Hiroaki Zakōji

was a Japanese composer and pianist. Biography He was born in Tokyo on January 20, 1958. He was brought up in Asahikawa, Hokkaido from the age of 4 and lived there until he was 20 years old. He started learning to play the piano when he was 4 years old. From the age of 16, he studied composition under Masanobu Kimura. In 1978, he entered the Music Department of Nihon University in Tokyo. There he learned composition under Kiyohiko Kijima and piano under Midori Matsuya (1943-1994). At the same time, he also studied composition under Roh Ogura (1916-1990) in Kamakura. He graduated from university and entered the Music Institute of Nihon University in 1982. In the same year, he organised the Tokyo Shin-Wagaku Consort which regularly played his own and other contemporary composers’ music. In 1984, he performed Japanese contemporary works in Basel, Switzerland. In 1985, he was invited by the IGNM - Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik - and performed his “Piano Piece I” (Op.28) in Basel. In April 1986, he returned to Switzerland where he composed and performed his “Piano Piece III” (Op.36) in Arlesheim near Basel. Also he travelled to Spain and Denmark and wrote an essay for a mus