 2023. Watanabe joins Dean of George Mason University's College of Visual and Performing Arts, Rick Davis, for a discussion of his intersectional artistic identity and career.

Kaoru Watanabe's melodic, authentic and engaging music focuses on points of connection: the joints between Western jazz and Japanese theater and folk traditions and political action, the ancient and the all-too-contemporary. Born into a musical family, Watanabe began his training at a young age, eventually graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, then devoting a decade overseas performing with and ultimately leading the world-renowned Taiko drum performance group Kodo. His ten years in Japan profoundly influenced Watanabe's practice. His signature skill of infusing Japanese culture to disparate styles has made him a much-in-demand collaborator, having worked with Wes Anderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Laurie Anderson, Jason, and Alicia Hall Moran, Bando Tamasaburo, Eva Yerbabuena, and Zakir Hussain, among many others. Whether writing for solo performances, interdisciplinary ensembles, film, or symphony orchestras, he regularly explores social justice, history, and heritage issues.

Find more interviews with Silkroad artists in Rick Davis’s three-part course, “Silkroad and the American Railroad,” now on Roundtable by the 92nd Street Y. https://roundtable.org/live-courses/arts/silkroad-and-the-american-railroad