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Where rhythm moves the soul and community finds its beat.
The Australian Taiko Academy (ATA) is the beating heart of Taikoz’s educational vision – an extension of one of Australia’s most acclaimed performance ensembles, known for its dynamic fusion of taiko, percussion, flutes, and movement.
Since 2001, ATA has been a place of discovery, where sound becomes expression and discipline transforms into art. Across a rich 10-month program each year, students of all ages and backgrounds explore the power of rhythm through taiko drumming, ensemble performance, percussion, and music theory.
Learning here is more than technique – it is an unfolding journey of creativity, leadership, and personal voice.
The ATA experience includes:
At ATA, inclusivity, creativity and community are more than values – they’re the rhythm we live by.
Ian is a percussionist, taiko player, composer and teacher based in Sydney, Australia. In the 1980s after graduating with Honors from the University of Adelaide in percussion studies, he learnt taiko with Sen Amano of Yamanashi Prefecture, followed two decades later by tutorship from taiko legend Eitetsu Hayashi, including joining Hayashi Sama and his ensemble Fuun no Kai in a performance of Maki Ishii’s ground-breaking taiko ensemble work Monochrome for the 2004 Tokyo Summer Festival.
It was in 1997 that he co-founded Taikoz with Shakuhachi Daishihan Riley Lee. Together they had a vision of creating an ensemble with taiko, shakuhachi and percussion at its heart that would forge its own original, Australian voice. To this day, Taikoz continues to passionately pursue new compositions and collaborations with a wide range of artists and composers, and to present their work in creative ways at the very highest level.
In 2005, Ian became full-time with Taikoz after having spent 20 years as Principal Percussionist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and 16 years with the percussion group Synergy.
As a taiko performer Ian has collaborated with many artists and musicians, most notably South Indian Classical Dance choreographer Anandavalli, koto virtuoso Kazue Sawai, the world-renowned performing ensemble Kodo, esteemed solo artists Eitetsu Hayashi, Yoshikazu Fujimoto, Chieko Kojima, Kaoru Watanabe, Shogo Yoshii and Joe Small, as well as composers Sandy Evans, Gerard Brophy, Lachlan Skipworth and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, as well as Andrea Molino and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Dresden Sinfoniker in Paris.
With his ensemble Taikoz, Ian has toured domestically and internationally, including appearances at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, touring India and Singapore with his original work Chi Udaka for taiko, shakuhachi, cello, Carnatic voice and South Indian Classical Dance, and of course numerous performances in Japan, including Taikoz’s debut at Tokyo’s famed National Theatre in 2007.
When he was Principal Percussionist of the Sydney Symphony, Ian was resident at the Sydney Opera House playing under many conducting greats, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lorin Maazel, Edo de Waart, Mariss Jansons and Charles Dutoit. Ian also had the privilege of performing in some of the world’s finest concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and London’s Royal Albert Hall. As a soloist with the Sydney Symphony, Ian premiered and recorded Ross Edwards’ Yarrageh: Nocturne for Percussion and Orchestra, and with his Synergy colleagues, Toru Takemitsu’s From Me Flows What You Call Time and Carl Vine’s Percussion Symphony.
Ian has composed numerous works for a variety of instruments, instrumental combinations and performance contexts, including music for John Bell and the Bell Shakespeare Company’s 2009 production of Pericles, choreographer Meryl Tankard’s 2007 Sydney Festival dance work Kaidan, and Chi Udaka, a collaboration with South Indian Classical Dance legend Anandavalli. Furthermore, Ian has composed major works for koto virtuoso Kazue Sawai and her Sydney-based protégé Satsuki Odamura and ensemble (The Silver Pavilion), Australian saxophone icon Sandy Evans (…clouds wander…) and world-renowned shakuhachi Daishihan Riley Lee (Miyajima, among others).
With Synergy, Ian presented the latest Australian and international works for percussion, including contributing his own works to Synergy programs of the 1990s and early 2000s. Synergy toured the world extensively during this period and collaborated with such artistic luminaries as Switzerland’s Fritz Hauser, India/Germany’s Trilok Gurtu, Australia’s Mike Nock, Egypt’s Hossam Ramzy, Turkey’s Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Japan’s Kazue Sawai, Denmark’s Palle Mikkelborg and USA’s Dave Samuels.
In 2007 Ian received the APRA-AMC Classical Music Award for Long-term Contribution for the Advancement of Australian Music, and in 2016, the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation for his contribution towards promoting friendship and goodwill between Australia and Japan.
