Think of Lotusland, and we conjure up inviting visions of the uniquely fascinating, expansive Montecito estate turned into a world-renowned horticultural wonderland by the late Madame Ganna Walska beginning in the 1940s and open for public tours since 1993. Occasionally, the Lotusland allure extends beyond the sheer splendor of strolling the multiple themed gardens on the property, with occasional art exhibitions and even more occasional musical events.
One of those rare musical/performance events, a concert in the pristine Japanese Garden, will take place on Friday, April 18. Music to Welcome Moons into Waves is, more specifically, described as “an immersive musical experience in the Japanese Garden.” The event was organized by Fabio Rambelli, UCSB Professor of Religious Studies & East Asian Cultures, who will also be one of the performers on hand and circumambulating around the garden.
Built around music composed for a quartet of traditional gagaku instruments by Daryl Jamieson for the ancient Japanese Imperial Court based idiom of gagaku, the event is more than just a concert. The performance takes place from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the tranquil environment encircling a large pond, timed with the Japanese “Hour of the Monkey” and intended to be heard, as has been explained, “in dialogue with the sounds of birds, waters, insects, commuters, and winds as they ready themselves for nightfall.”
Jamieson is a noted experimental composer, working with electronics and acoustic instruments, with a deep interest in historical and spiritual aspects of Japanese culture. His oeuvre includes other pieces with site-specific connections, including Gotō (Archipelago) (2023) for piano and audio-visual field recordings from western Japan’s Gotō archipelago and his adaptable 2020 COVID-era piece The Descants — designed to be performed in natural environments. Among other credits, he was a cofounder and composer-in-residence with the Tokyo-based composer’s collective mmm….
With his new piece Music to Welcome Moons into Waves, Jamieson continues his exploration into blending antiquity with modernity, writing for the double-reed hichiriki and ō-hichiriki (performed here by Thomas Piercy), the transverse flute known as ryūteki, the shō and the u — bamboo mouth organs played here by Rambelli — and the lute-like gaku-biwa (played by Rory Lindsay). Some of these instruments were used in the Imperial Court and Buddhist and Shinto shrines in Japan, but abandoned around the 11th century, fastidiously recreated in modern instrumental variations.
For more information, see lotusland.org/event/music-to-welcome-moons-into-waves.
