Greetings of the Director

Greetings of the Director

Director of the Sacred Music Center

Professor  Matt Gillan

　The Sacred Music Center is located on the 4 th floor of the Honkan building and is at the heart of musical life at ICU. The center was established in 1977 to facilitate the management of the Rieger organ that was dedicated in the University chapel in 1970. Since then, the SMC has coordinated organ lessons for ICU students and regular public organ concerts open to the ICU community and general public. The SMC also facilitates many other music-related events, including the regular ICU Wa no Kai Japanese performing arts group, and the ICU gagaku ensemble.

I began teaching at ICU in 2007, and I have taught musicology and music performance here since then. My research focuses on various aspects of music and musical cultures of Japan. Ispent many years in Okinawa before coming to ICU, and the music of Okinawa remains one of my main research topics. I have also carried out several research projects on music and Buddhism in Post-Meiji Japan and have been actively involved as a performer with several shakuhachi groups in Tokyo and around Japan. Most recently I have been involved in a project aimed at reinvigorating the performance of the hitoyogiri shakuhachi that was popular in Medieval Japan.

Music has always been an important part of a Liberal Arts education. ICU has amazing variety of musical activity, including Western choral and orchestral music, Japanese traditional genres, and modern pop, jazz and electronic music styles. I hope the SMC can continue to support these musical activities into the future.