Originally from Japan, percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani utilizes drumset, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects, bells, and various sticks and bows to create an intense, organic music that defies category or genre. His Nakatani Gong Orchestra will include members of Fridamusiq.

Nakatani was born and raised in Osaka, Japan. He currently resides in Easton, PA. He has performed all over the world as a solo percussionist. He performed with his Nakatani Gong Orchestra at the Kennedy Center this past February.

His approach to music is visceral, non-linear and intuitively primitive, expressing an unusually strong spirit while avoiding any categorization. He creates sound via both traditional and extended percussion techniques, utilizing drums, bowed gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, metal objects and bells, as well as various sticks, kitchen tools and homemade bows, all of which manifest in an intense and organic music that represents a very personal sonic world. His approach is steeped in the sensibilities of free improvisation, experimental music, jazz, rock, and noise, and yet retains the sense of space and quiet beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music. His percussion instruments can imitate the sounds of a trumpet, a stringed instrumentor an electronic device to the extent that it becomes difficult to recognize the source of the sound. He has devoted himself to a musical aesthetic where rhythm gives way to pulse, often in a way that is not always audible or visible, in currents that incorporate silence and texture. Nakatani's primary music activities include solo percussion performance, N.G.O. (Nakatani Gong Orchestra) and collaborations with musicians and dancers both in live performance and recordings.

"Nakatani's sparse punctuation suggests observance of esoteric ritual."

– Julian Cowley, The Wire Magazine, UK

Nakatani also works as a sound designer for film and television and heads his own H&H Production, an independent record label and recording studio based in Easton, Pennsylvania. He was selected as a performing artist for the Pennsylvania Performing Artist on Tour (PennPat) roster and was also awarded a Bronx Arts Council Individual Artist grant.

Fridamusiq is a Miami-based ensemble of experimental improvisers, drawing on diverse influences from jazz, contemporary concert music, and electronics. The ensemble consists of current students and alumni of the composition program at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Musicians assembled by Fridamusiq member Matthew Taylor for inclusion in the Nakatani Gong Orchestra are, in addition to Mr. Taylor: Kyle Motl, José I. Rodriguez, Rodrigo Bussad, Peter Learn, Dan Dickinson, Jackson Alexander Parodi and Andrea Silvestrini. Read more about Fridamusiq at fridamusiq.com.

Read more about Tatsuya Nakatani at hhproduction.org

View the video of Tatsuya's Nakatani Gong Orchestra's Kennedy Center concert at kennedy-center.org

Targeted support for this Tatsuya Nakatani concert is provided by the Japan Foundation New York, National Endowment for the Arts, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, Miami River Inn and the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.

Season partners and supporters for Tigertail's 33nd season include: Aquarius Press; Books & Books; Bresaro Suites; The Children's Trust; City of Coral Gables Cultural Arts Program; City of Miami Beach Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council; Clarke Foundation; Consulate General of Brazil; Consulate General of the Netherlands; Consulate General of Japan; E.S. Moore Family Foundation; Florida Dance Association; Funding Arts Network; The Galler Group; Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau; Japan Foundation; John S. & James L. Knight Foundation; JPMorgan Chase; MiamiArtZine; Miami Beach Botanical Garden; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Miami-Dade County Public Library; Miami-Dade County Public Schools; Miami River Inn; National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; National Performance Network with major funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), Altria, MetLife Foundation and the Nathan Cummings Foundation; Pridelines; Publix Super Markets Charities; Joseph H. & Florence A. Roblee Foundation; Safe Schools South Florida; The Law Office of Linda M. Smith; South Arts; State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture; The Miami Foundation; VSA Florida; Vortex Communications; WDNA & WLRN FM; Wells Fargo and our many private supporters.