Japan on Music Theory Print

Akari Kaida

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game music composer. She composed various soundtracks for Capcom games, including multiple in the Mega Man series. She has occasionally been credited as Akari Groves, taking the surname of her husband. Career Kaida was a jazz piano major in college, spending her first year at the Osaka College of Music before joining Capcom in 1994. She became a freelance composer in 2005, but still continued to work on various Capcom projects, most recently becoming part of the Inti Creates sound team for Mega Man games. Notable works References External links *

Aki Takase

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(born January 26, 1948) is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer. Biography Takase was born in Osaka and started to play piano at age 3. Raised in Tokyo, she studied classical piano at Toho Gakuen School of Music. Starting in 1978, Takase began performing and recording in the US. Awards * The German Record Critics’ Award 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2009, CD “Cherry-Sakura” with David Murray 2017/2. In total she received the awards 9 times (1988–2017). * Berliner Zeitung Award (the best Artists of 1999 in the Berlin Newspaper) * The SWR Jazz Award 2002. * Jazzpreis Berlin, 2018 * German Jazz Preis for Piano/Keyboard Award 2021. * Albert Mangelsdorff Prize 2021 References External links * Official site (in German, English and Japanese) * Aki Takase Representation

Akio Yashiro

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer. Biography He was born in Tokyo. Yashiro entered the Tokyo Music School (presently the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music) in 1945, where he studied composition under Saburo Moroi, Kunihiko Hashimoto, Tomojirō Ikenouchi, and Akira Ifukube, and piano under Noboru Toyomasu, Leonid Kreutzer, and Kiyo Kawakami. Upon finishing graduate courses in 1951, he went to Europe with Toshiro Mayuzumi and Sadao Bekku to study with a French governmental fellowship at Paris Conservatory. There he learned composition and orchestration from Olivier Messiaen, Tony Oban, and Nadia Boulanger. He returned home in 1956. He received several prizes for his compositions, including the Eighth Mainichi Music Prize in 1957 for String Quartet, which he had written while studying abroad, and Sixteenth Otaka Prize and the Twenty-first National Art Festival Award in 1968 for his Piano Concerto (1964–1967) which was commissioned by NHK. In 1968, Yashiro was inaugurated as an assistant professor at his alma mater, and he was promoted to professor in 1974. He died suddenly of heart failure at the age of 46. List of works *24 Preludes for piano (1945) *Sonatina for piano (1945) *Vi

Akio Yasuraoka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(born January 13, 1958) is a Japanese composer. Biography Yasuraoka was born in Tokyo and studied with composers Teruyuki Noda (野田暉行) and Akira Miyoshi graduating Tokyo University of the Arts in 1984 with a master’s degree in music composition. He has received several awards and distinctions including the 1st Prize in Composition at the Music Competition of Japan (日本音楽コンクール) in 1980 and the 1982 Japan Symphony Foundation Composition Award for his Symphony. He was recipient of the 1994 Kenzo Nakajima Music Award (中島健蔵音楽賞). In 1985, Yasuraoka organized Art Respirant, a chamber orchestra of young performing artists and composers. Currently Yasuraoka is professor at Toho Gakuen School of Music and Tokyo University of the Arts. He is a member of the 21st Century Music Association (21世紀音楽の会) and a director of the Japan Society for Contemporary Music (日本現代音楽協会). Selected works The works of Yasuraoka are published by the Japan Federation of Composers, Zen-On Music, Ongaku-no-tomo Sha and Tokyo Academia Music. ;Orchestra * Symphony (1982) ;Concertante * Métamorphose concertante (協奏的変容) for Violin, Cello and Orchestra (1991) * Concerto Grosso No.1 “Animatori” (1993) * for Viola and Orchestra

Akira Ifukube

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer. He is best known for composing several entries in the Godzilla franchise as well as developing the titular monster’s roar. Biography Early years in Hokkaido Akira Ifukube was born on 31 May 1914, in Kushiro, Japan as the third son of a police officer Toshimitsu Ifukube. The origins of this family can be traced back to at least the 7th century with the birth of Ifukibe-no-Tokotarihime. He was strongly influenced by the Ainu music as he spent his childhood (from age of 9 to 12) in Otofuke near Obihiro, where was with a mixed population of Ainu and Japanese. His first encounter with classical music occurred when attending secondary school in Sapporo city. Ifukube decided to become a composer at the age of 14 after hearing a radio performance of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, and also cited the music of Manuel de Falla as a major influence. Ifukube studied forestry at Hokkaido Imperial University in Sapporo and composed in his spare time, which prefigured a line of self-taught Japanese composers. His first piece was the piano solo, Piano Suite (later the title was changed to Japan Suite, arranged for orchestra), dedicated to George Copeland who was livin

Akira Inoue (musician)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(born 8 September 1953), is a Japanese keyboard player, composer, arranger and producer. He was the recipient of the 23rd Japan Record Awards arranger award. History Inoue was born in Tokyo. His father was the pioneering Japanese cello player Yoritoro Inoue (井上頼豊). In the late 1970s, he played in the fusion group PARACHUTE. He released his first of many solo albums in the early 1980s. He has also composed, arranged, and performed music for several films and OVAs, including SF Shinseiki Lensman, Lily C.A.T., and the Japan/West Germany 1984 film Windy Story. In the 1990s, he played in The Voice Project and on projects with Masako Kawamura. He has produced projects for Anri, Mikio Sakai, Yoriko Ganeko, Masako Kawamura, The Voice Project, Kyosuke Himuro, MOON CHILD, Furukawa Ten-sei, Sojiro, harpist Mai Takematsu, Minako Honda and the Yoshida Brothers. Discography As solo artist * Tokyo Installation As arranger With Yui Asaka * C-Girl * TRUE LOVE * 恋のロックンロール・サーカス * Chance! * ボーイフレンドをつくろう * Self Control With The Alfee * 讃集詩 ALMIGHTY doubt * 恋人になりたい * 通り雨 * 泣かないでMY LOVE * SUNSET SUMMER * 暁のパラダイス・ロード * STARSHIP -光を求めて- With Anri * Trouble in Paradise With Ayumi Ishida * 赤いギヤマン * 波になって Wit

Akira Miyoshi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Akira Miyoshi (三善晃; January 10, 1933 – 4 October 2013 ) was a Japanese composer. Biography Miyoshi was born in Suginami, Tokyo. He was a child prodigy on the piano, studying with Kozaburo Hirai and Tomojiro Ikenouchi. He studied French literature at the University of Tokyo, He returned to Japan in 1957 and graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1960. In 1965, he became a professor at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1996, Miyoshi was awarded the Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Government. In 1999, he received the 31st Suntory Music Award. He received the Otaka prize six times for his compositions. Works Orchestral * 1960 Trois mouvements symphoniques – (Kôkyô sanshô) * 1962 Concerto for piano and orchestra * 1964 Duel for soprano and orchestra * 1964 Concerto for Orchestra * 1965 Concerto for violin and orchestra * 1969 Concerto for marimba and string ensemble * 1969 Odes métamorphosées * 1970 Festival Overture * 1970 Requiem for mixed choir and orchestra * 1974 Concerto for cello and orchestra * 1978 Noesis * 1979 Psaume for mixed choir and orchestra * 1982 En-Soi Lointain * 1984 Kyômon for children’s choir and orchestra * 1988 Litania pour Fuji

Akira Nishimura

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer from Osaka. Biography Nishimura studied composition and musical theory on a graduate course at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He also studied Asian traditional music, religion, aesthetics, cosmology and the heterophonic concepts, all of which had a lasting influence on his music. Nishimura won several national and international awards, including the 36th Suntory Music Award (2004), and was commissioned by many overseas music festivals. His style consistently relied on a modal sense. When Heterophony for String Quartet was performed for the first time, he felt strongly that the tone selection at the beginning of the piece was strange, so much so that he immediately rewrote it into a modal version. Along with Joe Kondo, Nishimura has a wealth of recordings of his own works, but Nishimura also has many important works that are not included in his discography, such as Guren and From the Edge of Manra. In his later years, he wrote new works for the world of wind instruments. Nishimura was the judge at the 2007 Tōru Takemitsu composition award. Akira Nishimura died from jaw cancer on 7 September 2023, one day short of his 70th birthday. Works Op

Akira Yamaoka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and sound designer. He has scored almost every installment of Konami’s horror video game series Silent Hill since 1999, also producing some of the entries and composing for three film adaptations. He has been the sound director at Grasshopper Manufacture since 2010 and has served as director and sound designer at Supertrick Games since 2018. Early life Akira Yamaoka was born in Niigata on February 6, 1968. He sought to become a designer, but instead became a musician whilst studying product design and interior design at Tokyo Art College. Career Yamaoka joined Konami on September 21, 1993. He immediately began to work on the games Contra: Hard Corps, Sparkster, and Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2. Shortly thereafter, he worked on the music for the PC Engine and Sega CD versions of Snatcher. When Konami began searching for a musician to compose the score for Silent Hill, Yamaoka volunteered because he thought he was the only one capable of making the soundtrack. He later named Silent Hill 2 as his favorite of his own soundtracks. On December 2, 2009, it was announced that Yamaoka was leaving Konami. On February 3, 2010, he joined Grasshopper Manufacture

Arata Iiyoshi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, also known as S.S.D.FANTASICA, is a freelancer composer. He has contributed music as a video game music composer for the Bemani division, but also video games published by Nintendo such as the Super Smash Bros. series, or developed by Chunsoft like the Pokémon crossover of the Mystery Dungeon franchise and the Kamaitachi no Yoru series. Biography Iiyoshi is currently working as a sound designer, including composing soundtracks and sound effects. Early life In the past, he was trained at Naomi Career Center in Japan. After graduating, he has worked with other companies, including D-MAC Records, before becoming a freelancer. Works BEMANI Video games Albums *FANTASCAPE - Act.1 (2010) *ETHNOPLEX (2020) *EXPLORER (2023) Footnotes Notes References External links *Arata Iiyoshi on RemyWiki. *SHIN SOUND DESIGN on official web site. *SHIN SOUND DESIGN weblog on official blog.

Ayumi Tanaka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ayumi Tanaka (born 1986) is a Japanese pianist and composer, known for numerous albums with Norwegian and international jazz musicians. Education Tanaka moved to Norway in 2011, and got her education at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, where she finished her master’s degree as a performing jazz musician, after studies with Misha Alperin, Ivar Antonsen, Helge Lien and others. Career Tanaka is acclaimed for her own trio with the bass player Christian Meaas Svendsen and the drummer Per Oddvar Johansen. The group released their debut album Memento in January 2016. With the trio Tanaka/Lindvall/Wallumrød, with Johan Lindvall and Christian Wallumrød, she released the album 3 Pianos i 2016. She has also recorded with Nakama, Mongrel, and with Thomas Strønen’s acclaimed Time is A blind Guide on ECM. Discography As band leader Ayumi Tanaka Trio with Christian Meaas Svendsen and Per Oddvar Johansen *2016: Memento (AMP Music & Records) Tanaka/Lindvall/Wallumrød with Johan Lindvall and Christian Wallumrød *2016: 3 pianos (Nakama Records) Collaborations With Thomas Strønen’s Time is A blind Guide *2018: Lucus (ECM) With Nakama *2015: Before The Storm (Nakama Records) *2016:Grand line (Na

Chage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, known professionally as Chage, is a Japanese musician and radio personality. He was born in Kokurakita-ku, Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture. He dropped out from Japan University of Economics. He is also a singer-songwriter, and he is the main vocalist and lyricist-composer of Chage and Aska. Discography Albums Original albums Best albums Project albums Limited albums Live albums Singles As Yuko Ishikawa and Chage Original singles Limited singles Videography Books, photo collections Limited editions Fan clubs Filmography Radio Television Guest Advertisements References External links ; Official website * ; Record companies * * this deals with his released works until 2000 ; Blogs * (25 March 2009 –) * (8 October – 26 December 2008) ; Regular radio programmes * ; Related * *

Char (musician)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, known professionally as Char, is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is considered one of Japan’s greatest guitar players. In 2003, Char was ranked by HMV at number 38 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. Rolling Stone Japan ranked his album Psyche number 36 on their 2007 list of the greatest Japanese rock albums of all time. Char came in third in a 2011 goo poll on who the Japanese people thought was the best guitarist to represent the country. Char was named the greatest Japanese guitarist in a 2017 list by Guitar Magazine, as voted on by professional musicians, and in a 2019 public poll held by goo. His song “A Fair Wind” was named the 34th best guitar instrumental by Young Guitar Magazine in 2019. Char endorses Fender, with whom he has signature model guitars. He also has signature models with ESP. Career Char started learning piano in elementary school, and playing guitar at age eight. Although he listened to various guitarists, it was Eric Clapton who got him hooked on the instrument. At 17, Char formed the band Smoky Medicine in 1973 with Mari Kaneko. In 1976, Char made his solo debut on Canyon Records with the single “Navy

Chie Mukai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a female Japanese composer and musician, best known for her underground improv-folk group Ché-SHIZU. She has been involved in improvised performance since 1975, when she participated in the East Bionic Symphonia group, a graduation project for students of Takehisa Kosugi at the Bigakko art school in Tokyo. Her primary instrument is the bowed Chinese er-hu, although she is also a vocalist, and plays piano and percussion. Every year she organizes the Perspective Emotion mixed media arts festival in Tokyo. She has been frequently collaborating with Kenya Kawaguchi, Masayoshi Urabe, Seiichi Yamamoto since 2010. Discography Solo *Kokyu Improvisation (胡弓インプロヴィゼイション) CD (PSF, 1990) CD *Three pieces, solo improvisations LP (Siwa, 2000; CD, 2007) *Crossing CDR (there, 2004) *V.A., Somethings #1 CD (Last Visible Dog, 2007) Ché-SHIZU *Yakusoku wa dekinai (約束はできない) LP (zero records, 1984; CD reissue on Alchemy Records, 2001) *V.A., Aura Music LP (zero records, 1984) *V.A., Welcome to Dreamland LP/CD (celluloid, 1985) *Nazareth (ナザレ) CD (PSF, 1993) *A Journey CD (PSF, 1994) *Live 1996 Suisho CD (PSF, 1997) *Glimmering Star (瞬きの星) LP (Aleutian Retto, 1999; CD reissue on Alchemy Records, 2001)

Chihiro Fujioka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game designer, composer, and rock drummer. He has worked at Xtalsoft, Square, and AlphaDream where he is primarily known for directing Super Mario RPG as well as his involvement in several Mario & Luigi games. He is currently a member of Earthbound Papas, a band led by Nobuo Uematsu. Career Fujioka began his career as a sound designer and composer at Xtalsoft in 1983 and quickly distinguished himself in a management capacity. He first collaborated with Ryuji Sasai on the soundtrack to Mugen no Shinzou III. When Xtalsoft was absorbed to become the Osaka branch of Technology and Entertainment Software in 1990, Fujioka became a director of the department. His first work with Square was as director of Final Fantasy Legend III on which he work with Sasai again on the soundtrack. Fujioka left Square in 2000 with a number of other employees to form AlphaDream, where he directed a number of their early games, including Tomato Adventure and a number of Hamtaro games, as well as helped design multiple Mario & Luigi games. In addition to his game development work, Fujioka served as a drummer for a progressive rock band called Mr. Sirius. He also joined Nobuo Uematsu’s band

Chu Ishikawa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer and musician, best known for creating the soundtracks of many films by Shinya Tsukamoto and Takashi Miike. He also founded industrial music groups Der Eisenrost and Zeitlich Vergelter. Soundtracks *Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) *Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992) *Tokyo Fist (1995) *Fudoh: The New Generation (1996) *Bullet Ballet (1998) *Gemini (1999) *Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000) *A Snake of June (2002) *Vital (2004) *Haze (2005) *Nightmare Detective (2006) *Nightmare Detective 2 (2008) *Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2010) *Kotoko (2011) * Fires on the Plain (2014) * Killing (2018) (posthumous) * Shadow Of Fire (2023) (posthumous) References External links * * * * *

