At Cross Ends

The final Yojimbo film, 'Incident at Blood Pass' came about as two of Japan's greatest stars collide when Mifune Toshiro (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo) buts heads with Katsu Shintaro (Zatoichi). The film's Japanese title, MACHIBUSE, means ambush, and that is indeed what waits for Mifune's wandering samurai after he is hired for a mysterious mission. In fact, he is not even given any information about the mission, but only told to be at an old tea house at the top of a pass at a certain time. There, he butts heads with Katsu, a gang of bandits, and a convoy of Shogunate gold as two of Japan's finest film actors and a rousing score make this one of the most entertaining samurai films of the 1970s.

SEVEN: words from the cross, is a diverse and innovative program of music for Good Friday, pairing music from the United States with choral music from other parts of the world. This highly original album progresses through the scriptural seven last words of Christ on the Cross, pairing the music of William Billings and the Sacred Harp with the music of contemporary composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. In conjunction with this March 2018 release on the Sono Luminus label, Skylark will make its international debut at Tenebrae’s Holy Week Festival at St. John’s Smith Square in London.