Music by Rakuto Kurano in Concert

Award-winning performer-composer Rakuto Kurano presents a concert of entirely his own music.

Programme:

- Fantail in Tokyo
- Violin Sonata No.1
- Concerto Grosso
- Blooming
- Alien Abduction Suite
- Sonata No.2
- SNOW for Violin Quartet
- Five Bagatelles

Reviewed as a musician with “flair and panache” by the Christchurch Mail, Rakuto Kurano has established himself as a versatile Japanese/New Zealand performer & composer.

As a multi award-winning musical artist, Kurano has completed numerous concert tours around New Zealand, currently averaging 60 concerts each year. His extensive repertoire ranges from early music to music composed by living composers, but has particularly spent a lot of time studying Historically Informed Performance Practice (HIPP) of baroque music - having performed concertos and sonatas by over 40 unique baroque composers to date.

Kurano made his composer debut in 2016 with his composition Angelic Glow – which was selected as a winning work in the NZ Harp Duo composition competition, and was performed by the NZ Harp Duo for their concert series in Wellington and Lower Hutt. Stephen Gibbs called it a “charming work” in a review for DMS Review Blog.

In 2019, his piece Fantail in Tokyo was selected as a winning work in the NZTrio composition competition, and performed by the NZTrio in Auckland. The work was recorded and released the following year by Mark Menzies, Tomas Hurnik, and Rakuto himself. The recording has been broadcast by Radio New Zealand on numerous occasions following the release.

In January 2021, he was commissioned by the Baroque Music Community and Educational Trust of New Zealand to compose Concerto Grosso, a neo-baroque style work for three soloists, string ensemble, & harpsichord for the 2021 11-concert national tour. The work was the final piece in the programme, and was met with a standing ovation in every concert. It was deemed a “splendid work” by Peter Mechen for Middle-C, in review of its Wellington performance.

As a performer of contemporary music, Kurano was invited to perform in the International Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) & Asian Composers League (ACL) double festival in 2022 as a violinist, violist, and pianist, where he performed 10 works by composers from all around the world. He was invited to the CANZ (Composers Association of New Zealand) Nelson workshop as a violinist/violist in both 2019 & 2020 to workshop and perform new works written by living New Zealand composers. Kurano has personally commissioned works by five young New Zealand composers to date.

As a recording artist, he has recorded and released many of his own works, but also has experience playing in recordings for other artists, including UK singers Aled Jones and Russell Watson with the BMG label (UK).

Orchestral experiences include joining the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra at the age of 18, performing with NZ Opera, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, Hawke's Bay Orchestra, Secret Sinfonia, and many more.

He is currently an Artist in Residence at the Aspiring Lifestyle Village in Wanaka and Artistic Director of the Magic Carpet Music Trust, a charitable trust that he co-founded in May 2022.