Aine E Nakamura

voice, composition, performance, mixed media art

Short description:

    What formal details do I choose or not choose? What grammar do I create or not create? What cultural context do I evoke or not evoke? I pursue sensibility and spirituality as my aesthetics through a focus on the nuanced possibilities of my voice. I am a singer, and I am song itself.

Aine E Nakamura is a singer, composer, and performance and performing artist.
She focuses on her vocal orality, and recently story making and movement of body in her creative processes. She has been inspired by a rich range of natural elements from delicate flower petals to mountains. Her works in the theme of nature veneration and animism are her practices against violence, and current struggles among humanity such as division, war, isolation from the earth, and instability. Through the interactive approach toward space, time and humanity, she aims to connect herself and her audience with the past and the current to see and create ways of life in the future.

Her solo performances and installations include Circle hasu (electroacoustic version) at A Concert of Electronic Music in honor of Mario Davidovsk, Dias de Música Electroacústica, The River at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts, and Live at JZ Brat Sound of Tokyo. Premieres and collaborative performance of her compositions include the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival with cellist Madeleine Shapiro, the October New Music Festival in Finland with Mikro Ensemble, and The Unseen World with the ICE at the Abrons Arts Center. Her other recent appearances include The Two directed by Dmitry Krymov (New York Theater Workshop project) and Bang on a Can: Music Among Friends at MoMA (2017). Trained in Southern Japanese Traditional music under Isamu Goya (Noborikawa style). She produced Listening to Nature, and Exploration in Sound and Body in New York. Winner of the APNM 2019 Electronic Music Competition. Awardee of The Leo Bronstein Homage Award, and Honorable Mention Award for the 2020 Pauline Oliveros Prize.

She studied voice and composition at the Jazz and Contemporary Music of the New School.
MA from New York University (Music Composition, Performance, Orality, Arts Politics, Music Therapy, Feminist Study).

Composer pioneer Annea Lockwood commented on Nakamura’s work: Circle hasu, “Its intense vulnerability and the beautiful layering of voices—distant, close, together with [her] movements, flowing was very moving.”

some background stories:

　Aine Eva Nakamura was born in Bellevue WA and grew up in Bellevue and Yokohama, and is currently based in NY and Tokyo. She started studying classical voice under Itaru Mitsuzuka when she was 16, after she was moved by how Lena Maria sang about her faith and how her voice transcended cultural and linguistic differences. She joined SAfro FAmily, a Gospel choir, during her university years in Japan, where she majored in foreign studies and curatorial studies. She was trained in traditional Okinawa music and its instrument sanshin under Isamu Goya, Noborikawa school. She started studying songwriting through Berklee College of Music online courses. Along with her studying and playing at concerts in a few music groups, she started to work professionally as a bridal singer at hotels including Four Seasons Hotel in Tokyo and on TV music programs on NHK.

　After acquiring B.A. and a certification as a curator from Sophia University, and working as a paralegal at a law firm, she became a freelance musician, curator and translator. In 2010, she started her solo music career as a singer, songwriter and bandleader. Her songs have been selected in the Empire State Mixtapes and several other compilations. She has been featured in G3 Magazine, Round Magazine, etc. She was chosen as one of the Hot Indie Artists on J-WAVE, a Japanese radio station, and a finalist of the 13th Annual Great American Song Contest. Her initial appearances include the Canadian Music Fest and Nippon Broadcasting System. Her 3rd album, EVA AINE, was released in Oct 2014.  She has been performing with artists from multidisciplinary fields including tap dancers, Shoko Taniguchi, yoshiko, traditional Hula dancer, Miilani Cooper, and painter, Shinichiro Sugiyama. Her music and sound in the initial phase are characterized as mixtures of soul, jazz, classical music, Southern Japanese traditional music, sound art and other art forms such as poems.

   Around 2015, her music started to focus more on the perspectives of spirituality and social meanings. In 2016, she moved to NY to educate herself musically and to seek her own multicultural and transnational identity and art. Through the journey, she has created her new art forms.