Conisch

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, arranger, music producer, pianist and keyboardist. His real name is Hiroaki Konishi (小西宏明, Konishi Hiroaki). Biography Conisch was born on April 19, 1981. He graduated from Waseda Jitsugyo High School, and attended the Toho Gakuen School of Music where he partially completed a program in composition. Discography Anime works Notes References External links * * *

Dai Fujikura

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Dai Fujikura ( Fujikura Dai; born 27 April 1977) is a Japanese-born composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Dai Fujikura was born in 1977 in Osaka, Japan. He moved to London when he was 15 to study at Dover College as a music scholar to complete his secondary education. His initial ambition was to compose music for cinema. Studying the music of Pierre Boulez, György Ligeti and Tōru Takemitsu at Trinity College of Music caused a gestalt shift: Dai became an aspiring contemporary composer whose extensive knowledge of cinematography gave his music a fresh, individual voice. Imagining sounds as images produced music with considerable dramatic structure and strength. By the end of his second year, he had already won the Serocki International Composers Competition. Before graduating, Dai’s music has been broadcast on many European radio stations, won several other prizes, and has been performed by a list of illustrious ensembles and soloists including the London Sinfonietta. Despite this fortuitous start, and the strength of early works such as Frozen Heat, Cari4nics and Eternal Escape, Dai wanted to develop his technique. A visit to Darmstadt, where he first heard Japanese t

Daiki Kasho

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, stylized as daiki kasho, is a Japanese video game composer best known for his contributions to the Gran Turismo series of racing games by Polyphony Digital. He has also previously worked on the F-Zero, Wangan Midnight, and King of Fighters series. Kasho first joined Sony Computer Entertainment after he got an invitation from a friend, but subsequently left the company prior to the release of Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec. Despite leaving, he continued to collaborate with Polyphony Digital in the sound department. Works Credits in music Kasho is also credited as a producer in EXiNA’s 2022 album SHiENA. Credits in television References External links * Interview at RocketBaby * *

Daisuke Inoue (singer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Daisuke Inoue (; 13 September 1941 - 30 May 2000), the stage name of Tadao Inoue () was a Japanese singer, composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Life and career Born in Tokyo, Inoue started his musical career in 1960 as a member of the group Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets, serving as multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and often also as composer. Among other works, he penned the group’s major hit “Blue Chateau” (ブルー・シャトウ, “Burū shatō”), which won a Japan Record Award and sold over one million copies. After the group disbanded, Inoue started a career as a solo singer and as a composer for other artists, notably Finger 5 and Hiromi Go. In 1981, he adopted the stage name Daisuke Inoue to mark a fresh start to his career. Among his major hits is “Ai Senshi”, the theme song of the Mobile Suit Gundam film trilogy. References External links * * *

Daisuke Ishiwatari

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a South African-born Japanese video game developer, illustrator, musician, composer, and voice actor. He is best known for creating the 2D fighting game series Guilty Gear. He designed the characters and storyline, and wrote the music. He is a former voice actor for the characters Sol Badguy, Order-Sol, and Freed Velez in Battle Fantasia. Ishiwatari was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised in Japan. He worked on the first original game for the series Guilty Gear at Arc System Works. Ishiwatari and Yoshihiro Kusano wrote the music for another game series BlazBlue, and painted the character selection portraits for the sequel, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Ishiwatari is also a metal and rock composer, with music on each games. His compositions feature intricate guitar work. The albums Guilty Gear XX in LA and Guilty Gear XX in NY include his vocals, as do three albums in Japanese by the band Lapis Lazuli. He also composed for Hard Corps: Uprising. Productions *Virtual Open Tennis (assistant designer) *EXECTOR (designer) *Guilty Gear series (illustration, creation and BGM) *Sangokushi Taisen DS (original Ba Tai design) *Dimension Zero (card illustration) *BlazBlue (sound dire

Dance Man

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(born October 12, 1963) is a Japanese musician, better known by the stage name . Dance☆Man calls himself an alien from “Mirror Ball Planet”. He is always seen wearing a huge afro wig and sideburns, matched with sunglasses. He is very secretive about his identity to the public, and does not release any personal information in his CDs or his official website. Fujisawa is currently signed to independent record label In Da Groove, distributed by Nippon Columbia. Career Fujisawa went to Dokkyou University, a private college in Saitama prefecture, majoring in economics but eventually dropped out before he could graduate. During his stay in the university, he joined a band called JADOES. The band became official in 1986, when Kadomatsu Toshiki became their record producer. The band’s drummer, Yukio Shimamura, did some roadshows with band Casiopea, inspiring Fujisawa to do some roadshows himself. He started his own career in 1998, calling himself as a space alien from “Planet Mirrorball”. He re-arranged famous American/British dance songs from the 70’s and 80’s, often replacing the lyrics with humorous lines. One of them was Carl Carlton’s song “She’s a Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s St

Daria Kawashima

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, known before as Miki Kawashima, is a Japanese musical composer, singer-songwriter, lyricist under Being Inc. records. Biography In 1986, she debuted as Miki Kawashima with the single Silk no Kuchibiru under CBS Sony label. Three years, she debuted as Daria Kawashima with the single Shiny Day under the Zain Records label. Since joining the Being agency, Kawashima has composed and wrote several songs for artists like Zard and Deen. In 1992, she composed Moonlight Densetsu under the alias of Tetsuya Komuro, presumably inspired by the legendary songwriter of the same name. The song would later be used as an opening theme for the popular anime series Sailor Moon. Kawashima also became known as the vocalist and leader of the heavy metal band Feel So Bad. In 2003, she participated in the cover album The Hit Parade, covering Gedō’s Hyun Hyun. It was produced by Tak Matsumoto from B’z. In 2016, she made her return as a solo artist with the digital release of her album Life Now. Some of her music video clips are included in musicvideo DVD series 90s Being Rock Hits. Discography During her solo career as Daria Kawashima she released four singles, 2 studio, 1 digital and 1 compilation album.

Eisuke Mochizuki

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, birth name Mamoru Mochizuki, is a Japanese pianist, composer, npo director, producer and former member of the pop group B.B.Queens. Biography At the age of 4, he started learn to play on piano. During his high school days, he formed and was a member of a school band. In the beginning of the 1990, during the same time when he started going to college, he made solo major debut with the instrumental album Waitin’for You under BMG Victor label and became the member of the group B.B. Queens, whom they won 32nd Japan Record Award and appeared in the national new-year program Kōhaku Uta Gassen. In 1993, he graduated from the Keio University. From 1994, he started his activities as a composer for Zard, Yuiko Tsubokura, Hiromi Go, and many other artist. He remained active and released solo works in the Being Inc. until 1997, when he decided to leave music industry and focus to work for Dentsu company. In 2008, he has announced through his blog site complete resume of his music activities. In 2010, he established the nonprofit organization “Donation Music” in which they are doing social contribution activities through music. He is credited as director under his born name Mamoru. As of 2023

Fumio Hayasaka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer of classical music and film scores. Early life Hayasaka was born in the city of Sendai on the main Japanese island of Honshū. In 1918, Hayasaka and his family moved to Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaidō. In 1933, Hayasaka and Akira Ifukube organized the New Music League, which held a new music festival the year after. Hayasaka won a number of prizes for his early concert works; in 1935, his piece Futatsu no sanka e no zensōkyoku won first prize in a radio competition, and another concert piece, Kodai no bukyoku, won the 1938 Weingartner Prize. Other early works include a Nocturne (1936) for piano and the orchestral Ancient Dance (1938). In 1939, Hayasaka moved to Tokyo to begin a career as film composer. By early 1940, Hayasaka was seen as “a major composer for Japanese Cinema”. Post-War film music After the war, Hayasaka continued working on films, quickly winning recognition for his abilities. In 1946, he received the film music award for An Enemy of the People (Minshū no Teki, 1946) at the first annual Mainichi Film Awards. The year after, 1947, Hayasaka received the Mainichi film music award for Teinosuke Kinugasa’s Actress (Joyu). In the late 19

Go Ichinose

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Go Ichinose (一之瀬剛, Ichinose Gō) is a Japanese composer who works for the video game development company Game Freak. He is best known for composing for the Pokémon series. Early life and education When Ichinose was in kindergarten his parents forced him to attend a music class and a swimming school. He disliked the swimming classes, crying until he didn’t have to attend anymore. He stayed in the music classes but was unable to advance to higher levels because he never did his homework. Ichinose switched to the piano and until junior high he refused to practice pieces that he didn’t like. If he liked a piece he would practice it a lot even if it was difficult, Chopin’s being his favorites to play. He started to get into video game music around this time and would record the music and then play them on the piano. Many of the tracks he played on his piano were songs from a record that was played to him as an unborn child. Career In 1993 Ichinose started working for Game Freak part-time to study programming and get qualifications. His programming didn’t have much progress as he was making music instead. He began making music for Pokémon Gold and Silver and has stayed on the sound team

Go Sakabe

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is a Japanese composer and arranger. He has provided the music for several anime series, such as Date A Live and Digimon Adventure tri., as well as television dramas and movies—especially tokusatsu—, such as the Kamen Rider series. His works also include opening and ending theme songs for many series and video games. Biography Sakabe was born in Japan, in 1982. Sakabe’s musician career started in 2005, with him involved in writing songs for other artists. In 2007, he made his debut as a series composer with the opening theme song “I Say Yes” from the season 2 of the anime The Familiar of Zero. Works Anime Television dramas Movies Video games References External links * * Discography at VGMdb * *

H-Wonder

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H-Wonder is a Japanese music arranger and composer. He debuted in 1995. In June 1998, he stopped being a solo artist and changed his name to H-Wonder and became a composer. One of his notable collaborations is with Maaya Sakamoto and BoA. Discography Singles * Subete Konomama Dakishimereba - 24 March 1995 * Ready Steady Go! - 23 August 1995 * Mystic Eyes - 24 April 1996 (Ending theme for the anime series The Vision of Escaflowne) * Sugita Koi no Ato - 7 November 1996 * Dawn - 21 February 1997 * Chocolate Parfait - 17 December 1997 * Kitto Daijobu - 1 April 1998 * Happy - 30 September 1998 (Only sold in Hokkaido) Albums * Dawn-bright - 24 April 1997 * Wonder Hero 2: Brand New Atlas - 21 June 1996 * Wonder Hero - 21 April 1995 Collaborations * On/Off - Arranger ** - Opening for Vampire Knight * Maaya Sakamoto - Composer and arranger ** - Ending for Tsubasa Chronicle ** ** “Action!” - Opening theme for Clamp in Wonderland 2 ** ** “That is to Say!” - Follow me Up Album * BoA - Composer and arranger for some songs ** “Every Heart (Minna no Kimochi)” - Arranger ** “Beside You (Boku o Yobu Koe)” - Arranger ** “Quincy” - Arranger ** “Key of Heart” - Composer and arranger ** “Beautiful Flow

Haruka Nakamura (composer)

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Haruka Nakamura, (stylized haruka nakamura) is a Japanese composer, producer, pianist, and guitarist who lives in Tokyo. Across his music career, Nakamura has worked with the likes of Nujabes, Aimer, and Ichiko Aoba, among others. Nakamura started his professional music career by uploading music to MySpace. He is now signed to the Singaporean label ‘KITCHEN. LABEL’. He has composed for brands like The North Face as well as for television and anime, including Hikikomori Sensei, Trigun Stampede, and the film adaptation of Look Back. Early life Nakamura was born in Aomori Prefecture in 1982. While living there, he picked up piano at age 5 and guitar in middle school. He began uploading music to the social media and music sharing platform MySpace in 2006. Career Nakamura released his first studio album, Grace, in 2008. Some of Nakamura’s compositions could be described as downtempo electronica or Nujabes-inspired jazzy hiphop such as his 2010 appearance on the tribute album Modal Soul Classics II, 2011’s posthumous Spiritual State, and his own record, 2013’s Melodica. Meanwhile Haruka Nakamura’s earliest and newer work has generally stuck to an evergreen sound inspired by jazz, romanti

Haruna Miyake

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is a Japanese pianist and composer, who also uses the name Haruna Shibata. She was born in Tokyo and studied music there, making her debut as a pianist at age 14 playing Mozart with the Tokyo Symphony orchestra. She continued her studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, and afterward worked as a pianist and composer, touring in the United States. She often collaborates with pianist and composer Yuji Takahashi. Her composition Poem for String Orchestra received the Edward Benjamin Award. Works Miyake combines Japanese and Western idiom, and often uses traditional Japanese instruments in her compositions. Selected works include: *Why Not, My Baby? for soprano, piano and trumpet *Shiyoku *Piano Concerto *Fantasy for Milky Way Railroad *Phantom of a Flower References

Hashimoto Kunihiko

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(September 14, 1904 – May 6, 1949) was a Japanese composer, violinist, conductor, and musical educator. Biography Hashimoto was born in the Hongō district of Tokyo. In 1923, he entered the Tokyo Music School (presently Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music) where he studied violin and conducting. In composition, he was largely self-taught, but later he would study that subject as a graduate student at the same school. Initially, he was active as a composer and arranger, but he soon made himself a name as an accomplished teacher, and in 1933 was appointed as professor at his alma mater. Some of his students who would go on to become distinguished composers in their own right were Akio Yashiro, Yasushi Akutagawa, Ikuma Dan, and Toshiro Mayuzumi. Between 1934 and 1937, he visited Wien as a Japanese government scholar to study with Egon Wellesz. During this period, he was introduced to the likes of Alban Berg, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Bruno Walter. Before returning, he also made a sojourn to Los Angeles, where he studied with Arnold Schoenberg. In February 1949, Hashimoto converted to Catholicism. He died at age 44 on May 6, 1949, in Kamakura from gastric cancer. List of wor

Henry Kawahara

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Henry Kawahara (Japanese: ヘンリー川原; 1961–2012), real name Yoshifumi Kawahara (Japanese: 川原義文), was a Japanese composer of avant-garde music. His music was an eclectic blend of experimental electronic, exotica and new age music. He referred to his music as “cyber-occult”. Biography According to the notes for Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm, Kawahara was born in Fukuoka. Kawahara was very active in the 1990s, releasing at least 23 albums. However, his work fell into obscurity because they were sold at occult book stores instead of music stores. Some of Kawahara’s albums had anonymous front and back covers, such as the Horoscope Sounds and Love Meditation series, with his involvement only noted within the liner notes; according to Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm 2: Other Sides of Henry Kawaharas liner notes, there may be more of these uncredited Henry Kawahara albums lying undiscovered. He was closely tied to occult bookstore Hachiman (:ja:八幡書店). He also worked with the new age label Green Energy, where he would produce albums for others as well. His albums were produced to accompany the Stargazer, an LED device he helped invent The occult themes that Kawahara explored do not refer to the

Hidemaro Konoye

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Viscount was a Japanese conductor and composer of classical music. He was the younger brother of pre-war Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe. Biography Konoye was born in Kōjimachi, Tokyo. He was the younger son of Duke Konoe Atsumaro, scion of one of the Five Regent Houses of the Fujiwara clan. The Konoe clan traditionally provided gagaku musicians to the Imperial Household. Despite this, Konoye pursued music over the objections of his family, who wished for him a career in politics. His decision was supported by his older brother, Fumimaro. Konoye attended the Gakushuin Peers School, where he became close friends with Takashi Inukai. Around this time, Konoye frequently visited the Tokyo Music School and was privately educated by Kosaku Yamada. After graduating from Gakushuin, he matriculated at Tokyo Imperial University to study literature, but lost interest and eventually withdrew. At the age of 25, he decided to go to Europe to study music. He studied in Paris under Vincent d’Indy and Berlin under Franz Schreker. He also studied conducting under Erich Kleiber, and Karl Muck. In 1924, he conducted at the Berlin Philharmonic. After spending a year a half, he returned to Japan

Hideyuki Fukasawa

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is a Japanese composer, best known for his work on the video game Street Fighter IV. Career Born in Tokyo, Fukasawa began learning piano when he was in elementary school. At the age of 10, he listened to the soundtrack of the anime film Swan Lake, which led him to be influenced by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. When in high school, Fukasawa began playing synthesizer, guitar, bass and drums. In 1991, he started his career as a synthesizer programmer. Since then, he has been involved in many works, mainly composing and arranging music for video game and anime. Fukasawa worked on the 2003 game Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny under lead composer Taro Iwashiro, sampling various traditional Japanese instruments for the soundtrack. His involvement in Onimusha 2 led to him being chosen as composer for Chaos Legion, which released the same year. Fukasawa would later serve as the in-game composer for Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, which released in 2006, with Jamie Christopherson composing for the cutscenes. Fukasawa was influenced by Taro Iwashiro’s compositions for Onimusha 2, and sought to create strong and rich melodies. The arranging of old character themes put Fukasawa under p

