Ned Rothenberg composes and performs on saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute and shakuhachi. He has been internationally acclaimed for solo and ensemble music presented for the past 40 years throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. He began studying shakuhachi with Ralph Samuelson in New York in 1979 and has used it himself in performance since 1987. He also had the opportunity to study in Japan with the great masters Goro Yamaguchi and Katsuya Yokoyama. He has worked there extensively, collaborating with musicians in a wide variety of genres including pianists Masahiko Satoh and Yuji Takahashi, koto/shamisen players Kazue Sawai, Yumiko Tanaka, and Michio Yagi, as well as many other leading figures in Japanese improvised music. 

His shakuhachi playing can be heard on Ryu Nashi and Ghost Stories, both on the Tzadik label, Harbinger and Port of Entry with his trio Sync, solo releases Intervals and The Crux (on which he also performs shakuhachi honkyoku on the alto sax), John Zorn’s Big Gundown, duo with Tuvan vocalist Sainkho Namchylak, Amulet, in collaboration with Paul Dresher, Opposites Attract and on various film and TV spots. nedrothenberg.com