Circle Score is an original music-reading system created by Tetsuro Hoshii, exploring a different way of composing and performing music.

Instead of a traditional score with a fixed beginning and ending, the music is arranged in a 360-degree circle. Musicians can begin at different points and move around the score as they perform, allowing the same composition to unfold differently each time.

Circle Score brings together composition, improvisation, visual art, and physical movement, turning the musical score itself into part of the performance.

Innovative Scoring

The scores can use traditional musical notation, graphic shapes, or abstract visual elements, giving performers space to interpret the music in their own way.

A Different Audience Experience

There is no traditional front or back of the stage. Audiences can experience the performance from different positions around the circle, changing the relationship between musicians, music, and space.

Music Meets Visual Art

Circle Score exists somewhere between a musical composition, a drawing, and a three-dimensional object. The score is not only something to read, but also something to see and move around.

Development

Circle Score was developed during Tetsuro Hoshii’s artist residency in Norway in 2024 and later presented in New York City through performances at Simino Architects in Brooklyn.

The project continues to evolve through new scores, musicians, and different approaches to performance.