Credentials

 

Linda Caplan is Canada’s premier koto performer. She is a licensed teacher of the Chikushikai Koto and Shamisen School, whose headquarters are in Fukuoka, Japan. She was given the stage name of Kakō (歌香) by the School in 1987. In 2007, in recognition of over two decades of devotion to koto music, the School granted her the rarely-conferred and prestigious rank of Dai Shihan (Grandmaster). In 2016, Caplan was further promoted to Tobiume Tsukasa Dai Shihan (director-level Grandmaster), the School’s highest status. She is the first and only performer of non-Japanese descent to attain this rank to date in the traditional Japanese instrumentalist world.

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As soloist and ensemble member, Caplan has performed for decades at many events in Canada, Japan and the United States. She was the inaugural Japanese Music Course Director and the leader of the Japanese Music Ensemble at York University, Toronto, as well as York's World Music private instructor for koto and shamisen, and taught at York from 2004 to 2016.