"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Please join shakuhachi Grand Master James Nyoraku Schlefer for his next concert – live streamed for you from his hometown in Brooklyn, NY. Take one hour. Step back, breathe deeply and contemplate the sounds and silence of Zen Buddhist music for shakuhachi - the Japanese bamboo flute.

For centuries, the sound of the shakuhachi has embodied the music of meditation and healing. It inspires contemplation and the inward search for compassion. On this day, when we celebrate the life and legacy of Martin Luther KIng Jr. and his beliefs in the goodness of the human spirit, it is also a good time to reflect on our own capacity for peace and love.

These are turbulent and stressful times and sadly many people are suffering for lack of food. Schlefer Sensei will donate all of his portion of the ticket sales from this performance to Food Bank for NYC. He welcomes you to attend Breathing Peace V, to relax and unwind for an hour with his music, and to embrace this opportunity to help alleviate suffering in our community. Peace.

About the artist: James Nyoraku Schlefer has been playing the shakuhachi for 40 years. He sustains the enduring shakuhachi tradition through concerts and teaching, and advances its evolution through composition and the commissioning of new works. A native New Yorker, Schlefer first heard the instrument in 1979, while working towards his Master’s degree in musicology. He received his Dai-Shi-Han (Grand Master) certificate in 2001, and in 2008, a Shi-Han certificate from Mujuan Dojo, in Kyoto. In Japan Schlefer studied with Yoshio Kurahashi, Reibo Aoki, Katsuya Yokoyama, and Kifu Mitsuhashi. His first teacher was Ronnie Nyogetsu Seldin in New York. He is trained in the Kinko school following the lineage of Jin Nyodo. Schlefer holds a Master’s degree in Western flute and musicology from Queens College, and currently teaches shakuhachi at Columbia University and music history courses at the City University of New York. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, BAM, the Metropolitan Museum, at colleges and universities throughout the US, and has toured in Japan, Malaysia, Brazil and counties in Europe.