   In June 2017, she launched an interdisciplinary music project Listening to Nature in New York, and personally started to question about the relationship with nature in the urban city, which has been her personal and artistic challenge. She became a member of Dmitry Krymov project (contemporary theater), which led her experiment without musical forms or seek voice through character makings (later performed at The Two in 2019). She was also a member of John Cage for MoMA project.  In May 2018, she performed at New York Public Library for performing arts and premiered her solo composition on Hudson River and incarceration of minorities with her voice, body movement, and storytelling. In July 2018, she performed at New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival her composition, six stories, about immigrant experiences with the festival's featured artist and cellist, Madeleine Shapiro.  In September 2018, she premired her composition of microtonal music for the Mikro Ensemble at the October New Music Festival in Oulu, Finland. In March 2019, she collaborated with dancer Miki Orihara and pianist Yuko Fujiyama through the Exploration in Sound and Body. In April 2019, she composed for and performed with the ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble) and premiered The Unseen World that combined music, sound art, improvisation, storytelling, body movements, and theater inspired by a folding screen by Jakuchu Ito. In 2020, Nakamura created her idiosyncratic performance and composition grammar through her one-woman work Circle hasu.

  She attended the Jazz & Contemporary Music at the New School and studied voice and composition under Richard Harper, Dave Douglas, Jane Ira Bloom, Diane Moser, Kirk Nurock, and Chris Stover.
  In 2020, she received MA from New York University in the concentration of music composition, performance, orality, arts politics, music therapy and feminist Study. She studied composition, art and performance from Elizabeth Hoffman, Anna Deavere Smith, Nina Katchadourian, and Joan La Barbara, in addition to her research about rituals and ritualistic songs by women and villagers in Okinawa and Yaeyama. Recipient of the Aiko Susanna Tashiro Hiratsuka Memorial Performing Arts Scholarship, C.V. Starr Fund of Asian/Pacific/American Institute, and Dean's Award for Summer Research. Winner of the APNM 2019 Electronic Music Competition. Awardee of The Leo Bronstein Homage Award, and Honorable Mention Award for the 2020 Pauline Oliveros Prize.

 

中村愛音エヴァ 

[短いプロフィール]

歌い手、作曲家、パフォーマー。声と体の可能性をみつめながら、うたい、芸術をつくる。 

ソロの出演出展は、ニューヨーク「A Concert of Electronic Music in honor of Mario Davidovsk」、リスボン「Dias de Música Electroacústica」等。 ニューヨーク・インターナショナル・コンテンポラリー・アンサンブル(ICE)、フィンランド・ミクロアンサンブルらにも作曲を提供、共演する。 
「The Leo Bronstein Homage Award 2020」、「The Leo Bronstein Homage Award 2020」、「Honorable Mention Award for the 2020 Pauline Oliveros Prize」受賞。 
APNM2019エレクトロニック・ミュージック・コンペティションのウィナー（声の作品にて）。ニューヨーク大学修士卒業。 
作曲家アネーア・ロックウッドは、中村のソロ作品『Circle 蓮』について、以下のように話す。 
「濃密な繊細さと、美しい何層もの声は、彼女の動きとともに、近くに聴こえたり、遠くから聴こえたり…その流れは、とても感動的なものだった」

[長いプロフィール]

　米ワシントン州出身、横浜市に育つ。現在はニューヨークと東京を拠点とする。16歳の時、レーナ・マリアさんのコンサートに感銘を受け、クラシック声楽を学び始める。
上智大学在学時(外国研究、学芸員課程)にゴスペルクワイアのSAfro FAmilyに所属。また、登川流呉屋功氏に沖縄島唄・三線を学ぶ。バークリー音楽大学オンラインソングライティングコースを通してソングライティングを学ぶ。ソロやグループで活動し、旧椿山荘フォーシーズンのブライダルシンガー等を務め始める。

　2010年秋よりシンガーソングライターEva Aineとしての活動を開始する。
カナダCanadian Music Fest、米Millenium Music Conference出演。米Empire State Mixtape、ACM Records等のコンピレーション等に楽曲が収録される。米国作曲コンテストのGreat American Song Contestのファイナリストに選ばれ、2013年よりJ-WAVE「Music Hyper Market投稿の殿堂」アーティスト。2014年10月22日、3rdアルバム「EVA AINE」をリリース。11月JZ Brat SOUND OF TOKYOにてワンウーマン・アルバムリリースライブ。タップダンサー谷口翔有子氏、yoshiko氏、カヒコ・フラダンサーMiilani Cooper氏、画家杉山振一朗氏等、様々なフィールドのアーティストとのコラボレーションに取り組む。初期の音楽スタイルは、ジャズ、ソウル、クラシック音楽、島唄、サウンドアート、朗読等のアートを含んだ。

　この頃より、音楽が大きく変化し始め、より精神性や社会貢献に重きを置くようになる。2016年、音楽の研鑽、およびアイデンテティとアートの追求のため、渡米。これにより、新しいスタイルの制作を行うようになる。

