Hiroaki Honshuku, flute
Hiroaki Honshuku was first introduced to jazz in 1985 while teaching music at the US Naval Base in Yokosuka, Japan. Two years later, Hiro came to the Boston area. He started at Berklee College of music as a scholarship student in January 1987. By the fall, he was also accepted to the New England Conservatory as a scholarship graduate student. He has studied with George Russell, Dave Holland, Bob Moses, George Garzone, Matthew Marvuglio, and Thomas McKinley.
In May 1990, Hiro graduated simultaneously from Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. He received Summa Cum Laude for his Diploma of Music at Berklee as a performance major. He received Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance for his Master of Music at the New England Conservatory as a Jazz Composition major. Besides being very active playing in the New England region jazz clubs, he has been busy teaching in the Boston area. Since graduation, he has taught multiple levels of jazz theory and directed small and large jazz ensembles at New England Conservatory. Hiro is currently teaching at the Longy School of Music and the New England Institute of Art.
Hiro has been an assistant director for George Russell at the New England Conservatory since 1987 until Russell’s recent retirement. He was worked as assistant, flutist, and digital audio technician for Russell's Living Time Orchestra from 1997. Hiro has been deeply inspired by Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept for Tonal Organization, which now characterizes Hiro’s writing style using Tonal Gravity without any traditional II-V-I resolution.
Hiro has also played with Mike Stern, Dave Liebman, Mick Goodrick, Dave Weckl, Tiger Okoshi, George Garzone, Maria Schneider, Bob Moses, and Tom McKinley. Hiro has recorded more than 25 CDs for various artists, including five albums as leader.
While Hiro was into performing Avant-garde improvisational music using his electric gear in Berlin, Germany between 1990 and 1991, he was introduced to the Brazilian music by Paulo Maragucci, a well-known Rio de Janeiro composer/multi instrumentist who was studying at the New England Conservatory. Since he joined the Brazilian group Manga-Rosa led by Sergio Brandão in 1992, not only has his compositional style added Brazilian rhythms, but Hiro has been very active performing and recording in the Brazilian music scene including Jequere led by José Pienasola, Gustavo Assis-Brasil Group, Teresa Inês Group, Gilson Schachnik Group, Alfredo Cardim, João Marcos, and many others. Hiro has performed for Teresa Inês Rio de Janeiro shows in 2000 and 2001.
In the jazz scene, Hiro has been a long-time regular member of Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra and Power Jazz Unit. Hiro also still keeps up his classical music activity, including recent a recent recital at Paroisse de la Trinité, Paris, France, where he performed his own compositions dedicated to Messiaen.
Besides Hiro is busy performing and teaching, Hiro also runs a small project studio for digital audio editing and MIDI sequencing as well as on site recording using state of the art tools.
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