Brian Mitsuhiro Wong at Oakland’s Lake Merritt.

Brian Mitsuhiro Wong, winner of Japan’s 2006 Grand Prix Award Koto Competition and a new face of koto in America, will be appearing in his debut concert on Sunday, Sept. 16, at 4 p.m. at Old First Church, 1751 Sacramento at Van Ness in San Francisco, as part of the Old First Concerts series.

Wong, an American of Asian descent, is adding an American perspective to the new movement of Japanese traditional instruments currently popular in the music scene of Japan. He plays the koto, a 13-stringed zither-like instrument that is also gaining recognition in the United States.

He will perform new koto music, including two numbers by Hikaru Sawai, whose influence as a former rock guitarist has inspired koto works, such as the solo number “Shaei” (“Diagonal Shadows”), which won the 1992 14th Ministry of Cultural Affairs Performing Arts Grand Prix Award.

Wong will also perform a number that is rarely performed in concert, “Tsubasa ni Notte” (“On the Wings of a Bird”), a mesmerizing number by Tadao Sawai.

He will add a new spin to the classical “Rokudan” (“Six Movements”). The last part of his program will feature Wong playing jazz koto with Eric Garcia (percussion), Colin Hogan (piano), and Tommy Folen (bass).

A Bay Area native, Wong continues a legacy of koto performance in America that spans three generations and has roots in the internment camps of World War II. His mother, Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, also a koto teacher and a musician with the Murasaki Ensemble, taught Wong how to play the koto from the age of 4.

At the age of 16, he attended a concert by Madame Kazue Sawai, the leading performer of modern koto music in Japan. Sawai-sensei’s performance was not sedate as traditional koto performances normally are, but dynamic and exciting, as her expertise and highly technical performance ranged from classical to modern. She rarely sat at the koto, and sometimes even danced around it.

Wong was inspired by her performance, and decided to continue his studies on the koto from Sawai at an invitation from her to become an “uchi deshi” or live-in student at the Sawai Soukyokuin Koto Conservatory in Tokyo.

The 22-year-old won Japan’s Grand Prix Award for achieving the highest scores on his teaching exams for the koto from the conservatory in July 2006, surpassing many Japanese native candidates.

Wong’s experience includes performances of jazz koto with the CSU East Bay at Hayward Jazz Ensemble at the Montreux, Umbria and Vienne jazz festivals in Europe, introducing new compositions written by himself and other young composers from UC Berkeley and CSUEB. He has assisted in teaching koto classes and offering private lessons.

He has performed at Yoshi’s Jazz Club as a featured artist with the Murasaki Ensemble, and in concert with koto masters Kazue Sawai and Hikaru Sawai. An accomplished jazz saxophonist, he has performed with the Oaktown Jazz Workshop.

Wong says his life mentors are his mother and father: “My dad is a very wise man. At one time, he was a real estate agent, and always said the thing to remember when you’re dealing with real estate is how to solve other people’s problems. That’s how I look at music. Music can help people solve their own problems, because it helps them to develop sensitivity toward their own feelings and emotions.”

The concert at Old First will also feature kotoists Shoko Hikage and Muramoto as special guests.

Tickets are $15 general, $12 for seniors and students with ID. For more informaiton, call (415) 474-1608 or go on-line to www.oldfirstconcerts.org.

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