 2017年6月ニューヨークにて、「Listening To Nature」を主宰した（Nature in Music and Storytelling）。これにより、都会における自然との関係の追求という個人的かつ芸術的テーマと向き合うようになる。監督/デザイナーDmitry Krymovのプロジェクトの音楽メンバーになったことを機に、音楽フォームが無い状態での即興、劇からのアプローチによるヴォイスに取り組むようになる(2019年にThe Two 出演)。2017年5月John Cage music for MoMA 音楽メンバー。2018年春ニューヨーク・パブリック・ライブラリー・フォー・パフォーミング・アーツにて、ハドソン川とマイノリティの強制移転に関するソロの作曲作品を発表した。2018年7月、ニューヨーク・シティ・エレクトロアクースティック・ミュージック・フェスティバルにおいて、作曲作品six storiesを、フェスティバルのフィーチャーアーティスト・チェリストのマデレイン・シャピロと演奏する。2018年9月、フィンランド・オウルにてmicrotonal music（微分音音楽）の作曲をMiKro Ensembleと演奏する。2019年、Exploration in Sound and Bodyを開催し、ダンサーMiki Orihara氏、ピアニストYuko Fujiyama氏と共演。また伊藤若冲の屏風画をインスピレーションにThe Unseen Worldを作曲し、ICEと共演した。音楽、サウンドアート、即興、体の動き、劇などを取り入れた作曲であった。2018年から2020年、声と体の独自のワンウーマン作品を発表し始め、ソロ作品『Circle hasu』により各賞受賞。

 ニュースクール大学ジャズスクール Jazz & Contemporary Music にて、Richard Harper氏、Dave Douglas氏、Jane Ira Bloom氏、Diane Moser氏、Kirk Nurock氏、Chris Stover氏らにヴォイス、ヴォイス、作曲および音楽学を学ぶ。ニューヨーク大学修士課程にて、Elizabeth Hoffman氏、Anna Deavere Smith氏、Nina Katchadourian氏、Joan La Barbara氏らに作曲、芸術およびパフォーマンスを学ぶ、また、沖縄・八重山地方の女性と村人による祭祀と歌を研究する。作曲、パフォーマンス、口承・口述学、音楽療法、女性学等を学際的に学び、2020年に主席卒業。この研究は、うたうた、声をみつめ、深め、みつけていくものでった。独自のワンウーマン作曲・パフォーマンス手法を創り、APNM 2019 Electronic Music Competitionウィナー、The Leo Bronstein Homage Award、Honorable Mention Award for the 2020 Pauline Oliveros Prize等を受賞。
 

 

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Ongoing & Future Projects 

○Circle hasu by Aine E Nakamura Mar 25-Apr 1 Performance on March 30 2020 Gallatin Galleries NY <tbu>
○My body, my heart, my spirit (Woman Artist-in-Residence) June 2020 to March 2021 / This project is funded by the Dean's Conference Fund of NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
○Residency at the Watermill Center OPERA Ensemble 2021 NY
○Kidan Kwaidan Project 2019-2021 NY 

Selected Publications 

○The SEAMUS Electroacoustic Miniatures Series - Monophonic 2020
○Composition (poem) Gallatin Galleries 2020
○On the Night of the New Moon, Doa no Sotogawa (outside the door), and Night before War, oica music 2019 
○3rd album「EVA AINE」2014.10 
○2nd album「LIBERTY」2012.9 
○Original songs included in the Empire State Mixtape Vol.3 & 4, and Female Revolution released by ACM Records 2011 
○Original song included in the official album of the 15th Millennium Music Conference 2011 
○1st album「My Way To Happiness」2010.9 
○Vocal recordings for catchat for babies (DVD) released by TBS and Columbia Entertainment 

