Ayuo is a New York-born Japanese composer. His name, literally translated, means "fish life." With the play as his muse -- he has a lifelong obsession with it -- Ayuo creates a terrain that doesn't cross all borders so much as create a new terrain upon which the concept of a "borderline" is alien. In his mini-opera Izutsu, traditional folk musics and instruments are given over equally to classical composition, new age atmospheric textures (without the accompanying electronica), and elements of true improvisation. ~ Thom Jurek