Hifumi Shimoyama

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Hifumi Shimoyama ( Shimoyama Hifumi; born 21 June 1930 in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture) is a Japanese composer of contemporary concert music. Since the 1960s, Shimoyama’s music has been regularly featured on World Music Days festivals across Europe and Asia, and sponsored by the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). Shimoyama is the founder of GROUP 20.5, the internationally recognized group of Japanese avant garde composers. Selected compositions Shimoyama’s works are published by Academia Music, Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, Japan Federation of Composers, Mieroprint, Ongaku no Tomo-sha. ;Orchestral * Reflection (リフレクション) for 3 string orchestras (1968) * Zone (ゾーン) for 16 string players (1970) * Fūmon II (風紋II) for orchestra and tape (1974) * Yūgenism (ユーゲニズム) for orchestra (1988–1989) * Doubridge (だぶりっじ) for string orchestra (1995) ;Concertante * Wave (ウェーヴ) for cello, string ensemble, harp, piano and percussion (1972, revised 1998) * Concerto for cello and orchestra (1984) * Yūgenism No. 2 (ユーゲニズム第2番) for clarinet, string orchestra and percussion (1998) * Concerto for violin and orchestra (2003) * Knob (ノブ) for bass clarinet and 14 players ;Chamber music * String Quarte

Hijiri Kuwano

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is a Japanese violinist, composer and arranger. Hijiri began taking violin lessons at age 6 and studied under Yonosuke Ishii, Shizuko Ishii and Chikashi Tanaka. While attending Tokyo University of the Arts, he performed as a guest concert master at Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra and Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. Before graduating from the university, he became interested in playing non-classical music and started performing with Toshihito Nakanishi, who inspired him in many ways. Hijiri also started his career as a composer when he produced an album published together with a photobook by Kenji Ishikawa, Moonlight Blue. Hijiri handled string arrangements for albums and movies for Kome Kome Club and started his career as an arranger as well. Hijiri worked on recordings, concerts with various artists, movies and video games as a soloist and with “Hijiri Kuwano strings group”. He is credited in Whisper of the Heart, Shall We Dance, Nobody Knows, Kind of Love, Melody of Oblivion, Good Luck Girl!, Final Fantasy XIII and numerous other productions as a performer, composer and arranger. He is also known as an original violin player for the battle theme “Blinded by Light” in Square Enix

Hikari Ōe

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is a Japanese composer. He is the son of Japanese author and Nobel Prize laureate Kenzaburō Ōe and Yukari Ikeuchi, and the nephew of director Juzo Itami. Biography Hikari Ōe was born autistic and developmentally disabled. Doctors tried to convince his parents to let their son die, but they refused to do so. Even after an operation, Ōe remained visually impaired, developmentally delayed, epileptic and with limited physical coordination. He does not speak much. Ōe’s parents report that his first response to a particular sound was when he was watching TV with his parents, and there was the sound of a bird singing, which he responded to. His parents were fascinated. They bought him a record with tracks of bird calls, in which a woman would say the name of each bird before the song of the bird would play. He listened to this record. Walking with his parents near their vacation home one day, they heard a bird singing, and he then imitated the voice of the woman who presented the bird songs in his child’s records. This was how they got the idea to recruit a music teacher for Ōe. His parents arranged a piano teacher, Kumiko Tamura, for him. Instead of speaking, Ōe began to express his feel

Hikaru Hayashi

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was a Japanese composer, pianist and conductor. Hayashi is considered to be one of the most renowned and accomplished Japanese composers of the postwar period. In particular, Hayashi was noted for his choral suite Scenes from Hiroshima (1958–2001). In exploring the possibilities of Japanese language opera, Hayashi composed more than 30 operas. He was artistic director and resident composer of the Opera Theatre Konnyakuza. His oeuvre also includes symphonic works, works for band, chamber music, choral works, songs and more than 100 film scores. Hayashi was also the author of more than 20 books including Nihon opera no yume (日本オペラの夢 The Dream of Japanese Opera). In 1998 Hayashi won the 30th Suntory Music Award. Early life Hikaru Hayashi was born in Tokyo on October 22, 1931. He was the cousin of renowned flautist Ririko Hayashi. Hayashi’s father was a physician who had graduated from Keiō University Medical School, and had studied in Berlin before returning to Japan to take up a position as a professor at Nihon University. A musical prodigy, Hayashi began studying music under his father’s friend, the famed composer Hisatada Otaka, at the age of 10, composing numerous full-length cham

Hinako Takagi

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Hinako Takagi (born 1989) is a Japanese composer and pianist. She is a lecturer in composition at the Osaka College of Music. In 2019, she became the second Japanese to win first prize in the composition category of the Geneva International Music Competition. Her award-winning work “L’instant” was selected as a task piece in the oboe section of the same competition held in 2021. Biography Takagi was born and raised in Hyogo, Japan. In junior high, she was asked to compose a song for her class for a school event. The experience inspired her to be interested in music composition. She majored in piano in high school, and enrolled in composition major in university. In her freshman year, she received an assignment from her teacher, Yoko Kubo, to compose “100 variations of the same piece in one year.” She later said that she learned the basics of composition from this assignment. She studied composition with Yoko Kubo and Allain Gaussin. In 2012 she was appointed as a lecturer at Osaka College of Music in Osaka, Japan. She has organized many small concerts with new musical arrangements to engage people’s interest in contemporary music. In 2019, she composed a pantonality song called “My

Hiro Fujikake

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Hiroyuki Fujikake (born 1949), also known by his pen name Hiro Fujikake, is a Japanese composer, conductor and synthesizer player. Life Hiro Fujikake was born in 1949 in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. In 1964 he began his musical studies at the High School. Later he attended the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music in Aichi where he studied composition for four years to complete his bachelor’s degree. He studied a further three years to get the Master of Music at the same university. Fujikake has won numerous awards for his compositions. Such as the Ongaku-no-tomo Composition Prize for “Two Poems for Chorus” in 1970. The second prize of the NHK Mainichi Music Competition for “Threnody” in 1974. The All Japan Band Association’s Test Piece Composition Prize for “Concertino Overture” in 1975. The Japan Mandolin Union Composition Prize for “Pastoral Fantasy” in 1975. The first prize at the Sasagawa competition for “Nostalgic Rhapsody” in 1975 and “Chaconne” in 1976. Japan Symphony Foundation’s Composition Prize for “The Song of Spring” in 1990. The Grand Prix at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Belgium for the symphonic work “The Rope Crest” in 1977. His compositional a

Hiroaki Tsutsumi

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is a Japanese musician and composer best known for his work on various anime television series. He started his musical career at the age of 14 when he first started playing the guitar. After winning a guitar contest three years later, he decided to become a professional musician and later graduated from Kunitachi College of Music. In 2013, he was given the role of lead composer for the first time with Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation. Since Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation, he has composed many series, including Dr. Stone, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Teasing Master Takagi-san. Biography Hiroaki Tsutsumi was born in Tokyo on June 5, 1985, and began his musical career when he first started playing the guitar at the age of 14 after many of his peers started playing the instrument themselves. After practicing under guidance from and graduating from high school, he attended and later graduated from Kunitachi College of Music. In 2021, Jujutsu Kaisen won Anime of the Year at the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which Tsutsumi also co-composed. Works TV series * Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation (2013) (composer with Kenji Kaneko and Masaru Yokoyama) * Lance N’ Masques (2015) (compo

Hiroaki Zakōji

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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

Hiroki Kikuta

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is a Japanese composer and game designer. His major works are Secret of Mana, Trials of Mana, Soukaigi, and Koudelka, for which he also acted as producer and concept designer. He has composed music for seven other games, and worked as a concept designer in addition to composer for the unreleased MMORPG Chou Bukyo Taisen. He became interested in music at an early age, but earned a degree in Religious Studies, Philosophy, and Cultural Anthropology from Kansai University. He spent the next few years working first as a manga illustrator, then as a composer for anime series, before coming to work for Square in 1991. After composing the soundtracks for his first three best-known works, he formed his own video game production company, Sacnoth, for which he was the president and CEO. After producing and composing Koudelka in 1999, he left to become a freelance composer. Since his departure he has formed his own record label, Norstrilia, through which he produces albums of his own compositions and collaborations with other artists, as well as his previous scores. His music has been performed in concerts such as the Symphonic Fantasies concerts in Cologne, Germany in September 2009, and sele

Hiromori Hayashi

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was a Japanese composer credited with composing the Japanese national anthem “Kimigayo”. Life and career He held several positions in the royal court starting in his youth. He moved to Tokyo after the Meiji Restoration and in 1875 helped carry out 1875 orders to fuse Western musical theory with Japanese theory. The final version of the anthem was first played for Emperor Meiji for his birthday, on 3 November 1880. Sources conflict over who composed the music. Historian Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney writes, “The composer is nominally identified as Hayashi Hiromori, a musician at the Imperial Court, but Oku Yoshiisa, who worked under Hayashi, is believed to have composed the music, with some rearrangement by Franz Eckert (1852–1916).” The melody that Hayashi was credited for replaced an arrangement by John William Fenton, a visiting Irish military band leader, that was rejected in 1870. The Court then adopted a new melody composed by Yoshiisa Oku and Akimori Hayashi. The composer is often listed as Hiromori Hayashi, who was their supervisor and Akimori’s father. Akimori was also one of Fenton’s pupils. The German musician Franz Eckert applied the melody with Western style harmony. References

Hiroshi Asai

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(born 26 April 1978) is a Japanese arranger, musician and composer for the Giza Studio label. He is a former member of band The★tambourines. Since 2012 he is a member of the instrumental band Sensation. He arranged music for artists such as Miho Komatsu, U-ka Saegusa in dB, Mai Kuraki, Shiori Takei and many others from the Giza Studio label. He did back vocals for Rina Aiuchi. He participated in live concerts for artist such as Zard’s since 1999, Koshi Inaba’s solo live tours, Marie Ueda and Garnet Crow Symphonic Concert 2010 ~~All Lovers~~. He is active as an arranger and player as of 2020. List of provided works as a composer Akane Sugazaki *Promises List of provided works as a lyricist Aya Kamiki *Sakura E Hayami Kishimoto *Yes or No? *from you from me List of provided works as an arranger Miho Komatsu *Camouflage *Kamisama wa Jitto Miteru U-ka Saegusa in dB *Smile & Tears *Ryuusei no Nostalgia Ai Takaoka *Nemurenai Yoru Marie Ueda *Hanamonage *Shihaisha *Tomoshibi *Journey *Romantika Shiori Takei *Yasashii Hizashi *Ano Umi ga Mietara *Futari no Sunny Day *Ryuusei *At Eighteen *Shiosai Letter Saasa *Saite Hiraite *Uso, *eyes to eyes *Over The Rainbow *Naturally Mai Kuraki *Love, N

Hiroshi Itsuki

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is a Japanese singer and composer. As of 1987, he had sold 20 million singles and 4 million LP albums. Itsuki is usually regarded as an enka singer, but he has also released a cover version of Southern All Stars’ J-pop song “Tsunami”. Career In 1965, Itsuki debuted under the stage name “Masaru Matsuyama,” but did not initially achieve commercial success. Although he changed his stage name to “Eiichi Ichijō” in 1967, and then to “Ken Mitani” in 1969, there was no improvement in his music’s commercial sales. In 1971, he changed his name to “Hiroshi Itsuki” and was given the song by Masaaki Hirao. Written by lyricist Yoko Yamaguchi, “Yokohama Tasogare” reached the top of the Oricon weekly single chart. His 2006 single “Takasebune” debuted at number 9 on the Oricon charts, becoming his first Top 10 single in 22 years, since his 1984 single “Nagaragawa Enka”. In 2008, he was featured in Morning Musume’s Cover You album. He sang “Izakaya” with Ai Takahashi. Also in 2008, he collaborated with the girl group Cute, letting them record the song “Edo no Temari Uta”, which he himself was planning to include in his end-of-year album. Cute’s producer Tsunku liked the song and thought that if per

Hiroshi Kawaguchi (composer)

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is a Japanese video game music composer and keyboardist who works for Sega. He is among the oldest of the Sega sound team members, and one of the few from the 1980s still active today. He joined Sega in 1984 as a programmer before transferring to the sound department the following year. He is also known as Hiro and Hiroshi Miyauchi (宮内博史) (his pre-mukoyōshi name), and has been a part of both the S.S.T. Band and the sound unit H. , the latter of which he leads. He has also been a member of Chain Band, a hybrid between the groups H. and Sonic Adventure Music Experience. He worked closely with game designer Yu Suzuki and served as composer for some of the company’s most recognized series, such as Space Harrier, Out Run, and After Burner, and has contributed music to many others. He has often acted as a tutor to new Sega composers, such as Yasuhiro Takagi and Keitaro Hanada. Works References

Hiroyuki Yamamoto (composer)

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is a contemporary Japanese composer. Biography Hiroyuki Yamamoto was born in Yamagata Prefecture and grew up in Zushi, Kanagawa. He studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1990. He studied composition with Akira Kitamura, Jo Kondo, and Isao Matsushita. After graduating, he took a position at Iwate University in Morioka, Iwate. Yamamoto was invited to participate in the Forum 91 in 1991 at the Université de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His work was also performed at the International Gaudeamus Music Week in 1994. After he won the third prize of the Competition BMW Musica Viva in 1998, his selected work Canticum Tremulum I was premiered with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra of Munich in 2000. Yamamoto directed the Ensemble d’Ame in Tokyo from 1997–2000. Along with Haruyuki Suzuki, Yoshifumi Tanaka, Hiroshi Yokoshima and other Japanese composers, Yamamoto was a founding member of the composer’s group “Tempus Novum” in 1990. Awards *Third prize, The 58th Japan Music Competition in 1989 with the work Closed Figure *League of Practica Musica award in 1991 *Prize, 13th competition of the Japanese Group for Contemporary Music in 1996 for the piano work Fo

Hisatada Otaka

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Hisatada Otaka (Japanese: 尾高尚忠; 26 September 1911 – 16 February 1951) was a Japanese composer and conductor. He was the conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra from 1942 to 1951. Otaka was born in Japan and studied in musical arts early, however he dropped out of high school and moved to Vienna for six years for conducting and composing, during his studies in Vienna he became friends with Andrzej Panufnik and started composing works. In 1940, Otaka moved back to Japan where he took the role as conductor for the NHK Symphony Orchestra, become a music teacher and compose most of his significant works such as his Symphony and Cello Concerto, however his life came to an abrupt end at the age of 39, leaving an unfinished Flute Concerto rewrite which one of his students, Hikaru Hayashi, would take on and complete. When Otaka died he left behind three children, all of whom play his work regularly particularly the youngest son Tadaaki Otaka. In 1953, the NHK Symphony Orchestra created the Otaka Prize, which is named after Hisatada Otaka for his role in helping the orchestra. Otaka had written one of the first Japanese cello concertos and the first Japanese flute concerto, the latter being

Hisato Ohzawa

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(August 1, 1907—October 28, 1953) was a Japanese composer and conductor. Renewed interest in his work reflects the view that he was one of the preeminent Japanese composers of his day. Biography One of the foremost Japanese composers of the first half of the twentieth century, he grew up in Kobe, studying piano, organ and choral singing. He moved to the United States in 1930 to study composition with Frederick Converse and Carl McKinley at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music, also taking some lessons with Arnold Schoenberg. It was in America that his early works were composed: The Little Symphony (1932), his First Piano Concerto, his First Symphony, and a Double Bass Concerto (dedicated to Koussevitzky). He was the first Japanese musician who conducted Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1934 he moved to Paris and continued his studies, composing his Second Symphony and his Second Piano Concerto. He returned to Japan in 1936, where his works were met with mixed reactions, being technically too difficult for Japanese orchestras of the time, and being in a fairly modern style. Due to the increasing international tension of the time, he was less and less able to trav

