Shigeaki Saegusa

Shigeaki Saegusa (, formerly ; Saegusa Shigeaki; born July 8, 1942) is a Japanese composer. Career Saegusa is best known for Chushingura, his opera version of the well-known kabuki epic of the Forty-seven Ronin/Chūshingura with a libretto by the novelist Shimada Masahiko. Written over a period of 10 years, the opera was most recently performed at the New National Theatre, Tokyo in 2002. His newest opera, Jr. Butterfly is a sequel to Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He has also written the background music for anime, the foremost of which being Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Other anime he has written for are Astro Boy (1980), Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack, Catnapped! The Movie, and Mother: Saigo no Shoujo Eve. Works Opera *1997 Chushingura *2004 Jr. Butterfly Oratorio *1989 Yamato Takeru Orchestral works *1971 Piano Concerto *1983 The Symphony *1985 Symfonic Suite Z Gundam *1989 Orchestra ‘89 Chamber/Instrumental works *1963 Bläserquintet (Wind Quintet) *1965 Novelette for string quartet *1977 Memory for narrator, string quartet and tape *1981 Radiation Mass for 4 synthesizers, vocorder and percussion *1983 Sho ‘83 for sho, percussion and keyboard *19