Koto･Shamisen･Voice
Duo YUMENO’s new album, “Heike Quinto” was released from NAXOS on Friday, May 24th, 2024 worldwide. Celebrating new release, NAXOS Japan featured duo’s extensive interview on their note. This article is written in Japanese, but you can check the detailed information on the NAXOS’s website too.
Time Will Tell (Andy Milne and Unison) was selected as one of the Best Albums of 2024 by Downbeat Magazine. Yoko Reikano Kimura joined this album as the guest Japanese koto performer. This album is available at many kinds of platforms worldwide. The details about this album is here (Sunnyside Records.)
Please accept Duo YUMENO 夢乃’s world-premiere recording of Daron Hagen’s CD-length work for koto, cello, voice, and fixed media “The Heike Quinto” for your GRAMMY® nomination consideration in the category of Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance. (September 20, 2024)
The articles and reviews about Duo YUMENO‘s new album, Heike Quinto (composed by Daron Hagen) were published on the following sites. (August 1, 2024) Naxos Japan (Japan)Pizzicato (Germany)The Art Music Lounge (US)Interlude (Hong Kong)
…The exotic music transports the listener into a very special world of sound, which is very interesting, even more varied than one might think at first. In this recording it benefits from the technically outstanding and very committed interpretation of the Duo Yumeno. – Heike Quinto (composed by Daron Hagen, commissioned by Duo YUMENO) Eine japanische Geschichte (pizzicato)
Duo YUMENO’s second album, HEIKE QUINTO (composed by Daron Hagen) will be released worldwide from NAXOS on May 24, 2024.The album will be available on CDs, Naxos online, iTunes, Arkiv Music and other various platforms. Between 2015 and 2022, the duo commissioned to Hagen, the revered composer particularly in the opera world, to create a suite of pieces inspired by The Tale of the Heike, a masterpiece in medieval Japanese literature. The duo has performed the pieces countless times at venues as celebrated as the Weil Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall to many intimate performance spaces. For more details about this album, please visit NAXOS website. (May 1, 2024)
As the guest koto performer, Yoko Reikano Kimura joined 2X Juno Award Winning pianist/composer, Andy Milne and his trio Unison’s new album, Time Will Tell which was released from Sunnyside Records. (April 26, 2024)
…Yoko Reikano is clearly a virtuoso koto player. I’ve heard several recordings of koto players, but none as breathtaking as what Reikano does here, and near the end of this movement Hikaru Tamaki’s cello playing is deep, rich and beautiful. – Heike Quinto (composed by Daron Hagen, commissioned by Duo YUMENO) Daron Hagen’s Heike Quinto (The Art Lounge)
Kimura’s extensive interview was featured on the Yomiuri Shimbun’s Shiga edition published on March 1, 2024. Kimura talked about new album “Heike Quinto” (composed by Daron Hagen), her concert series, “Four Seasons in New York – Gems of Japanese Music” and her passion for koto concerto.