Kenji Bunch writes music that looks for commonalities between musical styles, for understandings that transcend cultural or generational barriers, and for empathic connections with his listeners. Drawing on vernacular musical traditions, an interest in highlighting historical injustices and inaccuracies, and techniques from his classical training, Bunch creates music with a unique personal vocabulary that appeals to performers, audiences, and critics alike. With his work frequently performed worldwide and recorded numerous times, Bunch considers his current mission the search for and celebration of shared emotional truths about the human experience from the profound to the absurd, to help facilitate connection and healing through entertainment, vulnerability, humor, and joy. Mr. Bunch is widely recognized for performing his own groundbreaking works for viola. He currently serves as Artistic Director of the new music group Fear No Music and is deeply committed to music education in his hometown of Portland, Oregon.
Monica Ohuchi's "commanding pianism" (The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini), performing "with beauty, clarity and drive...[offering a] warmth...expressiveness [that's] irresistible and deeply moving" (The Times Argus, Vermont) allows her an active career as a piano soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. "Dutifully and gracefully" (San Francisco Classical Voice) attentive to musical depth and detail, Ohuchi is the pianist and Executive Director of Fear No Music, and also performs locally with Chamber Music Northwest, Classical Up Close, 45th Parallel, the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, among many others. Ohuchi's recent engagements include collaborations with the Oregon Ballet Theater, soloing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Marin Symphony Orchestra, Newport Symphony Orchestra. She is a frequent guest clinician and adjudicator for the Oregon State and Washington State Music Teacher Associations, as well as the Oregon state chapter of the National Federation of Music, and a regular performer on All-Classical Portland radio. Her solo album released on Helicon records label, "Monica's Notebook," is a series of piano Etudes written expressly for her by her husband, Kenji Bunch. Ohuchi is currently a Program Director at Reed College in the Performing Arts Music Division, where she also teachers piano and chamber music. Ohuchi holds advanced degrees from the Juilliard School in Piano Performance. In her spare time, Monica enjoys impromptu dance parties with Kenji and their two children in their kitchen, traveling to Japan to visit her parents, and exercising with friends. www.monicaohuchi.com