Hitomi Kaneko

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Hitomi Kaneko (金子仁美) is a female Japanese classical music composer. Background Born in Japan in 1965, Ms. Kaneko graduated from the composition class at Toho Gakuen School of Music in 1988, and completed postgraduate studies in 1994. She went to study in France with a French Government scholarship in 1990. She then began to study at the Paris Conservatoire. She also attended the Summer Music Festivals in Avignon and Darmstadt with scholarships in 1992. In September 1997, she went to Paris to study at IRCAM. She is at present a full-time professor of Toho Gakuen School of Music. Awards and prizes * First Prize in the 6th Competition of French-Japanese Contemporary Composition (1988) * First Prize for Composition in the 59th Japan Music Competition (1990) * E. Nakamichi Prize (1990) * Awarded the 9th Muramatsu Prize (January 1997) Compositions Orchestral works * 悲しみの自乗 Tristesse (for orchestra)(1989)(First Prize and the E. Nakamichi Prize at the 59th Japan Music Competition, 1990): 8’ * ラ・ピエス La Piece (for 15 Players)(1993/94): 10’ * フルート協奏曲 Concerto (for Flute and Orchestra)(1995): 14’ * ル・プロセシュス Le Processus (for 15 Players)(1996): 15’ * 気配尺八とオーケストラのための Kehai (for Shakuhachi and

Ichirō Fujiyama

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, born , was a Japanese singer and composer, known for his contribution to Japanese popular music called ryūkōka by his Western classical music skills. He was born in Chūō, Tokyo, and graduated from the Tokyo Music School. Although he was regarded as a tenor singer in Japanese popular music, he was originally a classical baritone singer. He also acted in various films, and was a close friend of Minoru Matsuya (1910–1995). His workroom has been reproduced inside the “NHK museum of broadcasting” as an exhibit. Life and career Fujiyama was born Takeo Masunaga in a store in Nihonbashi. He entered the Tokyo Music School and learned Western musical theory under German-born musician Klaus Pringsheim Sr. However, his home had the debt because of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. As ryūkōka singer “Ichirō Fujiyama”, he signed with Nippon Columbia, though singing ryūkōka was a taboo for his school. Meeting composer Masao Koga, he debuted with song “Camp Kouta”. Fujiyama and Koga also recorded “Sake wa Namida ka Tameiki ka”. The song was released and became a big hit in 1931. One theory holds that “Sake wa Namida ka Tameiki ka” sold more than one million copies. Although Fujiyama immediately b

Ikuma Dan

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was a Japanese composer. Dan was born in Tokyo, the descendant of a prominent family, his grandfather Baron Dan Takuma having been President of Mitsui before being assassinated in 1932. He graduated from Aoyama Gakuin and Tokyo Music School in 1946. He studied with teachers including Kosaku Yamada, Kunihiko Hashimoto, Kan’ichi Shimofusa, Saburō Moroi, and Midori Hosokawa. During his career he completed six symphonies, all recorded and released on the Decca label in Japan, and wrote seven operas as well as a number of filmscores, and many songs. He wrote celebratory music for the Japanese imperial family, actively promoted cultural exchange with China (from 1979 until his death in Suzhou, China, in 2001), and received the commission to write an opera (Takeru) for the 1997 opening of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, Japan’s main opera house. Dan is known in Japan for his 1951 opera Yūzuru (Twilight Crane), which is regularly revived there. Honors * 19th Yomiuri Prize, 1968 * Japan Foundation Award, 1998 Works Stage * Yūzuru (Twilight Crane), opera in 1 act, text by Junji Kinoshita, (Osaka, 1952) * Kikimimizukin (The Listening Cap), opera in 3 acts, text by Junji Kinoshita (Osaka, 195

Ikurō Fujiwara

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is a Japanese pianist, composer, conductor and musical producer signed under Being Inc. He is Pops Executive Producer in the Pacific Philharmonia Tokyo orchestra. Biography Ikurō started learning piano and composing from an early age. He studied composition under Yoshio Hasegawa, Akira Kitamura, Hajime Kaburagi, Kiyohiko Kishima, and Tsuyoshi Yanagisawa; piano under Shihoko Uno, Kazuko Yasukawa, Michiko Jackson; conducting under Shigenobu Yamaoka and Konstantin D. Crimets. In 1976, Ikurō graduated from “Nihon University College of Art”. In 1980s, his name appeared in the credit list of the various albums of the artist as arranger and keyboardist. At the beginning of 90’s, he would focus his career more into composing and arranging music for the video gameseries Wizardry. In 1996, he was member of the Japanese band W’s as keyboardist, composer and arranger. From 1998, he has been active as an orchestral conductor and arranger for symphonic live series started firstly for Akina Nakamori, in the recent years by public well known for Mai Kuraki, Aska and Luna Sea. Since the 2000s, he started to release his original albums under subtitles “Densetsu” and “Eternal Animation Healing” music

Isao Hayashi

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was a Japanese popular music and military music singer and composer. He took part in the Japan’s famous year-end show Kōhaku Uta Gassen eleven times. One of the well-known songs composed by him is the military song . Biography Hayashi was born in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. In 1931, he debuted with song . He signed with the King Records label in 1936. Hayashi also composed Hachiro Kasuga’s “Nagasaki no Onna” and Michiya Mihashi’s “Ringo Mura Kara”. Hayashi served as the leader of the Japan Singers Association from 1989 to 1995. Discography * : 1937 * : 1939 * : 1950 * : 1954 * : 1955 References

Isao Tomita

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(often known simply as Tomita) was a Japanese composer regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music as well as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements. In addition to creating note-by-note realizations, Tomita made extensive use of the sound-design capabilities of his instrument, using synthesizers to create new sounds to accompany and enhance his electronic realizations of acoustic instruments. and trance-like rhythms. Many of his albums are electronic versions and adaptations of familiar classical music pieces. He received four Grammy Award nominations for his 1974 album based on music by Claude Debussy, Snowflakes Are Dancing. 1969-1979: Electronic music In the late 1960s, Tomita turned to electronic music with the impetus of Wendy Carlos and Robert Moog’s work with synthesizers. He acquired a Moog III synthesizer and began building his home studio. He eventually realized that synthesizers could be used to create entirely new sounds in addition to mimicking other instruments. In his early albums, Tomita also made effective use of analog music sequencers, which he used for pitch, filter or effects changes and processed Mellotron

Isotaro Sugata

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Isotaro Sugata (Japanese: 須賀田礒太郎 Sugata, Isotaro; Yokohama, 15 November 1907 – Tanuma, Tochigi, 5 July 1952) was a Japanese composer. Biography Sugata received his education with missionaries in Kanto Gakuin University. There he was influenced by listening to hymns and received lessons for piano, violin, music theory and singing. In 1927 he acquired tuberculosis and then concentrated solely on his composition studies. From 1928 he studied with Kosaku Yamada and Kiyoshi Nobutoki, who had studied in Berlin. Nobutoki taught him music theory in the German tradition. In 1931 he began studies with Meiro Sugahara, who believed that German music was not a good model for Japanese composers who wanted to compose in Western style with Japanese sensibility, on the principles of Gagaku, Buddhist music and Kabuki music. He considered French, Italian and Russian music more appropriate for the Japanese mentality, because it offers more flexible sounds by using Whole tone and Japanese scales. Sugahara gave the advice to Sugata that composers such as Shiro Fukai were better than the works of Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Ottorino Respighi and Darius Milhaud to study. As a result, S

Jō Kondō

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Jō Kondō (近藤譲; surname Kondō; born 28 October 1947 in Tokyo) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. Kondo studied composition from 1968 to 1972 with Yoshio Hasegawa and Hiroaki Minami at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He won the third prize and made his debut in Japan-Germany Contemporary Music Festival in 1969. He serves as Professor of Music at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo and also teaches at Tokyo University of Arts and Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima. His interests include hocket, the music of Ancient Greece, and strong differences in instrumental timbre, all of which are reflected in his compositions. The chamber version of his 1975 composition Sight Rhythmics reflects the latter in its unusual instrumentation of violin, banjo, steel drum, electric piano, and tuba, for example. His opera Hagoromo, based on a Noh play and premiered in Florence in 1994, is the unique case in which his music blends western techniques with oriental traditions. In 1978, he spent a year in New York City with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. While there, he became personally acquainted with a number of avant-garde American composers, includ

Joe Hisaishi

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, known professionally as , is a Japanese composer, musical director, conductor and pianist, known for over 100 film scores and solo albums dating back to 1981. Hisaishi’s music has been known to explore and incorporate different genres, including minimalist, experimental electronic, Western classical, and Japanese classical. He has also worked as a music engraver and arranger. He has been associated with director and animator Hayao Miyazaki since 1984, having written scores for all but one of Miyazaki’s films. He is also recognized for his music for filmmaker ‘Beat’ Takeshi Kitano, including A Scene at the Sea (1991), Sonatine (1993), Kids Return (1996), Hana-bi (1997), Kikujiro (1999), Brother (2000), and Dolls (2002), and for the video game series Ni no Kuni. He composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Departures (2008). He was a student of anime composer Takeo Watanabe. Life and career Early life Hisaishi was born in Nakano, Nagano, Japan, as . He started learning the violin at the age of four using the Suzuki method, and began watching hundreds of movies each year with his father. He attended the Kunitachi College of Music in 1969, where he majored in music composition, a

Joji Yuasa

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was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. Early life and education Joji Yuasa was born in Kōriyama, Fukushima on 12 August 1929, and was a self-taught composer. He first became interested in music while a pre medical student at Keio University, and in 1952 he joined a young artists’ group Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop, 1951–1957) in Tokyo, an organization for the exploration of new directions in the arts, including multimedia. Career From 1981 to 1994 he was a music researcher and professor at the University of California, San Diego, where was later professor emeritus. He also served as a guest professor at the Tokyo College of Music from 1981, a professor at Nihon University from 1993, and an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Yuasa is the recipient of a 1996 Suntory Music Award. Yuasa wrote a wide range of compositions, including orchestral, choral and chamber music, music for theatre, and intermedia, electronic and computer music. His style has been described as “consistent explorations of a distinctive, maverick yet elegant voice” that has elements of twelve tone, impressionism, romantic, and traditional classical compositio

Jun Ishikawa (composer)

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, sometimes known as Mushio Funazawa, is a Japanese composer. Along with Hirokazu Ando, Ishikawa is best known for composing for the Kirby video game series. He left series studio HAL Laboratory in 2023 but has continued to compose for Kirby games. Early life Ishikawa started taking piano lessons aged 3-4, but felt he could never become good at it despite practice. Later, he discovered artists such as Paul Mauriat, Isao Tomita, Kraftwerk, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Brian Eno. He also purchased a Roland SH-2, as he wanted fellow students to get into Tomita’s music, but the synth was the cheapest he could afford. Later he attended Nihon University’s College of Art, studying film music. As a student, he gained experience with recording and mixing for a theater, while occasionally writing what he considered to be poor pieces of music. HAL Laboratory Ishikawa worked at two companies prior to joining HAL Laboratory. He eventually found an advertisement for a sound creator job at HAL; although he had not previously heard of this profession before, he decided to apply for it, which led to him joining in 1990. His first work was composing one track and sound effects for Uchuu Keibitai SDF,

Jun Miyake

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Jun Miyake (Japanese: Hepburn: , January 7, 1958, in Kyoto) is a Japanese composer. His music (e.g., the songs “Lilies in the Valley” and “The Here and After”) was used in the film Pina, nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature in January 2012. He has also been awarded by the German critic’s award, Der Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, as Best Album of the Year for his last three albums, Stolen from Strangers, Lost Memory Theatre act-1, and Lost Memory Theatre act-2. Miyake has now released 17 solo albums, and has worked on films, documentaries, dances, advertisement, and theatre pieces. His main instruments include the trumpet, flugelhorn, melodica, piano, keyboard, fender rhodes, and programming. Career Miyake was discovered by Japanese jazz trumpeter Terumasa Hino. He studied at Berklee College of Music from 1976 to 1981; in 1981, he won the prize at the Massachusetts Artist Foundation award for his composition. After returning to Tokyo, he became a working musician, composer, and producer. In 1983, he released his first album “June Night Love”, which includes two tracks used in the TDK TV commercial starring Andy Warhol. He would work on over 3,000 T

Jun Yamaguchi

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is a Japanese composer ISCM World Music Days 2001 Yokohama (2001, selection) and the 72nd Japan Music Competition (2003, finalist). In July 2001, he came to the United States under a grant from the Asian Cultural Council and remained in New York City until June 2002. In April 2006 he matriculated in the Graduate School of Design, Kyushu University (science of sound culture studies in acoustic design program) and studied with Shigenobu Nakamura. He received a M.A. in Design, Kyushu University in March 2008. Main works *Incarnation No.2 for Organ (1992) *Density of the breezing air No.1 for Flute, Clarinet, Trombone, Vibraphone and Piano (1995) *Incarnation No.4 for Piano (1996) *Incarnation No.5 for Trumpet player (1996) *SACRIFICE for 2 Violins (1996) *Density of the breezing air No.2 for Tenor Saxophone, Violin, Percussion, and Piano (1996) *A Garden with Turning Breezes No.1 for Shō and 6 players (1997) *String quartet No.1 (1997) *Morphogenesis No.1 (Dance(s) No.1) for Soprano and Sampling Sound (1998) *Dance(s) No.2 for Trombone and Contrabass (1998) *Dance(s) No.3 foe Soprano and Strings ensemble (1998–1999) *Interlude / the prayer and fetal movement - rest on the basis of Req

Junko Mori (composer)

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Junko (Yanai) Mori (, born 13 February 1948) is a Japanese composer and music educator. Biography Junko Mori was born in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, and attended the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in music in 1971. She continued her studies in composition with Tomojiro Ikenouchi, Akio Yashiro, and Teizo Matsumura, and graduated with a Master of Music degree in composition in 1975, and a Master of Music in and musicology and solfeggio in 1978. After completing her studies, she worked as a music teacher and composer. Selected works ;Stage *Kyakyukyokekyongu torimono-chō (キャキュキョケキョングとりもの帖), Chamber Opera (1997) *Keraseki-kin dai-kansō (ケラ咳菌大感染), Chamber Opera in 2 acts (1997) *Kitakaze no wasureta hankachi (北風のわすれたハンカチ), Opera in 1 act, 2 scenes (1998) *Nijihige-kō to nanairo no tsuma (虹ひげ公と七色の妻), Opera in 1 act, 18 scenes (1998) *Kazura-sō no kidan (かずら荘綺譚 The Strange Tale of Kazura House), Mono-Opera (2001) *Tori ni sarawareta musume (鳥にさらわれた娘) (2003); libretto by Rubie Usagi (宇佐木るび枝) after the story by Naoko Awa (安房直子) *Akisu ni go-yōshin (空巣にご用心), Opera (2003); libretto by Rubie Usagi (宇佐木るび枝) *Mia wa izuko e (ミアはいずこへ), Opera (2

Junpei Fujita

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is a Japanese arranger and composer, and a founding member of Elements Garden. His work includes composition and arrangement of some tracks of singles and albums of Nana Mizuki He also arranged music from the PC version of the visual novel Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka. He married singer Suara in 2009. Filmography Anime Video games References External links *Junpei Fujita profile at Elements Garden / Aria Music * * *Junpei Fujita profile at Oricon *Junpei Fujita at Video Game Music Database

Kan (musician)

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, known by his stage name Kan (commonly stylized as KAN), was a Japanese singer-songwriter. In 1983, he joined his first band, which was called Annette, before going solo in 1984. Kan wrote the background music for a 1986 film directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, and started his major recording career the following year. He is best known for the chart-topping hit “Ai wa Katsu”, released as a single in 1990. It sold over 2 million copies and won the 33rd Japan Record Award, bringing the artist into prominence. Subsequently, he spawned five top-ten singles and four top-ten albums on the Japanese record chart during the first half of the 1990s. As of 2010, Kan had released 33 singles and 15 studio albums. According to the Oricon, he sold over 4.6 million copies of albums and singles in his home country. Kan died of Meckel’s diverticulum cancer on November 12, 2023, at the age of 61. Discography Singles Albums ;Studio albums ;Live albums ;Compilation albums References External links *

