http://jeffwichmann.com/

JEFF WICHMANN blends the Japanese koto and trumpet with a variety of instruments to create new sonic sculptures. His first paid gig was in a funeral home and he's since gone on to play rock clubs, theaters, art galleries, and NYC Lincoln Center. He's collaborated with junkyard mulchers, dancers, electronics wizards, string telephones, Bavarian zither players, rock bands and poets (Chicago). In ‘05-‘07 he was the featured touring koto player in Chicago-based Steppenwolf Theatre's production of Haruki Murakami's "After The Quake" of which over 350 performances showed in Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego and New Haven. For this, he and cellist Jason McDermott fused rock/pop and classical western/Japanese genres and won three critics choice awards for Best Original Score. He's transposed and adapted other various western works to be performed on koto including a new rendition of Puccini's "Madame Butterfly", Sondheim's "Pacific Overtures", and arrangements by Bach, Beatles, Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. He's been a performing member of many koto ensembles, improvisational groups and rock bands, mainly TENKI - www.myspace.com/tenkisan. He's been performing for 20 years since being licensed by the Sawai Koto Academy in Tokyo, where he studied under koto master Kazue Sawai.