Biography
Edo Ensemble – Traditional Japanese Ensemble Music
with Elliot Kanshin Kallen & Naoko
The Edo Ensemble duo is dedicated to bringing the beautiful sounds of Japan’s traditional music for voice, shakuhachi, koto, and shamisen to Western audiences. Rarely heard outside of Japan, this enchanting repertoire evokes a time and place unlike any other.
The Edo Ensemble is Elliot Kanshin Kallen and Naoko.
Elliot Kanshin Kallen plays the shakuhachi, a traditional, end-blown bamboo flute. He is part of a lineage that has its roots in the music of the Komuso, the itinerant Zen monks who used the shakuhachi as a tool for meditation. He is a student of David Kansuke Wheeler of Boulder, Colorado as well as Junsuke Kawase III, the third generation head of the Chikuyusha shakuhachi school in Tokyo. He was awarded his Shihan (masterʼs license) and performance name, Kanshin, in 2018. Elliot teaches shakuhachi and performs regularly throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
Naoko has been playing the koto since she was six years old. She was taught by Koji Kikuhara who was a highly ranked student of Living National Treasure Hatsuko Kikuhara. In 1987, she was awarded her teaching and performance credentials from the Todo Music Association, a school with more than 100 years of history. She studied classical singing with Ichijuro Kiyomoto and Fujima style dance with Monjuro Fujima from 1979 to 1981. Naoko plays Nogawa Style jiuta shamisen and Ikuta style koto and has been performing throughout the United States since 1994.
Contact and booking info: email
or give Elliot a call at: 707-575-8626