Kan'ichi Shimofusa

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Kanichi Shimofusa (; March 31, 1898 - July 8, 1962) was a Japanese composer. Kanichi Shimofusa was born in Sunahara, Haramichi-mura, Saitama (now Ōtone, Saitama). He studied composition with Kiyoshi Nobutoki at Tokyo Music School (now Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, also called Geidai), where he graduated first on the list in 1920. Later, he studied with Paul Hindemith at Berlin University of the Arts in Germany, making him the forerunner of Brahms-Hindemith-descended German style at Tokyo Music School. His notable students at Tokyo Music School include Ikuma Dan, Makoto Sato, Yasushi Akutagawa, Mareo Ishiketa, Yuzo Toyama and ; his private students included Kunio Suda. Kanichi Shimofusa composed numerous nursery rhymes and government-approved music for music textbooks. He also composed a number of school songs for elementary, junior high, and high schools. The total number of his composition went over 1,000. His music style was unostentatious and steady. He became an associate professor at Tokyo Music School in 1934. He became a member of the textbook editorial committee of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture in 1940. He became a professor at T

Kanako Abe

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Kanako Abe (; born 23 March 1973 in Ōsaka, Ōsaka prefecture) is a Japanese conductor, composer and pianist. Based in The Hague, Netherlands, she has performed works by contemporary composers, including Tōru Takemitsu, Michaël Levinas, Régis Campo and Bushra El-Turk. Life and career Abe was born in Osaka in 1973 and received piano lessons from her mother from an early age. She attended music classes at Sōai University in Osaka, attended a high school affiliated with the music faculty of the Tokyo University of the Arts, and eventually studied composition at that university. This was followed by studies at the Paris Conservatory, which she completed in the seven subjects of harmony and harmony theory, counterpoint, fugue, instrumentation, composition analysis, instrumental accompaniment and conducting. Abe studied with renowned musicians, including composition with Masayuki Nagatomi, piano with Jean Körner, instrumentation with Marc-André Dalbavie, and conducting with János Fürst and Péter Eötvös. In 2005 she founded the music ensemble Multilatérale in Paris and worked as the ensemble’s musical director. In 2006 she attended the 50th Venice Biennale, where she conducted a performance

Katsuhisa Hattori

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was a Japanese classical composer who also wrote music for anime films, television series and OVAs. Hattori was a respected composer in Japan; his style was classical, although he was experienced and respected in many other genres, such as New Age, Jazz, etc. He was the son of Ryoichi Hattori and the father of Takayuki Hattori, both musical composers as well. Besides being a composer, he was a producer and music supervisor for many years and had his own publishing company, Hattori Music Publishing. He was also a pianist, judge and chairman for the Tokyo music festivals. Biography Hattori was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 2000, his life and musical works were honored in an hour-long Japanese television special. He has conducted many famous orchestras, but most of his own compositions are performed by the acclaimed Tokyo Pops Orchestra. In 1989, Katsuhisa Hattori and his son, Takayuki Hattori, who is also a composer, produced the first orchestrated Final Fantasy music CD for critically acclaimed video game music composer Nobuo Uematsu. The CD was performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and entitled “Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy”. In 1991, again at Nobuo Uematsu’s request, he produced t

Katsutoshi Nagasawa

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was a Japanese composer of classical music with a modern approach. Nagasawa composed for traditional Japanese musical instruments (e.g., Shakuhachi, Koto, Shamisen). Nagasawa was born in 1923 in Tokyo and graduated from Nihon University. He was one of the founding members of Pro Musica Nipponia (日本音楽集団) in 1964, a group of famous Japanese composers and musicians who aim at performing classical and contemporary compositions from both Japan and the West. The group’s music is performed by traditional Japanese musical instruments. From 1949, he was also the musical supervisor for the puppet theater “Puk.” In 1990, he received the Purple Ribbon Medal from the Japanese government. He has been part of six overseas tours with Pro Musica Nipponia. Major works *Two Dances for Japanese traditional music ensemble *One Day in Spring for Japanese traditional music ensemble *Shikyokyu for shakuhachi solo *Hoshun for shakuhachi and koto *Mayudama-no-uta for shakuhachi and koto *Quartet for koto and jushichigen *Two Pastorals for shakuhachi, koto and jushichigen References External links *The International Shakuhachi Society - Biography: Nagasawa Katsutoshi - 長沢勝俊 *Pro Musica Nipponia (日本音楽集団) *Ob

Kazuhiko Hattori

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Kazuhiko Hattori (服部和彦 Hattori Kazuhiko, born in 1944) is a Japanese composer, music critic and music producer. Career Born in 1944. Graduated from Nihon University (Department of Technology) in 1966. During the years 1976-1977, he visited Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to pursue his study of ethnic music. Centered on chamber music, his compositions range from solo, orchestral works, to music for the plays. His works of composition have been performed overseas; in the music festivals in Asia and Europe, and broadcast on the media. His chamber music compositions have been presented at the Festival of Asia Composers League seven times. Several ensembles and orchestras have requested for his compositions, and he has dedicated some works for them. As a music producer, he has produced Japan Contemporary Music Festival, 21st Century Chorus Festival, and series of performances of contemporary music from overseas. Over 40 years, he has studied East Asian philosophy, psychology, physics, biology, and his interdisciplinary research has been continued. Also, he has his career as a lecturer and a critic and as Chairman of the Japan International League of Artists, and head judge of the Toky

Kazuhiko Katō

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, nicknamed , was a Japanese record producer, songwriter and singer. He sometimes used the spelling of “Kazuhiko Katoh”. History As a member of the Folk Crusaders, Katō launched his recording career in the mid-1960s. “Kaettekita Yopparai (I Only Live Twice)”, their psychedelic debut song composed by Katō and released in 1967, sold more than 1.3 million copies in Japan, and became one of the best-selling singles of the early Japanese popular music industry. The group also starred in director Nagisa Oshima’s 1968 film Kaette kita yopparai (alternately known as Sinner in Paradise or Three Resurrected Drunkards). After the breakup of Folk Crusaders in 1970, Katō gained success for his production works for other musicians, including Shigeru Izumiya, Mariya Takeuchi, and Takuro Yoshida. In particular, Sadistic Mika Band, the acclaimed project he started with his first wife Mika Fukui, received international success. Their 1974 album entitled Kurofune (Black Ship) is regarded as one of the most significant Japanese rock albums of the mid-1970s. The group was disbanded and reassembled again several times, with new vocalists such as Yumi Matsutoya, Karen Kirishima, and Kaela Kimura. As a co

Kazuhiro Morita

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Kazuhiro Morita (森田一浩 or Morita Kazuhiro, born 1952 in Tokyo; died 2021) was a Japanese composer and arranger. Morita studied with Yoshio Hasegawa at the Tokyo University of the Arts. He is known as an arranger, reworking pieces like Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland, Galánta Dances by Zoltán Kodály, Don Juan and an excerpt from Salome by Richard Strauss, The Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók, Symphony No. 1 by Gustav Mahler, the second suite from the ballet Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice Ravel and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff. He is also noted for his arrangements of anime scores (including Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke, and Kiki’s Delivery Service ) and his original compositions. He taught at Shobi University. From 1991 to 1994, he served as a member of the Japan Band Clinic Committee. Since 2015, he has also been selected as a member of the selection committee for the All Japan Wind Orchestra Competition. He died on August 25, 2021 from multiple myeloma. Works ;Band *Pop Step March *Serenade *Flower Clock *Fanfare I *Mana in October *Canticle of the South ;Chamber works *Aubade for clarinet ensemble *Bagatelles on the name of Bach for clarine

Kazuko Hara

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was a prolific Japanese opera composer. Life and career Born in Tokyo, Kazuko Hara studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with Tomojiro Ikenouchi, graduating in 1957. She subsequently went to France where she studied with Henri Dutilleux at the Ecole Normale and Alexander Tcherepnin at L’Academie Internationale d’Ete in Nice. Hara then returned to Japan, where she studied Gregorian Chant, eventually becoming an instructor at the Osaka University of Music (1968-85). She died of heart failure on 30 November 2014. Works and compositional style Between 1978 and 1999 she wrote 18 operas, many of them performed in Tokyo by the Nihon Opera Kyokai or the Nikikai Opera. One work was performed in Italy. In general, she has preferred Japanese subjects; exceptions include her second opera about Sherlock Holmes and an opera based on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment written for a large-scale production at the New National Theatre, Tokyo in 1999. Operas *Shārokku Hōmuzu no jikenbo: kokuhaku (The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes: the Confession) after Conan Doyle (1981) *Iwai Uta ga Nagareru Yoruni (1984) *Shita wo Kamikitta Onna (1986) *Sute Hime (1989) *Yosakoi Bushi (1990)

Kazuo Yamada

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was a Japanese conductor and composer. Early life Kazuo Yamada was born in Tokyo in 1912. He began studies at Gakushuin and then Tokyo University of the Arts (formerly the Tokyo Music School). Studied piano with Leo Sirota and Paul Weingarten, and composition with Klaus Pringsheim, and graduated at the top of his class. Career Yamada formed the orchestra ‘Promethée’ as a composer. In 1937 he was awarded his first prize from the Japan Broadcasting Corporation for his symphonic music works, and in 1938 he was also awarded by the New Symphony Orchestra for his symphonic poem ‘Songs that youth can sing’ as well as the Weingarten Award for the symphonic ‘Kiso’. Yamada studied conducting technique under the tutelage of Józef Rosenstock, and premiered as a conductor for the New Symphony Orchestra in 1940. He was appointed to the post of chief conductor of the Japan Symphony Orchestra which was reorganized from the New Symphony Orchestra (which is now the NHK symphony orchestra) in 1942, greatly contributing to the improvement of the orchestra for the next 13 years. He was awarded the Mainichi Music Award in 1949 for the Japan premiere of the opera Hänsel und Gretel sponsored by NHK, and h

Keiji Inai

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is a Japanese composer, arranger and orchestrator best known for his work in anime and video games. He is affiliated with the music production company Imagine. Biography Inai was born in Hiroshima, Japan. He studied at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, but dropped out to pursue studio work. In 1999, while he was a college student, he served as assistant musical director to violinist Toshihiro Nakanishi on the Akira Shirai production Falstaff. In 2001 and 2002 he participated as a pianist, manipulator, and arranger on the soundtracks for the Fuji TV dramas Fighting Girl and Hatsu Taiken. After this, he began working as a composer for television programs, commercials, movies, games, radio programs, fashion shows and other areas. Discography Anime works Game works Movie works TV works References External links * Keiji Inai’s Imagine Profile * Keiji Inai discography at VGMdb *

Keiko Abe

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and marimba player. She has been a primary figure in the development of the marimba, in terms of expanding both technique and repertoire, and through her collaboration with the Yamaha Corporation, developed the modern five-octave concert marimba. Early life Abe began playing the xylophone while in elementary school in Tokyo, Japan, studying under Eiichi Asabuki. At age 13, she won an NHK talent contest and began performing professionally on live radio. She attended Tokyo Gakugei University where she completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music education. She began working in the Nippon Columbia, NHK, and other recording studios while in college. Career Abe’s first encounter with a marimba took place in the early 1950s when Lawrence L. Lacour, an American missionary and professor at Oral Roberts University, brought four marimbas to Japan. In 1962, she and two friends (who were also students of Asabuki) founded the Xebec Marimba Trio, performing popular music, arrangements of folk songs and some of Abe’s arrangements. They recorded more than seven albums between 1962 and 1966. During this period, she had her own show on Japanese television, instructing s

Keiko Fujiie

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Keiko Fujiie (), born in 1963 in Kyoto, is a composer whose music is frequently performed both in Japan and internationally. She is best known for guitar compositions, many of them for the distinguished Japanese guitarist (also her husband) Kazuhito Yamashita, and organizes the guitar quintet that bears his name. She has twice won the Otaka Prize. Career After graduating at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, she completed her postgraduate studies at the same institution. Support from the Asian Cultural Council resulted in a residency in New York for several months in 1992/93, where she returned in 1998 to premiere In Their Shoes, a music and dance collaboration. From 1998/1999 she served as composer-in-residence for Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa. Her commissions include Academic Festival Overture for the hundredth anniversary of Kyoto University, the double concerto Kyoto: Reverberation for the Kyoto Protocol Treaty in 1997, and Piano Concerto No. 1 “Memories of January” composed for the seventieth anniversary of the Japan Music Competition in 2001. Fujiie was asked to write the compulsory piece for participants in the Fifth Musashino-Tokyo International Organ Comp

Kenichi Maeyamada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, also known as , is a Japanese composer, lyricist, and musician. His primary work is composing anime theme songs and for J-pop musicians. He contracts through Supalove, a Japanese record label. He has released a number of anime and video game music remixes, as well as original songs. These remixes have received over 20 million hits on YouTube and Nico Nico Douga. Musical style Maeyamada began playing the piano at age four and first composed with a synthesizer in middle school. In December 2007, he posted his first work under the name “Hyadain” on Nico Nico Douga, a remix of Crash Man’s theme from Mega Man 2 with added lyrics. In May 2010, Maeyamada revealed that Hyadain was his pseudonym. In 2023, Maeyamada was invited to arrange a version of “Battle With the Four Fiends” for Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, with lyrics by Takashi Tokita. The track, “Forged in Crimson”, plays during the boss fight with Rubicante, the Fiend of Flame. Maeyamada cites Yasuharu Konishi of the Pizzicato Five as a major musical influence, as well as Shoichiro Hirata and Yusuke Itagaki. Influence on his video game music stems from Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest), and Kenji Ito

Kenichiro Fukui

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer and electronic rock musician. Before working at Square Enix, he was employed at Konami. He was also an arranger and a keyboardist in the band The Black Mages. Additionally, Fukui arranged Angela Aki’s “Kiss Me Good-Bye” from Final Fantasy XII. In October 2007, he left Square Enix to become a lecturer, although he continued to work with The Black Mages until the band dissolved in 2010, and continued to do freelance work with video games. His Konami Kukeiha Club nickname was “Funiki Fukui”. He lives in Yokohama, Japan. Biography Fukui was born on March 4, 1970, in Hyōgo Prefecture. He joined the video game company Konami in 1991. While there, he contributed to the soundtracks of Lethal Enforcers, G.I. Joe and Violent Storm. He was also one of the keyboardists for the Kukeiha Club, and played in the live event at the Budokan in Tokyo. In 2000, Fukui and Tsuyoshi Sekito formed an experimental partnership to compose music for the video game All Star Pro-Wrestling in a rock style. After the game’s success, the two continued to compose in the same style. In 2002, Fukui and Sekito decided to arrange some of the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu, the primary co

Kenji Ito

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, also known by the nickname , - !scope=row 1997 SaGa Frontier Music - Culdcept Saga Music - !scope=rowgroup rowspan=“3” 2009 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Adventure Team Music with several others - SaGa 2: Goddess of Destiny Arrangements - Culdcept (3DS) Music - Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory Music with Kenji Kaneko and Nobuo Uematsu - Demons’ Score “Requiem from Lilith” - !scope=rowgroup rowspan=“3” 2013 Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas Music with Kalle Ylitalo and Nobuo Uematsu - Getsuei Gakuen Music with Daisuke Ishiwatari - !scope=rowgroup rowspan=“4” 2014 Rise of Mana “Fear the Messenger” - Puzzle & Dragons Battle Tournament Music - Chunithm: Seelisch Tact “Gustav Battle” - Shinyaku Arcana Slayer Music - !scope=rowgroup rowspan=“5” 2016 Hero Must Die. Again Music - Culdcept Revolt Music - Adventures of Mana Music - !scope=rowgroup rowspan=“2” 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Arrangements - Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe Music - !scope=row 2019 Rakugaki Kingdom “Indomitable Soul” - !scope=row 2022 Sin Chronicle “Last Determination” - !scope=rowgroup rowspan=“2” 2024 SaGa: Emerald Beyond Music - Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven Music Other ;Composition *Kokoro no Takarabako (1