Selected Performances 

○'pieces on prayer' at VU Symposium supported by C.V. Starr Fund Asian/Pacific/American Institute and Dean's Conference Award of NYU Park City, UT July 2019 
○The Two directed by Dmitry Krymov / NY 2019.2
○The Unseen World at the Abrons Arts Center with the ICE / NY 2019.4 
○October New Music Festival with the Mikro Ensemble / Oulu, Finland 2018.9 
○New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival with Madeleine Shapiro/ NY 2019.7 
○New York Public Library for Performing Arts / NY 2018.5 
○Listening to Nature supported by Tishman Environment and Design Center / NY 2017.6 
○MoMA Bang on a Can: Music Among Friends, John Cage for MOMA / NY 2017.5 
○Eva Aine One Woman Live Show at Kitasando Strobe Cafe  / Tokyo 2015.11 
○Eva Aine Live at JZ Brat SOUND OF TOKYO / 2014.11 
○Asagaya Jazz Street / 2012.10, 2014.10 
○Sophia University 上智大学セミナー「ガーナの教育×シェア～音を楽しみながら～」 / 2014.3 
○First Friday Harajuku Street Party, 東急プラザ表参道原宿 おもはらの森 / Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku 2013.12 
○Groovin'!! vol.1(in collaboration with yoshiko(tap)) 2013.10 
○One Woman Live show at Strobe Cafe sponsored by TV Kanagawa / (後援：テレビ神奈川) 2013.6 
○Okirai Summer2012xLIGHT UP NIPPON / Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture 2012.81 
○Furano, Hokkaido / 北海道富良野フラノビ・アモール 2012.7 
○Tokyo Midtown / LIGHT UP NIPPON七夕まつり、東京ミッドタウン 2012.7 
○Pacifico Yokohama / 脱原発世界会議 2012.1 
○One Woman Live Show at Shibuya PLUG / Tokyo 2011.9 
○2011 Canadian Music Fest / Toronto 2011.3 
○The 15th Millennium Music Conference / Harrisburg 2011.2 
○The 23rd Folk Alliance International Conference / Memphis 2011.2 

Awards & Grants: 

○Honorable Mention Award for the 2020 Pauline Oliveros Prize
○The Leo Bronstein Homage Award 2020
○APNM 2019 Electronic Music Competition, winner 2019.12
○Dean's Award for Summer Research, Dean's Conference Fund and C.V. Starr Fund summer 2019 
○C.V. Starr Fund, Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU for Jan 2019 research on orality in music 2019 
○The Aiko Susanna Tashiro Hiratsuka Memorial Performing Arts Scholarship 2018 
○Semi-Finalist at The Song of the Year songwriting contest for On the Night of the New Moon & ドアの外側(Outside the Door) 2018 
○tvk live sponsorship テレビ神奈川 / ソロライブ後援 2013.6 
○The 13th Great American Song Contest/Adult Contemporary/finalist「It's Just That」 2012.3 
○J-WAVE Music Hyper Market/Hot Indie Artist / 「投稿の殿堂」アーティスト 2012.11～現在 アーティストブログ: 
○FM102X　Song Of The Day「I'm Getting Hot」2011.10 
○FM102X　Song Of The Day「You Better Be Careful」2011.1 
○Show Me The Music Contest/finalist / 「My Way To Happiness」 2011.4 
○Qualified as a curator (official qualification in Japan) 2004 

Selected Media Appearances: 

radios & online shows 
○Radio Campus Brussels 2020.9
○Earth Day Art Model 2020.4
○Indie Authority 2015.7~ 
○The Women of Substance Radio 2011.3~, 2015.5~ 
○Nippon Broadcasting System (live performance) / ニッポン放送Suono Dolce 2011.6, 2012.10, 2014.12 
○FM Nack5 (live performance) / エフエムナックファイブ 2014.10 
○FM Setagaya エフエム世田谷「It's Just That」 2013.8～ 
○Co-hosted a music program of Radio NIKKEI / ラジオNIKKEI 2012.12～2013.3 
○J-WAVE Music Hyper Market / Hod Indie Featured Artist 「投稿の殿堂」 2012.11～present 
○Tamagawa Takashimaya x FM Setagaya (live performance) / 玉川高島屋S.Cx世田谷エフエム(『La Dolce Vita Cindy Suzuki』 公開生放送) 2012.9 
○JFN「Once」 (live performance) 2011.7 & 2012.9 
○J-Wave Hello World 2010.11 
○Empire State Radio 2011.3 

magazines 
○G3 Magazine/US 
○Skope Magazine/US 
○Songrevelation/US 
○Bits Magazine/Toronto, Canada 
○Oops! Magazine/Vancouver, Canada 
○Bi-Daily SUN New York 

Education: 

○MA, New York University 2018.8-2020.9./ ニューヨーク大学修士卒業(作曲、パフォーマンスなど)
○Jazz & Contemporary Music, The New School 2016.8~2018.5 / ニュースクール大学ジャズ・アンド・コンテンポラリー・ミュージック 
〇The Juilliard School, Evening Division 2019 / ジュリアード音楽院 作曲
○Trained in Okinawan traditional music under Isamu Goya, Noborikawa Style / 登川流呉屋功氏より三線・島唄を学ぶ
○BA, Sophia University / 上智大学外国語学部卒業 
○Studied Classical voice under Itaru Mitsuzuka / クラシック声楽を学ぶ
○special thanks to Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio and Yoshito Ohno

Music rights management: BMI