Yoko Ito Gates

YOKO GATES (1944-1989) was born in Hamamatsu, Japan and began studying koto at the age of five. She graduated from the Tokyo University of Arts and received the Japan National Broadcasting Co. (NHK) Young Artists award for the performance of traditional music. In 1969, she married Allen Gates and moved to the United States, where she lived the rest of her life until her untimely death in 1989. She gave her debut recital in Carnegie Hall (NYC) in 1984 and performed again in 1986. Yoko Ito Gates performed widely throughout the U.S. and Canada and taught at the University of Washington, San Francisco State Uninversity, San Diego State University, Lewis & Clark College, The Center for World Music and the American Society for Eastern Arts. She founded the Japanese Music group Rei In Kai (Zero Sound) in Berkeley, CA to promote the study and performance of Japanese music.