Michiko Toyama

Michiko Francoise Toyama (September 1, 1913 – March 31, 2006) was a Japanese modernist composer. to study at the Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center (today known as the Computer Music Center). Biography Toyama was born in Osaka to Sutezo Toyama and Haru (Haruko) Toyama. Toyama’s mother, Haru, was one of the first graduates of the Tokyo Music School, and encouraged her daughter’s musical education. In 1937, Jacques Ibert recommended that Toyama submit her composition Voice of Yamato to the 15th Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), where it won a prize. Beginning in 1948, she returned to Japan and taught as an assistant professor at the Osaka Academy of Music in both piano and counterpoint. In 1952, Toyama studied with Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen, and Noel Gallon at the Paris Conservatory. In 1955, she received a scholarship to study at Tanglewood with Roger Sessions. She studied conducting at the Pierre Monteux School and Columbia University. At the Center, Toyama and Edgard Varese shared an enthusiasm for Japanese gagaku court music. In 1960, Toyama’s compositions were released on Folkways Records Album No. FW 8881. Toyama said, “composin