Kiyoshi Nagata

Biography

Kiyoshi Nagata is the founder and artistic director of Nagata Shachu, Canada's preeminent professional taiko group. Formed in 1998, Kiyoshi has led the ensemble in tours across North America and Italy in addition to major engagements in Lebanon and Mexico. As a performer, he has collaborated with both local and international artists as part of the group's annual three-concert season, and his original compositions have been featured on the ensemble's numerous CDs and DVDs.

Kiyoshi has been performing taiko in a career that spans four decades. He served as artistic director and performer of Toronto Suwa Daiko from 1982-1992, where he had the privilege of studying under taiko pioneer Grandmaster Daihachi Oguchi. From 1993 to 1994, Kiyoshi apprenticed with the world renowned Kodo drummers on Sado Island. With the assistance of a Chalmers Performing Arts Training Grant in 1999, Kiyoshi studied percussion with Paul Houle at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Kiyoshi has taught taiko at the U of T Faculty of Music since 1998. He also taught a public taiko course at the Royal Conservatory of Music from 2003 to 2011, and helped to found two community taiko groups in Burlington and Toronto. He is regularly invited by universities and taiko groups to present workshops and lectures. As a solo artist, he has composed and performed taiko music for dance, theatre, film and radio and continues to collaborate with artists from all genres of music including traditional Japanese instrumentalists.