We Are Tomodachi Spring / Summer 2017

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29Pavel IoOriginally from Stupino, a town about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Moscow. Learned to sing and to play the tin whistle–like Russian flute from his vocalist mother from the age of three. Studied the fundamentals of shakuhachi playing under Alexander Iwashin and Kohei Shimizu in a shakuhachi course at the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. Took part in a performing group led by Margarita Karatygina of the same conservatory using traditional Japanese instruments. Moved to Japan in 2013. Won a prize for excellence at the 22nd Japanese Hougaku Music Contest in 2016. Passed the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) Japanese traditional music audition and appeared on the NHK-FM radio program Hogaku no hitotoki.Above: Io sits at the Noh theater of Koraku-en, a Japanese garden in Okayama Prefecture, where he has performed in the past. Left: Koraku-en, created for the local lord in the seventeenth century, is one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan together with Kenroku-en in Ishikawa Prefecture and Kairaku-en in Ibaraki Prefecture. Its seasonal flowers and traditional structures charm visitors and make its theater the perfect setting for the classical sounds of Io’s shakuhachi.