Unusual Ensembles
JUDICANTI RESPONSURA is a chamber music ensemble formed in 1984 by tubaist William Roper and percussionist Joseph Mitchell. Other personnel are added as need dictates. Our purpose is to present the relatively small amount of music for this unusual combination of instruments and to make transcriptions of appropriate older works. Most importantly, we perform our own original compositions and commission works from area composers. We specialize in works incorporating Euro- Classical and African-American improvisational traditions. Our repertoire ranges from purely musical compositions to multi-media, multi-disciplinary works.
Members:
WILLIAM ROPER and
JOSEPH D. MITCHELL studied percussion at L.A. City College, Cal State Northridge, and UCLA. He has been an instructor at Santa Monica College and California Polytechnic University, Pomona and is currently on the faculties of El Camino College and L.A. City College. He has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, New West, Pasadena, Glendale and Santa Barbara symphonies. Other credits include performances with Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Marilyn McCoo. Recording credits include Nikki Howard’s release Femme Fatale and television work on Highways to Heaven and the Lou Rawls’ Telethon. He has received grants from Meet the Composer, CA.JUDICANTI RESPONSURA is featured on William Roper's new CD JUNETEENTH
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ZEN TSUBA Informed by Japanese and Western music traditions and a strongly improvisatory approach, Zen Tsuba joins tuba and shamisen (Japanese percussive banjo) to perform traditional Japanese pieces and original works rooted in the Japanese American and African American experience.Members:WILLIAM ROPER andGLENN HORIUCHI, Shamisen, has 12 recordings for Soul Note, Music & Arts, and AsianImprov, with performances at the Berlin Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Mexico's Japan Fest, Seattle's Earshot Festival, Asian American Jazz Festival in San Francisco and Chicago, New York's Japan and Asia Societies, Los Angeles Festival, Edmonton's Jazz City Festival, and Japan America Theatre. He has received composer fellowships from the NEA and California Arts Council, and has collaborated with Joseph Jarman, Wadada Leo Smith, Francis Wong, Nobuko Miyamoto, Lawson Inada, Mako, Miya Masaoka and Karen Tei Yamashita. He has given talks and workshops at major institutions across the US, and teaches shamisen at the Japanese American National Museum with master artist Kineya Fukuju, of whom he is her senior student.LILLIAN NAKANO (Kineya Fukuju), Shamisen, is a certified master of nagauta - the classical Japanese style which forms the instrumental basis for kabuki music and is a major musical tradition in its own right. Born in Honolulu in 1928, Lillian began shamisen lessons at age 8, but these were interrupted by World War II, when she and her family were interned in the Jerome and Heart Mountain internment centers. She continued her studies after her release in 1945, and received her master's certificate in 1957. She has performed at the New York Japan Society, Japan America Theatre, Berlin Philharmonic Hall. Seattle Asian Art Museum, Mexico's Japan Fest 92, Vancouver's Western Front, Littleton Town Hall, University of Southern California, University of California at San Diego, California Plaza, Cal State Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, and various Japanese community events. In 1993 she received a Los Angeles Cultural Affairs grant to teach & perform traditional shamisen. In 1994 she was commissioned to provide original music for Purple Moon Dance Project's "Floating Lanterns". In 1995 she began a 3-year CAC artist-in-residency at the Japanese American National Museum.ZEN TSUBA is also featured on the CD JUNETEENTH
Other Roper pages within this site:
Some other unusual ensembles I've played in:
This page was last updated on May 02, 2005