The art platform MODE will host two nights of experimental performances at Sogetsu Hall (草月ホール) in Akasaka, Tokyo on June 29 (Monday) and 30 (Tuesday), 2026. Each evening features a distinct program bringing together internationally acclaimed avant-garde musicians and performers.
June 29: World Premieres
On June 29, two new works will receive their world premieres.
The first is a collaboration commissioned by MODE between avant-garde musician Keiji Haino — who has been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 70th Venice International Festival of Contemporary Music in 2026 — and Daniel Blumberg, who received the Academy Award for his film score for The Brutalist (distributed by A24).
Keiji Haino
Daniel Blumberg — Photography by Taylor Russell
The second world premiere comes from Ellen Arkbro, a composer internationally recognized for her drone works using pipe and reed organs. She will present a new work for reed organ and hichiriki (篳篥), the central double-reed instrument in gagaku, performed alongside musicians from the gagaku ensemble Reigakusha. Hichiriki players from Reigakusha — Hitomi Nakamura, Yoshie Kunimoto, Rie Suzuki, and Katsuhiko Tabuchi — will join Arkbro on reed organ.
Ellen Arkbro — Photography by Victoria Loeb
Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble
Keiji Haino & Daniel Blumberg
Keiji Haino is a Japanese avant-garde musician who has been active for over 50 years, traversing diverse fields including noise, free jazz, blues, rock, electroacoustics, folk, and drone. Inspired by Antonin Artaud to pursue theater, he turned to music after encountering The Doors. He began his career in the 1970s, absorbing a wide range of music from early blues to medieval music and kayōkyoku. In 1978, he formed the rock band Fushitsusha. Alongside his solo work, he has developed various projects including Nijiumu and the cover band Aihiyo, formed in the late 1990s.
After returning from a hiatus in the 1980s, Haino deepened his practice of transforming sound into a physical experience through improvisation. He is known for his distinctive performances using guitar, percussion, hurdy-gurdy, folk instruments from various regions, and electronic devices. In 2026, he is set to receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 70th International Festival of Contemporary Music in Venice.
London-based musician and composer Daniel Blumberg transitioned to a solo career after his work with Cajun Dance Party and Yuck, developing practices across improvised music, film, and drawing. He won the Academy Award and BAFTA in 2025 for his score for The Brutalist. He also composed the score for the Golden Globe-winning The Young Wife, scheduled for release in Japan in early summer 2026.
Blumberg has described seeing Haino perform for the first time at the London venue Cafe OTO as "a life-changing experience." Returning the following day, he found Haino's performance entirely different from the night before — an encounter that led him to believe music should constantly change, and to adopt the artistic conviction of "never performing the same show twice."
Ellen Arkbro & Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble
Ellen Arkbro is a composer, musician, and sound artist from Stockholm, currently based in Berlin. She is known for works exploring just intonation, overtones, and resonance through the sustained tones of pipe and reed organs, creating works and installations that combine acoustic instruments and electronics. She studied with La Monte Young and has also performed in the Kamigaku Ensemble led by Swedish electric harpsichordist Catherine Christer Hennix.
Reigakusha is a gagaku performance group founded in 1985 by Sukeyasu Shiba, dedicated to the transmission and study of gagaku. Beyond classical repertoire, the group actively engages with contemporary works, having commissioned new pieces from composers including Joji Yuasa, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Shinichiro Ikebe, Toshio Saruya, Sunao Isaji, and Yu Kuwabara. The ensemble has received multiple awards for performances of Toru Takemitsu's gagaku work Autumn Garden Song.
For this program, Arkbro will present a new work exploring the timbral fusion of reed organ and hichiriki through precisely tuned intervals and chords based on 7-limit just intonation, focusing on the rich overtone structures and resonances of both instruments. Performers work closely with the tuning of each chord, pursuing clarity of sound while aiming to sound as one instrument and listen as one resonance.
