College Of Performance, Visualization And Fine Arts To Host World Shakuhachi Festival In April
The Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts will host the World Shakuhachi Festival April 17-20.
Dr. Martin Regan, a professor in the Music Performance program, organized the festival, which will be held in Texas for the first time. The quadrennial event debuted in Japan in 1994, and it was most recently held in London in 2018.
Regan said he envisions shakuhachi professionals and aficionados from around the world gathering to celebrate the “transcendental instrument.”
“The 2025 World Shakuhachi Festival is an event that will leave a footprint in the cultural consciousness of Texas A&M, Bryan-College Station, Texas, and beyond for years to come,” he said. “To grow awareness of this instrument, its repertoire and the power of cross-cultural collaboration.”
The four-day festival centers around the shakuhachi — an end-blown bamboo flute — which was imported from China in the eighth century, Regan said, and remains an important part of Japanese culture and music today. It is utilized in jazz, contemporary, rock and pop music, along with video games, he said.
More than 210 visiting guest artists and participants from around the world — including Japan, China, Taiwan, Finland, Australia and England — have registered for the event, which will feature 10 concerts, more than 75 workshops and classes, three open-mic sessions, two competitions and a research symposium.
Visiting shakuhachi performers include Nomura Hōzan, recognized as a “living embodiment of this tradition,” Regan said.
David Kansuke Wheeler and Yoko Reikano Kimura will perform works on April 17 at Rudder Theatre. Wheeler and Kimura have been performing regularly at Texas A&M for more than a decade, including a classical and contemporary Japanese music concert for the college in September 2023.
Cornelius Boots — who completed a Glasscock Center Short-Term Visiting Fellowship in October and performed a concert with Regan in the Black Box Theater — will also perform.
Regan said he was grateful for the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to coordinate this event. He said he is looking forward to bringing the community of global shakuhachi players to Aggieland.
“I wish to show them authentic Texas southern hospitality,” Regan said. “This is the first festival where everyone will be lodging in the same locations: The George and Cavalry Court. Both are four-star accommodations located in a lively commercial area where you can get chicken wings, French crepes and a pair of boots — which matters, because our guests can experience local culture.”
Concerts will be held at Rudder Theatre and the Black Box Theater in the Liberal Arts and Arts and Humanities Building. Guests will also visit Round Top, which is an hour from College Station and known for its concert hall, shops and antique fairs. Participants will explore Round Top’s Historical District and will present a gala concert at Festival Hill, Regan said.
“Round Top is the Texas of your dreams,” he said. “It’s a place to buy cheese and get your Texas bourbon, enjoy some good Mexican food, explore art galleries and even shop at a leather store — all in walking distance.”
Regan attended the World Shakuhachi Festival in Sydney, Australia (2008), Kyoto, Japan (2012) and London (2018), and said he enjoyed the networking and discussions in the shakuhachi world.
“It was so exciting to explore a new place and have a chance to rekindle the old friendships and make new ones,” Regan said. “At the Sydney festival, I was so inspired that I wrote a concerto for the shakuhachi in one week. I called it ‘Southern Winds,’ and was inspired by the fact that it was composed in the Southern Hemisphere. These festivals often inspire me.”
This event offers artists the chance to network and establish collaborative partnerships, Regan said. Guests will also experience the “global nature and transcendental quality and magic of this particular flute,” he said.
“I hope people take away a renewed interest in Japanese culture, and in global cultures in general,” Regan said. “Music has the power to bring people together in one community. I hope everyone finds even one workshop they can be inspired by and bring back the material to inform their practice for months or years to come.”
To purchase tickets for concerts at Rudder Theatre or Festival Concert Hall in Round Top, visit the MSC Box Office website. The concerts in the Black Box are free.
To register as a participant and view the complete schedule, visit the World Shakuhachi Festival website.