Kenji Kawai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese music composer and arranger. Known as one of the biggest names in the soundtrack world, he has worked on a wide range of mixed media productions, including anime, TV shows, films, video games and ice shows. After leaving Muse, Kawai began composing music for commercials in his home studio. While recording music for radio actor and voice actor Yūji Mitsuya, he met music director Naoko Asari, who advised him to compose anime soundtracks. Some of his work for anime soundtracks can be found in Ranma ½ and Ghost in the Shell. According to Kawai, he is not good at creating music from nothing, as he draws sounds from the visuals of the works. In the majority of cases, the images of the anime are not yet created, so he creates music when referencing storyboard visuals. Following his success as an anime movies music composer, he became involved in live action movies. He contributed music to horror films: Ring, Ring 2, Dark Water, Japanese-Polish science-fiction film Avalon, the Hong Kong film Seven Swords and in the 2006 live action film Death Note. Kawai has worked on several projects with director Mamoru Oshii (both Headgear members) and has written scores for all of Hideo N

Kenji Yamamoto (composer, born 1964)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game musician working for Nintendo, notable for composing music in many titles of the Metroid series, mainly Super Metroid and the Metroid Prime trilogy. Yamamoto also plays a role as a music director at Nintendo, overseeing audio for several of their games. He frequently collaborates with fellow composers Minako Hamano and Masaru Tajima. Yamamoto’s music utilizes heavy drums, piano, voiced chants, clangs of pipes, and electric guitar. In development of Super Metroid, Yamamoto came up with some of the game’s themes by humming them to himself while riding his motorcycle home from work. Developers from Retro Studios noted how the process of fitting all the sound effects for a world in Metroid Prime into 6 MB of space was crucial in producing a quality aural experience, as each sound had to be of very high quality. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption took advantage of the increase in the amount of RAM that took place when the series switched from the GameCube to the Wii; this allowed for higher quality audio samples to be used and thus a better overall audio quality. - ! scope=“row” rowspan=“1” 1995 Galactic Pinball Music with Masaru Tajima - !1997 BS Tantei Club: Yuki ni

Kenjiro Ezaki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music, especially famous for his electronic music and computer music. Biography Kenjiro Ezaki was born in Tainan (Taiwan). He studied at the Nihon University in Tokyo from 1953 to 1957 under Yoritsune Matsudaira and later under Vladimir Ussachevsky at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. During his early years he received two composition awards: The first prize at Music Composition of Japan in 1956 and a first prize at the ISCM World Music Days in 1962 where his composition Beating was performed After his return to Japan Kenjiro Ezaki founded his own electronic music studio and was a member of a composer group called “Group Design” which focused on electronic and computer music. Other members of this group were Norihiko Wada, Satoshi Sumitani, and Komei Hayama. Ezaki was also a member of GROUP 20.5, a circle of Japanese composers of avantgarde music that was founded by Hifumi Shimoyama. Ezaki composed the first known Japanese fully computer-based composition, which was premiered at the Expo ‘70 in Osaka. Compositions * Symphonic poem for orchestra Japanese scenery (1958) * Presage by the system of mobile Configuration for

Kenta Hamano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musician, composer, and actor who is represented by the talent agency Kakubarhythm. He played the trombone in the band Sakerock. Filmography TV dramas Film Video games Dubbing *Soul, Joe Gardner References

Kentaro Sato

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, aka Ken-P, is a composer/conductor/orchestrator/clinician of media music (Film/TV/Game) and concert music (Symphonic and Choral). He is also an accomplished lyricist and voice-over artist. His works have been broadcast, performed, and recorded in North and South America, Asia, and Europe by well-known groups including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In 2005, he was appointed a resident composer/assistant conductor of the Torrance Symphony. He is also a frequent guest conductor and lecturer for various workshops and reading sessions on choral music and composition/orchestration around the world. Sato was born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan, known as the city of music and instruments. He holds a Master of Music in Conducting (choral emphasis) with Distinction and a Bachelor of Music in Media and Commercial Writing from California State University, Northridge (CSUN). In addition to his degree in Music, he also holds degree in Cinema from Santa Monica College. Musical style His choral works, especially a cappella works, are full of rich and colorful harmony with sense of movement provided by individually moving vocal lines within cl

Kikuko Kanai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer and one of the first Japanese women to compose classical music in the Western tradition. Biography Kikuko Kawahira was born on the Ryukyu island of Miyako-jima, Okinawa, and studied voice at the Nihon Music School and composition at Tokyo Music School. She studied with teachers including with Taijiro Goh, Kanichi Shimofusa, Hisatada Otaka and Kishio Hirao. Working as a composer, she produced songs and orchestral music using the Ryukyuan pentatonic scale. In 1954 she studied the dodecaphonic method in Brazil with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, and incorporated atonal composition into her work. She was awarded the Mainichi Prize for Cultural Publication in 1955, and a prize by the Okinawan government for her opera Okinawa monogatari in 1968. She died in Tokyo. The BBC describe her as “one of the first Japanese women to compose Western classical music”. Works Selected works include: *Ryūkyū no min’yō (‘Folksongs of Ryūkyū’) 1954 *Okinawa monogatari opera *Miyako-jima engi (Legend of Miyako Island) (ballet), 1949 *Ryūkyū hiwa (A Hidden Story of Ryūkyū) (jazz ballet), 1951 *Hiren Karafune (Love Tragedy on Tang Boat) (op, 4, Kanai and K. Yano), 1960 *Okinawa monogatar

Kingo Hamada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(born January 17, 1953) is a Japanese singer-songwriter. Life and career Hamada was a member of the folk group Craft before pursuing a solo career. At one point, when Shōgo Hamada, who was not related to Kingo, was becoming popular, the latter’s agency and record label gave him the tagline . Impact In 2017, “Crystal Dolphin” by Engelwood sampled “Machi no Dorufin” from Hamada’s 1982 midnight cruisin album. “Crystal Dolphin” later became a popular Internet meme. The original song, Machi No Dorufin, gained widespread prominence as a result of Engelwood’s sample. Discography Singles Studio albums Compilation albums References

Kinuyo Yamashita

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and musician known for her contributions in video games. Her best known soundtrack is Konami’s Castlevania, which was also her debut work. She was co-credited with Satoe Terashima under the pseudonym James Banana for her work on the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game. This pseudonym was a pun of the name James Bernard, the composer of the 1958 film Dracula. Life Yamashita was born in Amagasaki, Hyōgo, Japan. She began playing the piano at the age of four and took piano lessons as a child. After studying electronic engineering at the two-year college Osaka Electro-Communication University, she graduated in 1986 and went to work for Konami. After leaving Konami, Yamashita established a career as an independent composer. She moved to the United States in 2010, and currently resides with her husband in Montague, New Jersey. Career In 1986, Yamashita and Satoe Terashima composed the music to the video game Castlevania, which was her first composition. The composition of the music was made under strict hardware constraints of the Famicom hardware. Yamashita established the format for much of the music in Castlevania games, which are fast beats as wel

Kiyoshige Koyama

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, was a Japanese composer for orchestras, vocal, and traditional Japanese instrumentation. He was born in Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture. Although nationalistic he did not compose until his thirties, which was after the period of Imperial expansionism. Selection of works : Many works by Koyama are published by Ongaku-no-tomo-sha. Orchestral * 1946 Shinano bayashi for Orchestra * 1953/1958 Japanese Folk Songs for Chamber Orchestra * 1957 Kobiki-Uta (Woodcutter’s Song) for Orchestra * 1959 Symphonic Suite “Nohmen” (Masks for Play) * 1964 Ainu no Uta for string orchestra * 1976 Hinauta No. 1 for Orchestra * 1978 Hinauta No. 2 for Orchestra * 1981 Hinauta No. 3 for orchestra * 1988 Hinauta No. 4 for orchestra Wind orchestra *1970 Kobiki-uta for band *1970 Mogura-oi *1970 Otemoyan *1970 Echigo-jishi *1970 Dai-kagura *1980 Flow Festival *1991 Hinauta No. 5 *1993 Noh-men Choral * Lullaby of Itsuki Piano * 1966 Kagome Variations * 1969 Variations on “Kari kari watare” * Children Songs for piano * Collection of piano pieces * Intro to piano thru Japanese harmony * Coming Summer (Natsu wa kinu) Traditional Japanese instruments * 1962 Ubusuna for koto and other Japanese musical instruments *

Kohei Tanaka (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, arranger, conductor and singer-songwriter. He is affiliated with the music production company Imagine. He has created numerous musical scores for anime television series, OVAs, films, video games and tokusatsu series including Choushinsei Flashman, Gunbuster, Sakura Wars, The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, Betterman, and One Piece. Biography Tanaka was a student at Berklee College of Music. He also handled the composition of Diebuster, a sequel series of Gunbuster, and showed a peculiar arrangement to his own work 17 years ago. He hosted the Dai Anime Hakurankai radio show on Tokai Radio together with the voice actress Konami Yoshida from April 1993 to September 1994. His discussions with Toshio Okada and Hiroshi Yamamoto about anime, originally published in the hm3 voice acting magazine, have been republished in book form. On February 14, 2008, he opened an official website and announced his intention to work also as a singer in the future. On July 4, he released his first solo album called Kokorone song 1st. Works Anime Films Video games See also * List of video game musicians References External links * http://ameblo.jp/kenokun/ *

Kohta Yamamoto

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(stylized in all caps) is a Japanese composer, arranger, and lyricist who has worked on the soundtrack of many anime series. He is best known for composing the soundtrack for Attack on Titan: The Final Season, for which he won the Crunchyroll Anime Award for Best Score. Biography Yamamoto was born in Tokyo, in 1987. His musician career started in 2015, with him writing songs for other artists. In 2017, alongside Hiroyuki Sawano, Yamamoto made his debut as a composer in the anime Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga, the sequel of the popular series Blue Exorcist. Since then, he has been involved in many soundtrack works, several of which with composer Hiroyuki Sawano. In February 2022, Yamamoto and Sawano were awarded at the Anime Trending Awards for their role on the soundtrack of the anime 86. On November 13, 2022, Yamamoto attended an orchestral concert event for the concluding season of Attack on Titan. The event was held at Tokyo’s Tachikawa Stage Garden, with him performing tracks from the Attack on Titans score. Yamamoto also attended the 7th Crunchyroll Anime Awards on March 4, 2023, performing the track “Ashes on the Fire” from Attack on Titan: The Final Season; he and Sawano won the

Koichi Domoto

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, television personality, voice actor. Along with Tsuyoshi Domoto (with whom he has no blood-relation), he is a member of the duo Domoto, who holds the Guinness World Records for having the most consecutive No.1 singles since debut and the most consecutive years with a Japanese No.1 single, and with whom is one of the top 25 best-selling artists of all time in Japan. Although Domoto also actively works as a television actor and host, he is most famous for his musical SHOCK series, which he participates as the lead actor and director at the same time. SHOCK series started at the Tokyo Imperial Theatre in 2000, making him the youngest Zachō (chairman and lead role) and the first idol to perform at Imperial Theatre. With over 2000 performances, SHOCK series is now the most-performed musical and the second most-performed theatre with a single-lead in Japan. In 2018, he starred in the musical Knights’ Tale directed by John Caird as well. Career Born in Ashiya, Hyōgo, Japan, Domoto joined the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates at the age of 12 after his sister sent in his application without his knowledge. Do

Koichi Sugiyama

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He was best known for composing for the Dragon Quest franchise, along with several other video games, anime, film, television shows, and pop songs. Classically trained, Sugiyama was considered a major inspiration for other Japanese game music composers and was active from the 1960s until his death in 2021. Sugiyama was also a council member of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (JASRAC), board member of the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, and honorary chairman of the Japanese Backgammon Society. Prior to his death, the Japanese government honored him with Order of the Rising Sun and named him a Person of Cultural Merit. Sugiyama was also active in politics and activism, promoting ideas such as Japanese nationalism while denying Japanese war crimes. Career Early life and television career Sugiyama was born in Tokyo, Japan, on April 11, 1931. In high school, he began to write various small musical works. He attended the University of Tokyo and graduated with full honors in 1956. He then went into the reporting and entertainment sections of Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. Sugiyama also wr

Koide Ichijūrō

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Koide Ichijūrō (湖出市十郎, died 29 October 1800) was a Japanese kabuki composer-performer (唄方 uta-kata) of “long songs” (長唄 naga uta) of the Edo period. He was at first a student of Yoshizumi Kosaburo 1st (1699-1753) and identified himself as Yoshizumi Ichijuro. From 1747 he appeared at the Morita-za, one of the three venues of Edo. Afterwards he became a disciple of Fujita Yoshiji 1st (1714-1771）, and changed his own stagename to Fujita Okada. In 1768 he took the name Koide, and in opposition to Fujita Yoshiji’s monopoly on the Ichimura-za, became active at the Nakamura-za, together with Nakamura Fujiro 1st (1719–86), receiving recognition also in Osaka. During the Meiwa-Tenmei period (1764–89) when the meriyasu genre of solo songs was in vogue he received recognition for shirotae (白妙, “white cloth cherry”) and the kouta song kurokami (“black hair”). The name Ichijūrō was taken up by 2nd, 3rd, (and according to one tradition a 4th) generation of performers of his songs. References

Koji Kondo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and senior executive at the video game company Nintendo. He is best known for his contributions for the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series, with his Super Mario Bros. theme being the first piece of music from a video game included in the American National Recording Registry. Kondo was hired by Nintendo in 1984 as its first dedicated composer and is currently a Senior Officer at its Entertainment Planning & Development division. Early life Kondo was born in Nagoya, Japan, on August 13, 1961. Kondo began taking Yamaha Music classes from kindergarten, where he learned to play the electronic organ from the age of five. Kondo also played the marimba in his elementary school band. He later improved his skills with the electronic organ in a cover band that played jazz and rock music. Kondo studied at the Art Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts, but was never classically trained or academically dedicated to music. With a love of arcade video games such as Space Invaders and the early Donkey Kong series, he said video games were the only place where he could find the kind of sound creation that he was looking for. He gained experience in composing,

Koji Shitara

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and former actor. Beginning his career as a child actor in 1951, he appeared in 30 films before transitioning to composing, inspired by his uncle, Tōru Takemitsu. Life and career Shitara was born on June 4, 1946, in Sakata, Yamagata, Japan. His father, Kōsei Shitara, was the chairman of the Japan Orthodox Destiny Studies Research Association; his mother was a Japanese tea ceremony practitioner. Shitara’s uncle was composer Tōru Takemitsu. Shitara started learning how to play the piano at the age of three and made his first piece two years later. * (1952) * That Night’s Wife (1952) * The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice (1952) * Salaryman’s Song (1953) * Children’s Eyes (1956) * Yellow Crow (1957) * (TV 1960) * Late Autumn (1960) Composer * (TV 1989) * (TV 1991) * Why Won’t She Get Married? (1992) References External links *

Kōmei Abe

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a neo-classical Japanese composer who specialized in string quartets. He performed both as cellist and clarinetist. Biography He was born in Hiroshima in a military family, and became interested in the violin during a stay in Tokyo. From 1929 he attended Tokyo Music School, where he studied cello under Heinrich Werkmeister (1883–1936), who had moved to Japan in 1907, and studied composition under the conductor Klaus Pringsheim Sr. (a former pupil of Gustav Mahler) who had been invited to Tokyo in 1931 to become a professor of music at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. From 1937 he studied with Joseph Rosenstock. In 1942, he had his first success with the premiere of the Cello Concerto, which he had completed five years before. However, in 1944 he was conscripted into the Navy. After the war, he became involved in broadcasting and co-founded the five-member Chijinkai (Earth-Human Association), which gave six concerts between 1949 and 1955. Between 1948 and 1954, he was the director of the Imperial orchestra. Although this orchestra usually performed Western music, many of its members had played traditional court music and thus, Abe learnt in detail about the

