Motoko Honda: Pianist, Composer and Interdisciplinary Sound Artist from Japan/U.S.A.

Motoko Honda: Pianist, Composer and Interdisciplinary Sound Artist from Japan/U.S.A.

Motoko Honda (Japan/U.S.)
More information: www.motokohonda.com
Booking: [email protected]
Touring U.S., Japan and Europe
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"Imagine Radiohead teaching Franz List how to rock a KAOSS pad; or John Cage facing off with Bud Powell over prepared piano" 
Matthew Duersten-Stompbeast.com

"Embodiment of a Muse" 
"At times she puffed up some Matthew Shipp storm clouds; at times she pounded with a grandeur and structure worthy of Prokofieve; her spare strokes on a tiny synthesizer added subtle dimension....Honda is a treasure"
Greg Burk-Metaljazz.com

"Keyboard alchemist Motoko Honda, whose mix of piano and electronics is a sonic adventure all her own."
Chris Barton-Los Angeles Times

“Motoko Honda is a truly gifted and versatile artist. Her solo performance last year at the South Pasadena Music Center was truly one of the most stirring, beautiful, and eloquent things I have heard in years.”
Nels Cline-Wilco, The Nels Cline Singers

"Virtuoso technique paired with her intensely imaginative mind"
"constantly shifting sonic landscape of striking beauty"
Susan Dirende-LA Splash Magazine

More qualified than most concert pianists and more accomplished than most composers, Motoko has chops enough to heal the idea of an uneducated Avant Garde…composer and visual artist Motoko is a pure muse of her own genre.”
Dublab, Los Angeles

“Pianist and composer Motoko Honda is to mainstream jazz what Brham’s music was to the neatly packaged forms of the Classical period…Honda refuses stagnation and continues the tradition of widening our ears with new ideas.
Phillip Greenlief, ArtForum
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Motoko Honda is a critically acclaimed Japanese concert pianist, composer, and sound artist who has created a distinctive sound through her holistic approach to music, and her exceptional sensitivity in relating to other art forms and technologies. Employing a "virtuoso technique paired with her intensely imaginative mind" (Susan Dirende, L.A. Splash Magazine), and with stylistic influences ranging from jazz, world music to contemporary prepared piano with electronics, Motoko's compositions and structured improvisations are intended to affect the skin, organs and minds of the listener rather than simple recitations of rhythmic and harmonic themes. Portrayed as a "keyboard alchemist" (Chris Barton, L.A. Times), and an "embodiment of a muse" (Greg Burk, Metaljazz), Motoko's performances transport audiences on sonic adventures that transcend the boundaries and conventions of contemporary music. 

Since 1997, Motoko has been featured at various national and international venues and festivals such as the Angel City Jazz Festival, Spark International Electronic Music Festival, the 19th San Quirico Estate Festival, the Music for Karlheinz Stockhausen Festival, and S.F Music Day, performing classical, contemporary, jazz and experimental music. Through her Sound Escape Project, founded in 2003, she has performed and recorded with many acclaimed improvisers and artists such as Wadada Leo Smith, Elliott Sharp, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, Mike Watt, Ben Wendel, Petra Haden, Lucas Ligeti, Jeff Gauthier, Maggie Parkins, William Winant, Larry Ochs, Pheeroan Aklaff, Vinny Golia, Theresa Wong, Van-Anh Vo, Brad Dutz, Wayne Peet, Kris Tiner, Emily Hay, and Joe Berardi, dancer OGURI. Roxanne Steinberg, Maureen Whiting, and visual artist Carole Kim and Ian Winters. A notable ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration is a research project with Jesse Gilbert’s sound-visual program Spectral GL, integrating music and visual information into one cohesive experience in concerts and installation settings. 

At home in classical, contemporary, improvised, or electronic music, Motoko is a musical force of nature, bringing a unique and creative approach to her wide-ranging concerts and collaborations. Her appearances include major theaters, museums and jazz venues such as the Ford Amphitheater, Hammer Museum, REDCAT/MOCA, SCI-ARC (Southern California Institute of Architecture), the Barnsdall Gallery Theater, the Jazz Bakery, Bluewhale in Los Angeles, Moody Center for the Arts in Houston, Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, the Herbst Theater, the Taube Atrium Theater, the Lab, Center for New Music in San Francisco, University of California in Santa Cruz, Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, The Stone in N.Y, Hotel Lone in Rovinji, Croatia, and Cattedrale di Siena in Italy.

As a specialist in structured improvisation, composition, extended piano techniques, interdisciplinary projects and electro-acoustic music strategy, Motoko also has been invited to give numerous lecture/performances by universities and institutions such as UC Santa Cruz, Rice University ,, University of Illinois, California State University Fullerton, Idyllwild Arts Academy, ]Tokyo Zohkei University and Chukyo University, Nagoya, Japan.