Harukaze 2024 (in-person)

Please join us for our upcoming Harukaze 2024 in-person event. We will be showcasing world class local multi instrumentalists, Craig Hara and Eri Isomura who will present a wide range of musical instruments, such as the marimba, various percussion instruments, the piano, the digital harpsichord and the electronic valve instrument (EVI).

The performance will include Craig and Asako's original compositions, J-pop music,  an Argentine tango, music by a contemporary composer from New Zealand and improvisation. Also opera singer, Momoko Tanno, the Japanese children’s dance group, Thunder Wave and composer Asako Hirabayashi will join the show. 

Register today!

Sunday, May 19th, 3 p.m.-

Day-of Tickets/Door Sale Tickets: $20 (Non member), $15 (Member)

Online Tickets $15 (Non member), $10 (Member)

The ticket is not refundable, but is transferable.

Sundin Music Hall (Hamline University,1531 Hewitt Ave, St Paul, MN 55104)

** Sundin Music Hall is Accessible for All  

She has commissioned and/or premiered works for marimba by local composers such as Asako Hirabayashi, Michael Maiorana, Ian A Cook, Elwyn A Fraser Jr., Jonathan Posthuma. Eri is on the percussion faculty at St. Olaf College and Yinghua Academy. She completed her M.M. in Percussion Performance at The Boston Conservatory.

Craig Hara is a multi-faceted musician, educator and producer, playing Trumpet, Drums, Percussion, EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument), Guitar, Bass, Keyboards/Synthesizers and Vocals. He has performed on recordings and in live performance with numerous artists and orchestras, on scores for motion pictures and television, and has performed in North America, Japan, and Europe.

Craig is also the Conductor and Music Director of the East Metro Symphony Orchestra, the conductor of the Metro Brass Ensemble, and is the director of the Jazz Ensemble and Instructor of Drumset Studies at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls.

Craig holds degrees from the California Institute of the Arts, and is also on faculty Hamline University and Century College.

Momoko Tanno (she/they) is a versatile soprano singer/actor, who has been actively performing in the Twin Cities and abroad. She has made her debut with Tacoma Opera singing the title role in Madama Butterfly and performed the title role in the Opera Reading Project of Florencia en el Amazonas by Daniel Catan, premiered and sang the title roles in operas by Asako Hirabayashi. Momoko is a member of AEA who has performed at regional theaters such a s the Guthrie Theatre, Theatre de la Jeune Lune, American Repertory Theatre, Park Square Theater, Theater Mu, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and more. Momoko has a BA from Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan and a MM from University of Minnesota. She teaches voice at University of Wisconsin River Falls.

A harpsichordist and composer, Asako Hirabayashi's first recording on Albany Label, whose program is entirely composed and played by herself, was selected as one of the top ten albums of the year 2018 by the Global Music Awards and received 7 favorable reviews internationally. She won two McKnight Fellowships, Jerome Fund for New Music by American Composers Forum, Schubert Club Composer Award, Opera America’s Discovery Grant, MNiatures award by MN Opera and several first prizes in Alienor International Harpsichord Composition Competition. Her live performance of own composition was featured in Performance Today. She holds a DMA from the Juilliard School.

Thunder Wave was founded by Asako Hirabayashi in 2012. Since the group's debut performance it has been invited to perform more than two dozen times as a guest artistic group locally. They have collaborated with twin cities finest classical musicians, such as players from MN orchestra. They dance pop arrangements of traditional Japanese songs as well as new songs rooted in Japanese culture. 

Their robes are modern arrangements of traditional Japanese Kimono.  Their mission is to preserve and introduce Japanese contemporary performing arts to Minnesota’s American community. The group has their own original repertoire which is arranged by award winning composer Asako.

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