Marco Lienhard

Marco Lienhard is multi-instrumentalist, playing various Japanese flutes: the shakuhachi, the fue (small bamboo transverse flute), and the Nohkan (the Noh Theater transverse flute used). He studied the shakuhachi under Teruo Furuya and Katsuya Yokoyama, the Nohkan with Isso Masayuki, and the fue with the Japanese Taiko group Ondekoza. But he is especially known as a Taiko player, i.e. Japanese percussion player, having been a member of the internationally acclaimed Japanese Taiko group Ondekoza from 1981-1994. Marco Lienhard is the founder and artistic director of Taikoza, a Japanese Taiko group based in New York. During his career he has performed in over 2000 concerts in Europe, Asia, and America. He also performed in the world's most prestigious halls, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Osaka Festival Hall, and Suntory Hall, to name but a few. Since 1994, Marco Lienhard has pursued a solo career and performs as a guest artist with Ondekoza, San Jose Taiko (he was awarded a Rockefeller grant to write a new work for SJT), and other groups throughout the world. He teaches in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Lienhard was a guest performer at the 1994 and 1998 World Shakuhachi Festivals. He was a member of the faculty at the International Percussion workshop Kosa from 1998 to 2000. He appeared on television on many occasions in the U.S.A., Canada, and Japan and has done numerous recordings, including a critically acclaimed solo shakuhachi recording. His latest CD is Poème du bamboo, released in 2001.