School of Music Visiting Artist
Hiroshi Yamaguchi is a master player of the shamisen, a Japanese three stringed instrument a bit like the western banjo. As a Tsugaru Shamisen artist, he has been performing not only in Japan but also in Asia, Oceania, Africa, North America and Europe in response to requests by the Japanese Foreign Ministry and others. His performances are not only of Japanese music such as Nagauta, Kabuki and Japanese Dance performances, but he also collaborates with various art forms beyond Japanese music. While he collaborates flexibly with various cultures and different values, he also tries to integrate the modern-day performing techniques into the historically-inherited techniques and skills he learned from his teachers. He enjoys collaborative opportunities with which he creatively expresses the rich sounds and rhythms of Tsugaru Shamisen.