Accessing early 20th-century art songs from Japan: Introducing seldom-performed works by Japanese composers into voice studios
Presenters: Sahoko Sato Timpone, Natalie Sherer, Mutsumi Moteki, and Marc Callahan

This mini-recital consists of performances of early 20th-century Western-style art songs by Japanese composers for voice and piano, with distinctive Japanese elements written in English, French, German, and Japanese. This presentation aims to introduce 1. rare yet accessible works by Japanese composers to voice studios outside Japan and 2. neglected Japanese composers into our repertoire. Handouts will be provided on the historical context, translations, brief musical and poetic analysis, and performance suggestions. Our performers/presenters are native Japanese speakers and non-natives to demonstrate the accessibility of this repertoire. Furthermore, the works in the Japanese language are settings of tanka, with just 31 syllables as the text, in a language that uses only five vowels. Therefore, they are an ideal gateway for introducing Japanese songs to non-Japanese-speaking vocalists. Lastly, we hope these songs will serve as welcome additions to the collective efforts on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the voice studios.