Kōsaku Yamada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer and conductor. Name In older Western reference sources, his name is given as Kôsçak Yamada. Biography Born in Tokyo, Yamada started his music education at Tokyo Music School in 1904, studying there under German composers and Heinrich Werkmeister. In 1910, he left Japan for Germany where he enrolled at the Prussian Academy of Arts and learnt composition under Max Bruch and Karl Leopold Wolf before returning to Japan in late 1913. He travelled to the United States in 1918 for two years. During his stay in Manhattan, New York City, he conducted a temporarily organized orchestra composed of members of New York Philharmonic and New York Symphony, short before their amalgamation. The beginning of his Symphony in F major, “Triumph and Peace” (1912) has a pentatonic theme G-A-D-E which reflects the Japanese national anthem based on Gagaku. This symphony was the first complete symphony with four movements in Japan. His Sinfonia “Inno Meiji” (1921) includes Japanese instruments such as the , an ancient Japanese double reed wind instrument, and other Asian instruments. Yamada composed about 1,600 pieces of musical works, in which art songs (Lieder) amount to 700 even e

Kota Hoshino

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(born April 23, 1975) is a Japanese composer and sound designer. As part of FromSoftware’s sound team, Hoshino is best known for composing multiple games in the Armored Core series and as the bassist and vocalist of FreQuency. Career Kota Hoshino was born in Tokyo, Japan on April 23, 1975, and studied at Surugadai University. Hoshino began working at FromSoftware in spring of 1998, feeling that his music would complement the games’ visuals. His first role was composing music for Shadow Tower for the PlayStation. As the game uses very little music, many of Hoshino’s contributions were unused, though some unused tracks were later used in Evergrace. The same year, he contributed music for Echo Night. Hoshino stated that he cannot read music, so he usually does not compose orchestral scores. Hoshino was the composer and sound designer for Evergrace, which released in 2000 for the PlayStation 2. For the soundtrack, Hoshino used voices as the primary instrument, editing samples of his own with Sound Forge to create an “ethnic” sound, in addition to instruments including shakuhachi, shamisen, and synthesized percussion. Following the game’s release, Hoshino worked mainly on sound design,

Kumiko Omura

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer in the field of contemporary instrumental and electronic music. Career Omura studied with Isao Matsushita, Kenjirō Urata and Jo Kondo at the Tokyo University of the Arts. She then took music composition with Prof. Nicolaus A. Huber and electronic music with Ludger Brümmer and Dirk Reith at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. She further studied electronic music at IRCAM in Paris, and Intermedia Art (master’s degree) with Kiyoshi Furukawa in Tokyo. Her music has been performed in Japan, Korea, USA, and Europe (Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, musica viva in Munich, Festival AGORA, Festival Acanthe in France, Gaudeamus Music Week in the Netherlands, Emufest in Italy, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik in Austria and Music from Japan in New York) by such orchestras and ensembles as the New Japan Philharmonic, Ensemble Modern, musikFabrik, Ensemble recherche, Ensemble resonanz and Nieuw Ensemble. Between 2006 and 2010, she was a guest artist at ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany, and from 2010–2011 she was a composer-in-residence at Künstlerhof Schreyahn. Recognition * 1994: Irino Prize in Japan * 1998: Gaudeamus Inte

Kuniaki Haishima

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musician and composer. He is known for his music in several anime and tokusatsu shows, as well as video games, films and dorama. His compositions for the Fuji TV series Tales of the Unusual are his most famous work, though he also composed the soundtrack for Metroid: Other M for the Wii, for which he is known abroad. Works Anime Live action Video games References External links * * Interview at RocketBaby * *

Laura Shigihara

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese-American singer-songwriter, composer, video game developer, and Twitch streamer. She is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies and the creator of the acclaimed indie RPG Rakuen. Shigihara has worked on over 30 other published video game titles including Deltarune, World of Warcraft, To the Moon, defunct mobile game High School Story and the 5th Anniversary Edition of Super Meat Boy. She co-created the ending theme song for Minecraft: The Story of Mojang with C418 and worked together with Yasunori Mitsuda on the official Square Enix Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross 20th Anniversary Album. Early life Born in the United States to a Japanese father and a French American mother, Shigihara grew up in both the US and Japan. she was given an old version of Sonar (known as Cakewalk since 2018) which she used to start learning about mixing, arranging and production by recreating old video game soundtracks and composing her own songs. After a friend leaked her original material to record companies in Japan, Shigihara was offered record contracts as a singer there, but ended up turning them down for personal reasons. Career Sho

Maki Ishii

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Born in Tokyo, Ishii studied composition privately (with Akira Ifukube and Tomojiro Ikenouchi) and conducting with Akeo Watanabe from 1952 in Tokyo. In 1958, he moved to Berlin, where he continued his studies under Boris Blacher and Josef Rufer. In 1962 he returned to Japan . His music has been performed by the taiko group Kodo and he has composed for Japanese instruments as well as symphony orchestra and other Western instruments. In 1999, Ishii produced the opera Tojirareta Fune. That same year Ishii received the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon for his contributions to Japanese music. His father was the first recipient of the award 44 years earlier. He died in Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan, at the Kashiwa National Cancer Center of thyroid cancer on April 8, 2003, at the age of 66. Selected works Orchestral Music * Symphonic Poem GIOH, Op. 60. (1984); recorded 1988 DENON, The Contemporary Music of Japan, COCO-70960, Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Koizumi, Kazuhiro conductor, Akao, Michiko, Yokobue, a typical Japanese Flute. * Sō-Gū II for Gagaku and Symphonic Orchestra, recorded 1971 Parlophone by the Gagaku Ensemble and the

Makoto Moroi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(17 December 1930 – 2 September 2013) was a Japanese composer. Biography Makoto Moroi was born in Tokyō, and is the son of Saburō Moroi. He studied composition with Tomojirō Ikenouchi at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, graduating in 1952. He also studied Gregorian chant privately with Paul Anouilh, and Renaissance and Baroque music with Eta Harich-Schneider. He was one of the leading composers who introduced Japanese audiences to new musical styles and devices, including twelve-tone technique, serialism, and aleatory music. He was one of the first Japanese composers to embrace electronic music, and also introduced traditional Japanese instruments like the shakuhachi into his compositions. He died, aged 82, on 2 September 2013. List of works Opera *1959 – The Stars of Pythagoras *1960 – Red Cocoon *1961 – Die lange, lange Strasse lange *1962 – Yamauba *1965 – Phaeton the charioteer Choral *1959 – Chamber Cantata No. 1 *1959 – Chamber Cantata No. 2 *1970 – Izumo, my home *1972 – A romance of playing cards Orchestral *1953 – Composition No. 1 *1958 – Composition No. 2 *1958 – Composition No. 3 *1960 – Composition No. 4 *1961 – Ode to Schoenberg *1966 – The Vision

Makoto Shinohara

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer. Biography Born in Osaka, Japan, Shinohara studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts from 1952 to 1954, studying composition with Tomojirō Ikenouchi, piano with , and conducting with Akeo Watanabe and Kurt Wöss. From 1954 to 1960, he studied in Paris with Tony Aubin, Olivier Messiaen, Simone Plé-Caussade, Pierre Revel and Louis Fourestier. From 1962 to 1964 he studied at the Hochschule für Musik München and at the ; following this he studied with Bernd Alois Zimmermann and Gottfried Michael Koenig at the in Cologne and then with Karlheinz Stockhausen from 1964 to 1965. He held a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service in 1966 and 1967 and won a scholarship from the Italian government in 1969. In 1971, he was awarded the Rockefeller Prize from the Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center and in 1978 won a scholarship from the Dutch government. Shinohara worked with electronic music at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht, at the electronic studio at the Technische Universität Berlin, at the Columbia Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York (1971–72) and at Studio NHK (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai) in Tokyo. In 1978 Shinohara was a visiting profes

Makoto Yoshimori

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and pianist known for his soundtracks for many animations. He also works on various artists like Ogawa Mishio, Yumeno Kabu, Umezu Kazutoki, Ohtaka Sizzle, Watanabe Takao and many more. Biography Yoshimori Makoto was born in Hiroshima, Japan. He started his musical career in 1986 participating as a keyboardist in a variety of concerts around the Kansai region. In 1991 he graduated from the music program at the Osaka Kyoiku University and then moved to Tokyo in 1992, at first, as a member of Modern Choki Chokies. From 1995 through 1998, being a multi-keyboardist, he played the piano, synthesizer, and accordion at various night clubs around Tokyo for bands such as Hikashu. He also played the piano and accordion for various musicals such as Big in 1998. He joined the keyboard harmonica orchestra P-blot in 1996 and was considered “the most avant-garde man” of the group because of his acute and clear playing. Through his various activities in Tokyo he dealt with many genres of music and learned different aspects of composition, arrangement, and music production. In recent years he has mainly worked as a composer of soundtracks for anime, often collaborating with di

Mari Takano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, pianist, essayist, and teacher. Takano’s work, and musical voice, has been recognized as among the most distinctive to be found amid Japanese composers of the “post-Takemitsu generation”. Education Takano completed four years of music instruction at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in her native Tokyo, including a composition course with Mutsuo Shishido and, in 1983, lessons with Yoriaki Matsudaira and Jo Kondo. From 1983, Takano began to study in Germany with Brian Ferneyhough at the Musikhochschule Freiburg (Freiburg University of Music), and in 1986 Takano had private lessons with Morton Feldman. Takano’s initial reputation in Europe was made while she served as pianist, keyboard player and composer with the contemporary music ensemble Hamburg Consort—later Chaosma—in which she participated with fellow Ligeti students Manfred Stahnke, Hans Peter Reutter, Hubertus Dreyer and Sid Corbett. Career Takano resettled in Japan permanently in 1994, and since then Takano has taught at the Shobi Conservatory in Tokyo, the Toho Gakuen School of Music and, from 2004, at the Joshibi Daigaku. Takano has also conducted, and participated in, music courses in the United Sta

Marika Takeuchi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Marika Takeuchi (born 14 March 1987 in Kawasaki) is a Japanese contemporary composer, film composer, music producer and pianist. Education Takeuchi is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, and Shobi Music College in Tokyo. Biography Takeuchi started her music studies as a classical pianist at the age of three, and also played violin and French horn for several years at an early age. Her early career in Japan includes composing additional music for NHK FM’s radio shows, and songwriting for Universal Music Japan’s singer Nami Tamaki’s album “STEP”. Her second album Impressions was nominated for Best Neo-classical Album at the 10th Zone Music Reporter music awards, as well as Album of the Year in the 4th Annual Reviews New Age Awards. Her third album, Rain Stories, was released in 2014 on MRG Recordings. Her fourth album, Colors in the Diary, which is produced by Will Ackerman, and features Eugene Friesen and Boston Symphony Orchestra violinist Si-Jing Huang, was released in April 2016. Takeuchi has also scored several films and advertisements. She wrote music for the Norwegian landscape photographer Terje Sørgjerd/TSO Photography’s time-lapse video The Arctic Light. This

Masa Takumi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, better known as Masa Takumi, is a Japanese Grammy Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music producer. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best Reggae Album, won a Best Global Music Album for his solo album, Sakura, in 2023, and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2024 for “Kashira” for Best Global Music Performance. His music video, Deep Down, was nominated for Best Independent Music Video at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards in 2018. He has written and produced songs for AAA, Da Pump, Eric Martin, and others. Takumi is an anime TV series composer, arranger, and musician who is known for composing theme songs, arranging music, and performing on Claymore, Genshiken, Witchblade, Peach Girl and Koi Kaze, among others. Early life and career Masa Takumi (also known as Masanori Takumi) was born in Osaka, Japan. He is the nephew of Hideki Saijo. Takumi started playing the trumpet at eight years old in his elementary school’s brass band and started playing the drums and composing music at twelve years old. During his teen years he taught himself to play the guitar, bass, and piano. In 2000, Takumi joined the band, Siren where he was a songwriter, drummer, and

Masaharu Iwata

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer. In high school his musical projects included composing on a synthesizer and playing in a cover band. *Gimme a Break: Shijou Saikyou no Quiz Ou Ketteisen (1991) *Cyber Block Metal Orange (1991) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Yoshio Furukawa *Koguru Guruguru: Guruguru to Nakayoshi (2001) *Stella Deus (2004) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *Final Fantasy XII (2006) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto and Hayato Matsuo *IGPX: Immortal Grand Prix (2006) – with Yasushi Asada, Mitsuhiro Kaneda, and Kimihiro Abe *Bleach: Heat the Soul 6 (2009) – with Basiscape *Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny (2009) – with Junichi Nakatsuru and Keiki Kobayashi *NHK Kōhaku Quiz Gassen (2009) – with Basiscape *Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman (2010) – with Basiscape *Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure (2011) – with Azusa Chiba and Kimihiro Abe *Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming (2011) – with many others *Grand Knights History (2011) – with Basiscape *Age of Ishtaria (2014) – with Hitoshi Sakimoto *Grand Kingdom (2015) – with Basiscape *Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir (2016) – with Basiscape *Caravan Stories (2017) – with Basiscape *Tsuioku no Ao (2020) – with Basiscape ;Arranger *Final Fantas

Masahito Arai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese singer and composer. Debuting with the band Diary in 1977, he joined the group Pal in 1979 and had a solo debut in 1987, performing the song “Anime ja Nai” for the 1986 anime Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. Life and career Arai was born on March 25, 1958, in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He was influenced by his parents, who both liked various kinds of music such as bossa nova, pop music, and traditional Japanese music; his grandfather played the shamisen. He started playing the guitar during elementary school and started composing music in the first grade of junior high school. While doing band activities in 1976, he was scouting and made his debut as a professional shortly after graduating from Nihon University First High School. Career In 1977, Arai made his professional debut as the vocalist of the group Diary, leaving in 1979 to join the band Pal as their second lead vocalist. In 1986, he was approached to create an anime song for his debut solo career, with him debuting with the song “Anime ja Nai” for the anime Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. In 1993, Omega Tribe producer Koichi Fujita made him the vocalist for the project’s final iteration, Brand New Omega Tribe, which last

Masakazu Natsuda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Masakazu Natsuda (夏田昌和 Natsuda Masakazu, born 2 July 1968 in Tokyo) is a Japanese composer, former student of Gérard Grisey at the Conservatoire de Paris. Career Natsuda studied musical composition with Jō Kondō, Masayuki Nagatomi and Teruyuki Noda at the Tokyo University of the Arts and Music (東京藝術大学 Tōkyō Gei-jutsu Daigaku), where he obtained his Bachelor of Music in 1991 and his Master of Music in 1993. He also studied orchestral conducting with Kazuyoshi Akiyama at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Yokohama. From 1993 to 1997, he studied composition with Gérard Grisey and orchestral conducting with Jean-Sébastien Bereau and the Conservatoire de Paris, where he earned first prizes with praise. In 1992 he made his debut as a conductor with his composition Morphogenesis in a performance with the New Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. Since 1998 he is conductor of the contemporary ensemble Alpha and since 2001 of the “Ensemble Vivo” with which he mainly performs contemporary works such as Voltex Temporum I-III by his former teacher Gérard Grisey and The Desert Music by Steve Reich. Works Orchestral music *Soliton - for chamber orchestra (1995) *Megalithic Waves - for chamber orches

Masaki Kyomoto

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese actor, singer-song writer, and guitarist. He is famous for playing the role of Ryu on the television jidaigeki Hissatsu series. He has appeared in films and television series including Legend of the Eight Samurai, Sukeban Deka, Kamen Rider Black,Kamen Rider Agito, Ultraman: Towards the Future (aka Ultraman Great), Cutie Honey, Chage and Aska, Ōedo Sōsamō, Mito Kōmon, Anmitsu Hime, Food Fight, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, Ii Hito, GARO, Tenchu:Yamino Shiokinin and most recently 81diver. He has performed on the soundtracks to GARO and Garo Special: Byakuya no Maju, performing the first two ending themes for the former, and producing GARO Project’s performances of the final two ending themes for the series and the ending theme for the special. Masaki got a role in a buster film Legend of the Eight Samurai as Inuzuka Shino and it became a sensation that lead to Masaki’s break out role “Ryu” on a popular Japanese period piece samurai drama series Hissatsu Shigotonin where he played Japanese obi-belt maker who is ex-ninja turned to be an assassin (shigotonin) to kill bad guys. He became a big star by that role and since then has appeared in numerous period piece drama seri

