Ian Cleworth and Riley Lee formed Taikoz in 1997. Over the past two decades the group has developed an original repertoire of works and productions that has seen them perform on the stages of Australia's finest concert halls, in the theatres of regional Australia, and in leading theatres and concert halls worldwide. Taikoz has performed in Japan, Paris, Bangkok, Taiwan, Abu Dhabi, and the USA where the ensemble headlined the Taiko Nation concerts at the 2014 World Taiko Gathering in Los Angeles. Most recently Taikoz toured India with Chi Udaka, receiving much critical acclaim.
The group regularly appears in the theatres of regional Australia, having undertaken six Australia-wide tours. Taikoz has composed over thirty original works for taiko including several in combination with instruments such as shakuhachi, koto, marimba, saxophone, cello, drum set and didgeridoo. Distinguished composers Lachlan Skipworth, Sandy Evans, Gerard Brophy, Andrea Molino, Michael Askill, David Pye, Graeme Koehne and Timothy Constable have also written works for the ensemble.
“20 takes you on a rich sonic and visual journey. We are immensely proud of the achievements of Taikoz over the past two decades, and this is a celebration of our work that we couldn’t be more excited to share with our audience. And of course, in true Taikoz style, we’ll also be breaking new ground through truly exciting new collaborations with Sandy Evans and Chongwei Zhang.” Ian Cleworth, Artistic Director of Taikoz
2017 marks Taikoz’s 20th year of incredible music making and performance. To celebrate this outstanding achievement, Australia’s internationally acclaimed drumming ensemble presents a spectacular evening of music and movement.
Drawing on the theme of Land-Sea-Sky, much of the music celebrates, takes inspiration from, and expresses the very essence of ‘land-ness’, ‘sea-ness’ & ‘sky-ness’. A fourth scene was born out of an inescapable thought: “what about those people who have been separated from their country, culture, families and friends, and who are deprived the ability and right to ‘celebrate’, ‘be inspired by’, ‘express the essence of’, or indeed simply ‘experience’ land, sea & sky?” And so, the words of Iranian poet and one-time asylum seeker Mohsen Soltani Zand inspired the creation of a new work by Sandy Evans, specially commissioned for the concert.
20: Land-Sea-Sky-Home sees Taikoz perform a wide range of music for taiko, percussion, and voice, along with the sublime artistry of Riley Lee (shakuhachi) and Sandy Evans (saxophone), and beguiling movement choreographed by Tai Chi master Chongwei Zhang.