Top: Ryuko Mizutani. Center left: Michie Kobayashi. Center right: Noriko Tsuboi. Bottom: Shoko Hikage.

The koto ensemble Lantana will give two concerts in the Bay Area this month:

• Friday, Sept. 19, at 8 p.m. at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. Premiere of "Night Procession of the Hundred Demons" by Hyo-shin Na for six bass kotos. With "Adios Nonino" by Astro Piazzolla, "Je Te Veux" by Erik Satie, "Blue Rondo"/"Take Five" by Dave Brubeck/Paul Desmond and more, arranged for koto by Cappell Kingsland.

Admission: $15 general, $10 for members and seniors. Tickets are not sold in advance. Info: (510) 845-1350, www.hillsideclub.org.

• Sunday, Sept. 21, at 4 p.m. at Old First Concerts, 1751 Sacramento St., San Francisco. "Night Procession of the Hundred Demons" with "Dreaming of Li-po" by Boudewijn Buckinx, "Kareno-ginuta" by Tadao Sawai, "Twining Voices for IIIZ+" by Yuji Takahashi, "Malvina" by Christian Wolff, and more.

Admission: $15 general, $12 for seniors and students. Tickets: (415) 474-1608, www.oldfirstconcerts.org.

Lantana is a new performance unit with a fresh approach to the Japanese koto and sangen (a three-stringed instrument). All of the members are associated with the Sawai Koto Institute in Tokyo.

Founded in 1979 by Tadao Sawai and Kazue Sawai, the institute is recognized for its unique artistry and emphasis placed on contemporary music for the koto. Members all have strong training in traditional koto methods and have performed solo, with ensembles and in collaboration with various musicians and artists in the U.S., Japan and Thailand.

Lantana includes Shoko Hikage (Bay Area) on koto, bass koto, sangen and changgo; Ryuko Mizutani (New York) on koto, bass koto and 20-string koto; Michie Kobayashi (Japan) on koto, bass koto and sangen; Noriko Tsuboi (Thailand) on koto and bass koto; Kanoko Nishi (Bay Area) on bass koto; and Tomoko Kaneda (Japan) on bass koto.

Special guest players are saxophonist Jon Raskin (Hillside Club only) and violinist Carla Kihlstedt (Old First Concerts only).

The featured work on both concerts, "Night Procession of the Hundred Demons" is based on an 18th century scroll of the same title by painter Toriyama Sekien. During the piece, the koto players will sing a text that was written by kabuki actor Tomoemon.

For more information, e-mail shokohikage@yahoo.com or visit www.ShokoHikage.com.

Advance tickets for the Old First Concerts show are available for $12 general, $9.60 for seniors and students at Sakana Sushi and Grill, 605 Post St., and Amasia Hide's Sushi Bar, 149 Noe St., both in San Francisco.

About the Artists

• Shoko Hikage began playing koto at the age of 3. Her first teacher was Chizuga Kimura of the Ikuta-ryu Sokyoku Seigen Kai in Akita Prefecture. From 1985, she received special training from the second and third Iemoto Seiga Adachi (hereditary head master of the Ikuta-ryu Sokyoku Seigen Kai).

In 1988, Hikage graduated from Takasaki College with a major in koto music, and she was accepted as a special research student (uchideshi) at Sawai Sokyoku In (Sawai Koto Academy) under Tadao and Kazue Sawai. She subsequently received her master's certificate(kyoshi). Hikage also completed a one-year intensive seminar at Sawai Sokyoku In.

In 1992, she moved to Honolulu to teach koto at the Sawai Koto Kai Hawaii, a branch of the academy, and at University of Hawaii. She held her first American solo recital at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Theatre as part of the New Music Across America series.

In 1997, she moved to San Francisco, where she continues her pursuits in improvisational dance and music.

She has collaborated with musicians and artists of other genres, including Anshin Uchida (noh theater), Trinh T. Minh-ha (film), Mary Sano (Duncan dance), Judith Kajiwara (butoh), Mark Izu (bass and Japanese sho), Hyoshin Na (composer), Marina Piccinini (flute), and Tokyo Nammy (voice).

