The Japanese xylophonist Mutsumi Tsuuzaki will visit SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music to present a masterclass and guest artist recital on Thursday, April 12 at noon, in Snell Theater.
SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music will welcome a special guest artist from Japan for an upcoming recital and masterclass. The renowned xylophonist Mutsumi Tsuuzaki will visit Crane on Thursday, April 12, presenting a midday concert at noon in the Sara M. Snell Music Theater.
Tsuuzaki will perform on the legendary Deagan #266 Artist Special “Hiraoka” Xylophone, previously owned by the famous xylophonist Yoichi Hiraoka. Hiraoka and his xylophone became famous in the U.S. in the 1930s, when the musician was well known for playing renditions of famous classical works on the daily morning broadcasts on NBC Radio, which were listened to across the country. Now restored, the instrument is making its first return to the United States.
Tsuuzaki will be accompanied on piano by Mihoko Tsutsumi, an assistant professor and the director of choral activities at SUNY Oswego.
Tsuuzaki and Tsutsumi will present a concert program that will select from works by Vittoro Monti, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn, Fritz Kreisler, Georges Bizet, George Hamilton Green, Manuel Maria Ponce, Astor Piazzolla, Hiroake Takaha and Koichi Kishi.
About the performer:
Mutsumi Tsuuzaki began her career as a marimba soloist in 1991. She had already been actively carrying out commissions for composition and arrangement, and had developed a unique repertoire. She was actively involved in various performance formats in duos with dance or a range of instruments such as piano, violin, accordion, koto and recorder, as well as a marimba trio, chamber music and in performance with orchestras. In 2005, Tsuuzaki played the “Concerto for Xylophone and Orchestra,” a 1944 piece composed by Kyosuke Kami and originally premiered by xylophone maestro Yoichi Hiraoka, with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, played on Hiraoka’s original instrument. After the concert, she acquired the legendary xylophone and around 600 scores, as well as mallets. To date, Tsuuzaki has performed as a soloist with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. She is also known for her extensive collection of antique kimonos and obis, numbering some 600 pieces. Her collection and lifestyle have been featured in Japanese newspapers, magazines, radio programs and TV shows.
This concert is free, and the public is invited to attend.
For more information about SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, please visit www.potsdam.edu/crane.
Founded in 1886, SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music has a long legacy of excellence in music education and performance. Life at Crane includes an incredible array of more than 300 recitals, lectures and concerts presented by faculty, students and guests each year. The Crane School of Music is the State University of New York’s only All-Steinway institution.
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