What an incredible year we’ve had!
We participated in the Fifth Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage, hosted our annual Story Circle, and premiered Songs for J-Town. None of this would have been possible without your presence and support. Let’s take a moment and remember what we were able to achieve together.
Read MoreGratitude to All who joined us live for the Story Circle of the Japanese Diaspora! devorah major, the 3rd poet laureate of San Francisco, was our “Listener”. She wrote this poem encompassing the emotions and thoughts of our time together.
Read MoreA whole year has come and gone since we did the Earth Dance. But life is short and art is long. The offerings by the First Voice Fam are so beautiful, we wanted to share them with you again. In these trying times, it is comforting to know Mother Earth is always there, holding us as she dances around the sun.
Read MoreNext Thursday, join San Francisco Ballet’s first Asian American dancer Wei Wang, magician David Hirata and Brenda in a roundtable discussion and mini-performance about racism in the performing arts.
Read MoreThe Remembrance & Renewal Storytelling Festival begins today, Wednesday! FREE! My performances are Saturday and Sunday.
Read MoreIt’s Thanksgiving to us because you helped us raise $19,000 for new works! Mark and I celebrate our 45th anniversary as performing artists this year and we feel your love & warm wishes as we write, compose, rehearse, produce and perform. Your contributions are powerful. They fill us with so much energy. Thank you!
Read MoreOnce upon a time, I got a call from the Storyteller at Window Rock, the headquarters of the Navajo nation. She said her people needed my medicine. I asked her if she knew what I did and she said no but she’d seen me in a dream performing with a fan. She knew her ancestors would help her find me because we were entering into the Time of No Water - when Coyoto comes to the city. A time for people to come together.
Read MoreNo one is really alone; each grain of sand is part of the beach, part of the earth, part of the universe. The score for MU, written by Emmy-award winning composer Mark Izu, lifts off from his handwritten graphic notation, a melding of his love of jazz and ancient Japanese music, and the live improvisation of musicians who have worked together for years.
Read MoreBrenda drew this Amabie for you, with help from designer Andi Fong. Please draw your own Amabie. Together we will help usher in a time of peace and prosperity.
Read MoreWe miss you! We miss performing for you. We miss gathering together. We miss your smiles, the crinkles in the corners of your eyes, the sound of your voice. We miss it ALL - like a great ache in the bottom of our bellies.
Read MoreLooking out the window of my flat here in San Francisco, I see a glimmer of the Pacific Ocean. Safe from Covid but starving to hug my friends and family, I remind myself it wasn’t always like this.
Read MoreThis is an offering to those doing the hard work of caring for little ones and loved ones. We also invite you to watch Story Time with Brenda and Mark on Facebook Live tomorrow, Wednesday at 4:00 PST a true story of a sunny day in Golden Gate Park and the kindness of strangers.
Read MoreThis is an offering to those doing the hard work of caring for little ones and loved ones. We also invite you to watch Story Time with Brenda and Mark on Facebook Live tomorrow, Wednesday at 4:00 PST a true story of a sunny day in Golden Gate Park and the kindness of strangers.
Read MoreWe hope you and your loved ones are doing well and staying healthy. This past week Nicole, our faithful former First Voice Communications Manager for 8 years and a new mother sent us an Amabie yokai spirit to repel the COVID-19 pandemic. This came from Kyushu island in 1846 and is associated with refuge from epidemics. A reminder that we are all fighting this together.
Read MoreAs COVID-19 teaches us how we're more fragile than we thought it has also made us realize that we are all interconnected. Community is more important than ever and this is the time to come together and lift one another up. First Voice would like to reach out to the community and serve you through the arts because we know that the arts are what will inspire us to press forward, keep hope alive, and carry on during this difficult time. We have a few events online in the coming weeks to keep our community alive and thriving.
Read More”J-town, Chinatown: Our Town,” a multidisciplinary and multimedia work, written by Brenda Wong Aoki, scored by award-winning jazz musician Mark Izu with Chinese & Japanese American home movies.
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