Kerryn has been a Taikoz Artist since 2001. Kerryn is well known for her exciting and highly expressive performance style and is a mainstay in major projects as taiko soloist, dancer, singer and shinobue player. With Taikoz, Kerryn has performed in all the major Australian concert halls, including numerous performances at the Sydney Opera House, and in regional theatres nation-wide. She has appeared at the famed National Theatre of Japan, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and toured India and Singapore with Taikoz and Lingalayam’s acclaimed music-dance production Chi Udaka.
Kerryn studied Japanese traditional folk dances with Kodo member Chieko Kojima and folk songs, lullabies and Ainu songs with Yoko Fujimoto, also of Kodo. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Queensland and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. As a percussionist, Kerryn often performs with the Opera Australia Orchestra. She is also an accredited Pilates instructor.
Kerryn has been at the forefront of taiko education in Sydney since the early 2000s. Over the past two decades, Kerryn’s high-level musical skills and trademark passion have seen her spearheading the Australian Taiko Academy’s broad curriculum of activities, including concerts for schools, workshops and classes, ATA’s online teaching program and regional education initiative, Not A Dress Rehearsal.
Sophia has been a Taikoz Artist since 2014 after successfully auditioning for the Taikoz Individual Development Program in 2011, followed by Taikoz Associate Player status in 2012.
With Taikoz, Sophia has performed in all the major Australian concert halls, including numerous performances at the Sydney Opera House, and in regional theatres, nation-wide. She has also toured India with Chi Udaka and the USA performing at the World Taiko Gathering.
Sophia is a member of the Sydney Onikenbai Club and regularly travels to Japan for study with Iwasaki Onikenbai Hozonkai, the original masters of the dance-music form known as Onikenbai. She also performs Onikenbai in the Kitakami Michinoku Geinou Matsuri. Sophia has also undergone two weeks intensive study in New York with famed taiko-shinobue artist Kaoru Watanabe.
Sophia completed a Bachelor of Music at Melbourne University and as a percussionist has performed with the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Opera Australia Orchestra. She continues to be very involved as a teacher of taiko at the Australian Taiko Academy.
Ryuji has been a Taikoz Artist since 2016. He was born in Yokohama, Japan, and began playing taiko at a young age. After arriving in Australia in 2013, Ryuji successfully auditioned for the Taikoz Individual Development Program, followed by Taikoz Associate Player status before becoming a Taikoz Artist.
Ryuji is often featured as a taiko soloist, shinobue player and dancer and tours nationally and internationally on the mainstage, collaborating with many esteemed artists and musicians. Ryuji has been involved in all Taikoz’s recent major projects, including Taikoz Meets Shogo Yoshii, Sand, Natural Forces and Chi Udaka, which was recently presented at the Sydney Opera House for their 50th Anniversary Celebrations and in Singapore’s Esplanade Theatre. In 2024, Ryuji travelled to Europe with composer Yunyu, performing When the Rain God Sings at NIME, Utrecht, and Ars Electronica, Linz.
Claudia began learning taiko with Taikoz in 2009 at the age of 14. After completing her HSC, she gained admission to the University of New South Wales to undertake a Bachelor of Music majoring in taiko performance. Claudia is the first person in Australia to study taiko at university level. Former Taikoz Artist Kevin Man was her principal teacher and established the curriculum for UNSW. In October 2018, Claudia became a Taikoz Artist after one year as Taikoz Young Artist.
Although Claudia left Taikoz in 2022 to pursue other professional interests, she left a strong impression through performances in Taikoz and Musica Viva’s Schools Concert touring ensemble, and as well as numerous Taikoz main-stage performances. Her speciality was playing the katsugi-okedo and taiko set.
After presenting a performance of Chi Udaka, the subject of her thesis, Claudia completed the requirements for her Honours Degree for the Bachelor of Music in 2021. Claudia also studied Indonesian Gamelan at UNSW, including a study trip to Bali in 2019.
Sophie became an Associate Player in 2014 after successfully completing Taikoz’s Individual Development Program in 2013. In 2018, she joined as a Taikoz Artist and left in 2022.
Sophie has studied shinobue (bamboo flute) and taiko with former Kodo member Kaoru Watanabe in New York City, and in 2015 travelled to Japan to undertake intensive study with Iwasaki Onikenbai Hozonkai, Akio Tsumura, Kyosuke Suzuki and Mochizuki Saburo. Sophie has also performed at the Kitakami Michinoku Geinou Matsuri in Kitakami City.
Sophie has completed a Bachelor of Music at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on saxophone and has performed extensively overseas and nationally with various ensembles. Sophie is a trained teacher and is passionate about music education. Sophie maintains an interest in taiko through her work as a school music teacher.