World Shakuhachi Festival 2008 July 3, 2008

s pleased to announce the World Shakuhachi Festival 2008 (WSF08, to be held in Sydney Australia. Tentative dates are 3-9 July 2008; these dates are subject to change, though unlikely to do so.

The WSF08 venue will be the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (SCM), located near Sydney's Circular Quay, the Rocks, and the Sydney Opera House. The facilities include five concert venues, all with superb acoustics. The main hall, Verbrugghen Hall, is magnificent. We will also have access to numerous classrooms, seminar rooms, rehearsal rooms, etc.

SCM is ideal for our purposes. Almost all concert, workshop, symposia, and lecture venues will be under one roof. Travel time between some venues and events can be counted in seconds, so participants will be able to attend more of the WSF08 events of their choosing than would otherwise be the case.

SCM is a short walk away from all sorts of accommodation, from the most inexpensive backpackers and youth hostels to five star luxury. It is also a few minutes away from the Sydney Opera House, where we hope to have the main Festival Concert. This is contingent on availability of the Concert Hall during WSF08; we'll be trying to book this iconic venue as soon as possible.

Pleas note: for those of you who hope to perform during WSF08, please be advised that performers will be chosen using the highest criteria possible and may include some sort of blind audition. Having performed at a previous international shakuhachi event does not in any way guarantee a spot on the WSF08 programme.

My advice to anyone who dreams of playing at WSF08 is to start practicing frequently, diligently and with proper guidance NOW. Even those of you who are already teaching and performing regularly might think seriously of improving your craft in every way possible. Conversely, teaching and performing in public is in no way a prerequisite to being chosen as a performer at WSF08.

There are many superb shakuhachi performers around these days, especially in Japan. Consequently the organisers of WSF08 have the luxury of setting the standards extremely high. At present, the only people guaranteed an invitation to perform at WSF08 are the two Japanese Living National Treasures and several of their contemporaries.

We will keep you updated on WSF08 as things develop. We should have a website dedicated to WSF08 sometime this southern hemisphere winter (it's autumn here now).

For the time being, please put the WSF08 dates on your calendar and start saving now. See you in Sydney in 2008!

Official Website: http://www.music.usyd.edu.au/talent_facilities/hire_venues.shtml