From April 17~20, 2025, the College of Performance, Visualization, and Fine Arts at Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas) will host the eight incarnation of the World Shakuhachi Festival (WFS). WSF 2025 will feature a diverse range of music from these genres in concerts, workshops, lectures, exhibitions, masterclasses, and informal gatherings. Participants can learn from and experience the artistry of the most consummate shakuhachi artists in the world and be inspired by the endless possibilities inherent in this simple bamboo flute.
The festival will present four main stage concerts: a gala concert at the world-famous Festival Hill performance space in the historic town of Round Top and three concerts in Rudder Theater on the campus of Texas A&M University. Each day of the festival will feature numerous mini-concerts, workshops, and masterclasses and there will also be performance opportunities at open mic slots and informal sessions.
The festival will also feature noted shamisen and koto players, as well as noted local performers of various Western orchestral instruments, making it a truly once-in-a-lifetime event.
Performance Schedule:
Shakuhachi Around the Globe | April 17 | 6:30 PM | Rudder Theater, Texas A&M
Japanese Masters and Masterpieces | April 18 | 6:30 PM | Rudder Theater, Texas A&M
Treasures of Shakuhachi Musical Heritage–From Then to Now | April 19 | 6:00 PM | Festival Hill, Round Top
Transcending Time and Space–The Future of the Shakuhachi | April 20 | 4:30 PM | Rudder Theater, Texas A&M
About the World Shakuhachi Festival Texas 2025:
The World Shakuhachi Festival Texas 2025 is a celebration of everything shakuhachi–the Japanese end-blown bamboo flute. It is a quadrennial gathering of hundreds of people from around the world who come together to perform and hear performances, attend workshops, swap anecdotes, and share the history and wonder of this stunning Japanese musical tradition, both amongst themselves and with the local community and public. The first World Shakuhachi Festival was initiated by YOKOYAMA Katsuya (1934 – 2010) and was held in 1994 in Bisei, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Subsequently the World Shakuhachi Festivals took place in Boulder, USA (1998), Tokyo, Japan (2002), New York, USA (2004), Sydney, Australia (2008), Kyoto, Japan (2012), and London (2018).
WSF Texas 2025 continues the tradition established in 1994 of gathering professional and amateur performers, scholars, and enthusiasts of the shakuhachi from around the globe for a festival in the style of an international musical congress. The festival has from its beginning been a rare opportunity in which many top shakuhachi, koto and shamisen players from diverse backgrounds, styles, and guilds get together and perform. The WSF has thus become an established event to listen to and learn from the leading players in the world.
Over the past several decades, Japanese popular culture has taken hold around the world. Today, the captivating sounds of Japanese traditional music has become a part of global consciousness. The shakuhachi and other Japanese instruments such as taiko drums have been embraced by musicians and composers from many cultures and are practiced and performed on every continent. The shakuhachi is now commonly heard in film scores, anime, and in video games. It has gained traction in classical music, jazz, and rock n’ roll. Music of the shakuhachi went interstellar when the “Golden Record” was launched on the Voyager II spacecraft in 1977, featuring a recording of the shakuhachi legend, previous National Living Treasure YAMAGUCHI Gorō (1933-1999). The current National Living Treasure NOMURA Hōzan is among the nearly 55 guest artists from around the world we have invited to attend and share their artistry.
WSF 2025 will transform the campus of Texas A&M and the cities of Bryan-College Station with the music of the shakuhachi, a magical instrument that somehow has the power to transcend national, cultural, and linguistic boundaries.