Name: Asian Improv aRts Midwest Arts Initiatives presents: The Miminari Trio
Start: 2026-04-25T20:30:00-05:00
Location: Elastic Arts

Asian Improv aRts Midwest Arts Initiatives presents: The Miminari Trio!
Collaborators Kioto Aoki, Haruhi Kobayashi and Mai Sugimoto appear as the Miminari Trio, after their album "Miminari" released from AIRecords in fall 2025. Their backgrounds in traditional folk, jazz, and electronic sounds coalesce into unique sonic dialogues grounded in experimental improvisation.
Artist Bios
Kioto Aoki is a Chicago-based artist, educator and musician who is 5th generation of the Toyoakimoto house, an okiya (geisha house) performing arts family from Tokyo with roots dating back to the Edo period. Standing on the professional stage from the age of 7, she continues the family legacy as musician on taiko, tsuzumi and shamisen. Her playing is informed by the Japanese aesthetics of ma and emphasizes the melodic phrasing of space and choreography to reorient the notion of percussion as mere rhythm. Her stoic, durational explorations elicit soundscapes that project organic textures of live performance and sonic nuances of cyclical, droning sustain. Aoki balances the artistic and aesthetic integrity of traditional Japanese music with a contemporary sensibility, bringing taiko to contemporary artistic ecologies of music, sound and performance.Musical projects include solo and collaborative albums released by Asian Improv Records and FPE Records, Yoko Ono’s SKYLANDING, Tatsu Aoki’s The MIYUMI Project, Experimental Sound Studio’s Sonic Pavilion Festival, and the Soundtrack series at Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago among others.
Haruhi Kobayashi is a Chicago-based sound artist and vocal performer from Tokyo. Originally a J-pop singer-songwriter, she now explores themes of bicultural identity, tradition, and existentialism while seeking to liberate sound from preconceptions. Her work intersects experimental pop, classical composition and avant-garde songwriting through voice, bass, and electronics. She invites audiences to engage with both familiar and unexpected sonic textures.
Mai Sugimoto is a Japanese-born saxophonist and active member of Chicago's jazz and creative music scene. When not leading her own bands, Sugimoto can be heard in ensembles like Hanami, Fred Anderson Legacy Band, Look Both Days, Jeb Bishop Quintet, BYSH, and Natural Information Society’s Community Ensemble. Sunlight Filtering Through Leaves (Asian Improv Records, 2024) is her most recent album as a leader. “She breaks down phrases with the muscle and rigor of vintage Sonny Rollins spiked with a more feverish tone that clearly connects her to the ESP soul-streaked blowers like Charles Tyler,” writes Peter Margasak in his review for Nowhere Street. “[The album] conveys that singular joy of good improvised music, when it’s not about ripping solos but group unity. Naturally, I’m advising you all to pay close attention to Sugimoto from here on out.”