June 30: Charlemagne Palestine Returns to Japan
On June 30, Charlemagne Palestine — appearing in Japan for the first time in approximately 14 years — will perform, with a guest duo appearance by Jim O'Rourke and Eiko Ishibashi.
Charlemagne Palestine is a musician and contemporary visual artist who has built a distinctive practice using repetition, sustained tones, overtones, and spatial resonance. He has been active for over half a century, starting from the New York underground, and is often spoken of alongside La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Steve Reich. As a contemporary artist working with multimedia sculptures featuring stuffed animals and spatial works, he participated in Documenta 8 and continues to present acoustic works and installations at museums and galleries worldwide.
Charlemagne Palestine — Photography by Agnes Gania
Charlemagne Palestine
Born in Brooklyn in 1947, Charlemagne Palestine studied at New York University, Columbia University, Mannes College of Music, and the California Institute of the Arts. Trained as a cantor and carillonneur, he began participating in New York's avant-garde art scene in the 1960s. He developed a unique practice of ritual sustained-tone music using electronic sources, bell towers, pipe organs, pianos, and voice, including signature performance techniques such as "Strumming" for a 97-key piano and "Schlingen Blängens" for pipe organ. He has also created extended vocal works such as Karenina and performances incorporating bodily movement and video.
From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, he stepped away from performance to focus on multimedia sculptures and installations featuring stuffed animals arranged like altars. He later returned to the stage, performing with Pansonic, Tony Conrad, Rhys Chatham, and others. Currently based in Brussels, he continues to present new works and performances. In 2024, he performed on organ at the Sonic Acts Biennial at Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, and the documentary recording The Organ is the Worlds Greatest Synthesizer was released in January 2026.
In 2012, Palestine made a guest appearance alongside Eiko Ishibashi at a performance by Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke, and Oren Ambarchi at SuperDeluxe in Tokyo, performing with wine glasses. This Japan visit marks approximately 14 years since that occasion.
Jim O'Rourke & Eiko Ishibashi
Jim O'Rourke is a key figure in the Chicago improvised music scene, known for his film scores and experimental works as well as his involvement with Gastr del Sol and Sonic Youth. Together with Takehisa Kosugi, he contributed music to the Merce Cunningham dance company, and has collaborated with Tony Conrad, Arnold Dreyblatt, and Christian Wolff, moving between contemporary music and post-rock.
Eiko Ishibashi is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and composer who scored Drive My Car (2021) and Evil Does Not Exist (2023). She released her seventh album Antigone in 2025.
Jim O'Rourke & Eiko Ishibashi
As a duo active since the 2010s, the two undertook a European tour in 2023 through France, Switzerland, Italy, and Ireland. Their album Pareidolia, a reconstruction of those recordings, was released on Drag City in 2025 — their fifth collaborative work, reflecting their approach of editing live recordings to construct new dialogues.
Jim O'Rourke has long expressed deep respect for Charlemagne Palestine's music, calling the 2015 work Ssingggg Sschlllingg Sshpppingg "a favorite of that year and possibly his masterwork."
Event Details
Performance — Keiji Haino & Daniel Blumberg / Ellen Arkbro & Reigakusha Gagaku Ensemble
- Date: Monday, June 29, 2026 — Doors 6:15 PM / Start 7:00 PM
- Venue: Sogetsu Hall (草月ホール), 7-2-21 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Ticket price: ¥8,000 (tax included)
- Ticket sales: e+, ZAIKO
- Supported by: Goethe-Institut Tokyo
Performance — Charlemagne Palestine / Jim O'Rourke & Eiko Ishibashi
- Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2026 — Doors 6:15 PM / Start 7:00 PM
- Venue: Sogetsu Hall (草月ホール), 7-2-21 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Ticket price: ¥8,000 (tax included)
- Ticket sales: e+, ZAIKO
For more details, check MODE's official Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mode.exchange/.