Hikage is member of Wooden Fish Ensemble, Natto Quartet (with Philip Gelb on shakuhachi, Tim Perkins on electronics and Chris Brown on electronics and piano), Ghost Dance Trio (with Pauline Oliveros on accordion and Toyoji Tomita on trombone), Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble, Koto Ensemble Lantana, Koto Phase, and Sawai Kazue Koto Ensemble.

For more information, visit www.ShokoHikage.com.

• Ryuko Mizutani graduated from the NHK (Japanese National Broadcasting Company) School for Performers of Traditional Japanese Instruments in 1987. She then studied both classical and modern koto music under the koto masters Tadao and Kazue Sawai, even living with them for three years as an apprentice. Mizutani also completed a one-year intensive seminar at the Sawai Koto Academy.

Further, she has been interested in improvisational and experimental music, and continuously explores new musical possibilities for the koto by collaborating with Western musicians and artists of other genres.

From 1999 to 2000, she received a fellowship from the Japanese government's Overseas Study Program for Artists, studying with Anthony Braxton and Alvin Lucier at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. In her concerts at Wesleyan, she performed entirely new experimental works for koto by Wesleyan composers, including one for solo koto and pure-wave oscillator by Lucier, composed for her. It was recorded and published by Lovely Music Ltd. in June 2001.

Mizutani has an impressive list of premieres and continues to commission new works for the koto by composers from around the world.

For more information, visit www.Ryuko-koto.com.

• Noriko Tsuboi began studying koto at age 8, concentrating on traditional Japanese music. She was awarded with a lecturer's certificate by the Sawai Academy of Music in 1987, and entered the academy as a special research student. She also completed the NHK Traditional Music Program and a two-year intensive seminar at the academy while performing in many concerts, recordings, and overseas tours.

In 1992, Tsuboi was invited to UC San Diego as a koto instructor. Her complete devotion to teaching impressed many at the university, and her koto classes were well received. She also directed student koto ensembles and held concerts.

In addition to teaching, she has done solo recitals and collaborated with musicians of other genres, not limiting herself to traditional music.

After returning to Japan in 1998, she continued performing various types of music and appeared on three music CDs released in Japan and the U.S. Since 2001, Tsuboi has resided in Bangkok, playing koto in Malaysia, India, Cambodia and Myanmar as well as Thailand and Japan.

• Michie Kobayashi graduated from Takasaki Collage with a major in koto music, and completed a one-year special course there. She studied both classical and modern koto music under Tadao and Kazue Sawai, and received her master's certificate. Kobayashi also completed the course at the NHK Traditional Music Academy, and a one-year intensive seminar at Sawai Koto Academy.

In 2000, Kobayashi received an award for her koto performance from Osaka Butai Geijutsu Shourei. In addition to Japan, she has performed in Thailand, Malaysia, India, Europe and the U.S.

She lives in Chiba Prefecture, where she teaches koto and performs as a solo player and also as a member of Sawai Tadao Koto Ememble Tokyo.

For more information, visit www.kobayashi-michie.com.

• Kanoko Nishi graduated from Mills College with a major in piano and studied koto under koto master Kazue Sawai at the Sawai Koto Academy.

• Tomoko Kaneda, a koto and shamisen performer and producer, graduated from Hosei University and completed one-year course at NHK Academy of Japanese Traditional Music. She started her training when she was 12 years old, and holds a master's license from the Sawai Koto Institute.

Currently residing in Yokohama, where she teaches koto and shamisen, Kaneda performs wide variety of koto music, traditional as well as one modern. She has been also engaged in producing many koto and shamisen concerts, including the annual charity concert performed by the 40th-year graduates of the NHK academy.

In 2007, as a member of Kawasaki International Friendship Ambassadors appointed by the mayor of Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, she performed Japanese and Chinese music in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China.

• Jon Raskin has been a member of Rova Saxophone Quartet for the last 30 years, exploring the relationship of improvisation and composition, developing and honing the language of ensemble music, and researching linguistic possibilities of the saxophone.

He has performed and/or recorded with Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, Sam Rivers, Nels Cline, Vladimir Tarasov, Leo Smith and Henry Kaiser. Currents CDs include "Juke Box Suite," "Rova Saxophone Quartet" (Not Two), "JR Quartet" (Rastascan), "Kaolithic Music," "Jaw Harp Music" (Evander Music), and "Music Plus One: An Improvisation Compendium."