Masao Akashi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese music arranger in distributors Being Inc., mainly in their label B-Gram Records. In 1988, he debuted as arranger in debut single Dakara Sono Te wo Hanashite by Japanese hard-rock band B’z. By 1998, his arrangement work had been involved with many Being artists including Manish, Wands and Zard. Although Akashi was no longer working for Being Inc., he sometimes provided producing jobs for various artists such as Naomi Tamura, Maria, Color Bottle and Sonoda Band. Akashi died on May 19, 2025, at the age of 68. List of provided works as arranger ★ album ☆ single/coupling B’z *B’z ★ *Off the Lock ★ *Bad Communication ★ *Wicked Beat ★ *Mars (B’z album) ★ *Love is, Seasons, Itsuka no Merry Christmas (Reprise) (Friends (B’z album)) ★ *The 7th Blues ★ *Teki ga Inakerya (Loose (B’z album))★ *Lady-Go-Round ☆ *Kimi no Naka de Odoritai ☆ *Be There ☆ *Taiyō no Komachi Angel ☆ *Easy Come, Easy Go! ☆ *Itoshii Hitoyo Good Night… ☆ *Lady Navigation ☆ *Alone ☆ *Blowin’ ☆ *Zero ☆ *Ai no mama ni Wagamama ni Boku wa Kimi dake o Kizutsukenai ☆ *Hadashi no Megami ☆ *Don’t Leave Me ☆ *Motel ☆ *Tokyo ☆ Zard *Good-bye My Loneliness (song) ☆ *Koi Onna no Yūutsu, It’s a Boy (Good-bye My Lonelines

Masao Koga

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer, mandolinist, and guitarist of the Shōwa era who was dubbed “Japan’s Irving Berlin” by Universal Press Syndicate. His melancholy style, based upon Nakayama Shimpei’s yonanuki scale, was popularly known in Japan as . He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Fourth Class) and the People’s Honor Award for his contributions to Japanese music. Life Koga was born in 1904 in the village of Taguchi (today part of the city Ōkawa) in the Mizuma District of Fukuoka Prefecture; he was the sixth of eight children. In 1910, Koga’s father, Kitarō, died. As a result, Koga, his mother, older sister, and younger brother moved to Korea in 1912, where his eldest brother had migrated for work. His family first traveled to Incheon, before settling in Keijo (today part of Seoul). During this period, Koga was gifted a taishōgoto from his cousin; then later, while enrolled at the Keijō Good Neighbor Trade School, a mandolin from an older brother living in Osaka. He was regarded as a notable figure for establishing the genre enka, though Koga considered that he was a ryūkōka composer. He wrote numerous songs for Ichiro Fujiyama and Hibari Misora. Koga’s songs have been heard

Masayuki Hirahara

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Masayuki Hirahara (平原誠之 Hirahara Masayuki July 15, 1980) is a Japanese pianist and composer. Early life Masayuki Hirahara was born and raised in Kobe, Japan. He started taking piano lessons when he was eight years old. Through these lessons, he became interested in composition and he studied it by himself. In his first year of the high school, he studied under a pianist who had graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts for one year. After that, he taught himself how to play and compose. In 1999 he participated in the music competition of the Great Hanshin earthquake (Kobe earthquake) Reconstruction Memorial Classic Festival and he won Hyogo Arts & Culture Association’s Prize and a golden award in composition section. He worked for a publisher which publishes a monthly piano magazine from 2000 to 2003. Performing and composing career With the encouragement of those who heard his performance in 1999, he started his career as a performer at a hall in Kobe in February 2003. His performances moved the audiences and his reputation spread by word of mouth; he held a concert at an 800-person capacity hall in Tokyo in October of the same year. In 2009, Princess Takamado heard his pe

Mayako Kubo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Mayako Kubo (born 5 December 1947) is a Japanese pianist and composer. Biography Mayako Kubo was born in Kobe, Japan, and studied piano at Osaka College of Music. In 1972 she continued her studies in composition with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati and Erich Urbanner in Vienna, where she composed her first pieces of tape music at the Institute of Electroacoustics and Experimental Music. In the 1980s she studied with Helmut Lachenmann in Hannover and Stuttgart and then musicology with Carl Dahlhaus in Berlin. In 1989 Kubo became interested in dramaturgy and theatrical performance, and in 1990 moved to Italy, but then returned to live and work in Berlin in 1994. Honors and awards *1978 – 1979 Federal Ministry for Education, Art and Culture: work *scholarship *1979 International Contest for Electronic and Experimental Music, *Bourges: award *1980 City of Vienna: work scholarship *1982 – 1983 Alban Berg Foundation: scholarship *1983 – 1984 Ministry of Science and Research of Lower Saxony: scholarship for artists (Schreyahn) *1989 Cultural Senate Berlin: work scholarship *1999 Japan Foundation: fellow *2000 – 2001 Bundesmusikakademie Rheinsberg: work scholarship *2002 Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg

Michiru Ōshima

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and arranger. She works on music in wide range of areas, such as anime, films, television series, video games, and concerts. She has written scores for over 100 films, over 200 television titles, video games, various types of events, concerts, theaters, among others. Ōshima is one of the most prolific living composers for film, anime, and video games. She has released over 300 CDs including film soundtracks and artist CDs. Her works include composition for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. films and scores for numerous anime television series, including Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, Nabari no Ou, Queen Emeraldas, Xam’d: Lost Memories, Arc the Lad, and Weathering Continent. In addition to the soundtracks on Kaiju films and anime music, she has composed music for several video games such as Genghis Khan II: Clan of the Gray Wolf for Super NES, Ico for PlayStation 2, Legend of Legaia for PlayStation and its PlayStation 2 sequel Legaia 2: Duel Saga, Arc the Lad III, Deemo, Midnight Play by the company Tivola based on the art illustrations of Květa Pacovská, and an orch

Mieko Shiomi (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese artist, composer, and performer who played a key role in the development of Fluxus. A co-founder of the seminal postwar Japanese experimental music collective Group Ongaku, she is known for her investigations of the nature and limits of sound, music, and auditory experiences. Her work has been widely circulated as Fluxus editions, featured in concert halls, museums, galleries, and non-traditional spaces, as well as being re-performed by other musicians and artists numerous times. She is best known for her work of the 1960s and early 1970s, especially Spatial Poem, Water Music, Endless Box, and the various instructions in Events & Games, all of which were produced as Fluxus editions. Now in her eighties, she continues to produce new work. Biography Early Training and Group Ongaku Mieko Shiomi was born in Okayama, Japan. She began music lessons as a child and studied music at Tokyo University of the Arts in 1957 under composers Yoshio Hasegawa and Minao Shibata, graduating in 1961. In 1960, while still a student, she co-founded Group Ongaku (Group Music) to explore improvisation and action. Members of this collective included Takehisa Kosugi, Shukou Mizuno, Mikio Tojima

Minoru Miki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Minoru Miki (, 16 March 19308 December 2011) was a Japanese composer and Artistic director. He was known for promoting Japanese, Chinese and Korean traditional instruments as well as some of their performers. In his catalogue these traditional instruments figure solo or in various types of ensembles, with and without Western instruments. His catalogue demonstrates a large stylistic and formal diversity including operas and other kinds of stage music; orchestral, concerto, chamber and solo music, as well as music for films. His work has found international recognition placing Miki in the company of other celebrated Japanese composers such as Tōru Takemitsu. Minoru was a pioneer in the composition of contemporary classical music for large ensembles of traditional Japanese musical instruments. In 1964, he founded the Nihon Ongaku Shūdan (Pro Musica Nipponia ensemble), also known as Ensemble Nipponia, for which he has composed extensively. Biography Minoru was born in Tokushima on March 16, 1930. His first musical experiences were of the traditional music of this region. He had no formal music education before moving to Okayama for high school. Here he first encountered European classi

Mitsuto Suzuki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 2006. He is best known for his work on the Final Fantasy franchise, most notably Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. He has also composed for games such as the Beatmania series, The 3rd Birthday, and Schoolgirl Strikers. Early life Suzuki’s interest in music started in the early 1980s, after his older brother bought a synthesizer, which he got to play with. He also studied the Electone at Yamaha Music School. In his first year of junior high school, he bought a digital synthesizer for himself, which led to him making music using rhythm machines and synthesizers in his spare time. He also utilized multitrack recording to make 60 minute tapes of video game music. At high school, he was the keyboardist of a Beatles cover band. After graduating from high school, Suzuki went to a vocational school, where he studied sound engineering. Tose and early music career (1993–2006) Suzuki dropped out of the vocational school and joined the game company Tose, where he composed for games such as Mobile Suit V Gundam and Ultraman Powered. While employed there, he made

Morishige Takei

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer and court official during the reign of Emperor Showa. Biography He studied Italian at Tokyo College of Language. After studying in Italy and discovering the mandolin and guitar, he returned to Japan and in 1915 established what would become the Sinfonia Mandolini Orchestra, a mandolin orchestra. The orchestra would continue (with breaks) through 1949, when he died. He became a composer, with 114 compositions for mandolin and guitar. World War II affected music in Japan, through the National Mobilization Law of 1938. One of the effects of the law was to allow the government to assert control of music, banning western music and instruments, including the electric guitar, banjo and ukulele. In spite of this, Takei was able to maintain his mandolin-guitar orchestra until 1943. His orchestra, named the Orchestra Sinfonica Takei in 1923, was temporarily renamed Takei-Gakudan (shedding non-Japanese words in its name), December 1941. After the war, he rose higher in the imperial court. He continued the work of promoting the mandolin and guitar, giving a concert with his orchestra November 6, 1949. He fell ill at a rehearsal, however, on December 12 and died two days

Motohiro Kawashima

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese music producer and DJ. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Yuzo Koshiro on several video games, such as Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3. Biography Kawashima was born in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. He grew up listening to artists such as George Gershwin, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Haruomi Hosono. He later moved to Tokyo and got interested in techno culture. During his time at Kunitachi College of Music he began producing techno music and was introduced to Yuzo Koshiro, who was looking for staff at his company, Ancient. He would go on to join his company in 1992, where he composed for Shinobi II: The Silent Fury and the Game Gear and Master System versions of Batman Returns, with Koshiro assisting him on both projects. The two would work together again for Streets of Rage 2 and Streets of Rage 3, with him composing approximately half of the latter’s soundtrack. During this time they would also frequently go to nightclubs together for musical inspiration. In addition to his work on video games, Kawashima has also composed for other productions, including songs for artists, commercials and anime. He currently works as a lecturer in the compu

Motoi Sakuraba

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. He is known for his numerous contributions in video games, including the Tales, Star Ocean, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Golden Sun, and Dark Souls series, as well as several other anime series, television dramas, and progressive rock albums. Career Sakuraba was born on August 5, 1965, in Akita Prefecture, Japan. While attending Meiji University, Sakuraba began to take music composition seriously and formed the progressive rock band “Clashed Ice” in 1984, consisting of him on keyboards and Genta Kudo on drums and vocals. After the duo had graduated the following year, they were noticed by music producer Shingo Ueno, and ending up signing with Made in Japan Records. The band had then added bassist Tetsuya Nagatsuma, and was renamed as “Deja Vu”. In 1988, the band would release their only studio album, Baroque in the Future, composed by Sakuraba. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Mario Tennis Open, Mario Golf: World Tour, and many Tales series games, including Hearts, Graces, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, and Berseria. In 2014, he was selected to provide musical arrangements for Brawl’s successor, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. For this title, S

Motoyuki Shitanda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a contemporary Japanese composer, music teacher, musicologist and conductor. Biography Shitanda studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts under Mareo Ishiketa (石桁眞禮生), Toshiro Mayuzumi and Kenjiro Urata (浦田健次郎) graduating in 1979 with a degree in music composition. He is currently professor at Akita University where he teaches composition. Also, he is part-time lecturer at Seirei Women’s Junior College in Akita and guest lecturer at Trinity College of Music in London. He has received several awards and distinctions including 1st prize in the 1985 Sasagawa Award Music Composition Competition for Festal March (1984), and 1st prize in the 1993 Asahi Composition Award for (Sketch of Sound) (1990). Shitanda is a member of the Japan Federation of Composers and Bandmasters Academic Society of Japan (Academic Society of Japan for Winds Percussion and Band). Selected works * (1995) * (1998) * (2000) * (2000) * (2002) * (2003) * (2004) * (2005) ;Orchestra * Symphony No.1 (1994) * (2003) ;Concert band * Festal March (フェスタル・マーチ) (1984) * March in Blue (マーチ・イン・ブルー) (1988) * , Fantasia for Concert Band (1989) * (1990) ;Concertante * Concerto for viola and orchestra (1998) * Karavinka (カラヴィン

Naoki Kodaka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game music composer who worked for Sunsoft. He is currently a professor of music at several universities and occasionally composes new music for special events. Following his graduation, he briefly worked on producing music for radio and television. Among his classmates, Kodaka was known to spend much of his spare time in arcades, and this ultimately attracted Sunsoft to hire him as a video game composer. He is best known for writing the soundtracks for Journey to Silius, Batman (NES, Genesis and Game Boy versions), Blaster Master, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the Albert Odyssey series, Super Fantasy Zone, and a few other titles. He was almost always assisted on his NES projects by sound programmers Nobuyuki Hara, Shinichi Seya, and sometimes Naohisa Morota. Usually, Kodaka would compose songs on traditional sheet music, and the sound programmers would translate the compositions for the NES, sometimes receiving feedback from Kodaka on how the songs should sound. At some later time, he also joined the faculty at Daido University, where he teaches music theory and computer-based music. Works *Atlantis no Nazo (1986) *Dead Zone (1986) *The Wing of Madoola (1986) *Naz

Naoya Wada

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and arranger. Biography Born on June 6, 1986, in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan. A self-taught pianist, he began composing music at age 11 and completed his first band composition at age 15. In 2009, he earned a degree from the Toho College of Music where he was a student of Jun Nagao. His works have been performed in many countries and have been recorded on CDs by many bands in such countries as the United States, Japan, Germany, and Belgium. Also in 2009, he received the 42nd Kitakyushu Cultural Award for his compositions. Compositions Concert Band Fanfare Band Flex Band String Orchestra Ensembe Arrangements Concert Band Flex Band External links * Official website *Naoya Wada bio and list of works at C. L. Barnhouse Co. official website *Naoya Wada bio and list of works at TRN Music official website *Grand Mesa Music Publishers *Beriato Music *Molenaar Edition

Nobu Kōda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nobu Kōda 幸田延 (1870–1946) was a Japanese composer, violinist, and music teacher. She was one of the first Japanese women to study music overseas. She studied at the New England Conservatory. She later studied in Europe. She was the sister of Kōda Rohan. Early life Nobu Kōda was born on 19 April 1870. Both her and her sister Andō Kōko studied at the Tokyo Music School (now known as Tokyo University of the Arts). As a child she studied the koto and studied western music with Nakamura Sen. She graduated from the Institute in 1885 as part of the first graduating class. Her brother Rohan Koda was one of the most highly respected authors of the time. His daughter Aya, granddaughter Tama, and great-granddaughter Nao were all award-winning authors. They all wrote personal accounts of their family’s history & often mentioned Nobu, preventing her from falling into obscurity. References External links * 幸田延: ヴァイオリンソナタ第2番ニ短調/ Nobu Koda: Violin Sonata No.2 d-minor, recording of Violin Sonata No. 2

Nobuo Uematsu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the Final Fantasy video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve. Uematsu joined Square in 1986, where he first met Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. The two later worked together on many games at the company, most notably in the Final Fantasy series. After nearly two decades with Square, Uematsu left in 2004 to create his own production company and music label, Dog Ear Records. He has since composed music as a freelancer for other games, including ones developed by Square Enix and Sakaguchi’s studio Mistwalker. Many soundtracks and arranged albums of Uematsu’s game scores have been released. Pieces from his video game works have been performed in various Final Fantasy concerts, where he has worked with conductor Arnie Roth and Game Concerts producer Thomas Böcker on several of these performances. Uematsu was also the keyboardist in The Black Mages in the 2000s, which played various hard rock versions of his Final Fantasy compositions. He has since performed with the Earthbound Papas, which he formed as the successor to The Black Mages in 201

Nobuyuki Nakajima

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musician, composer, arranger, and pianist, who studied composition in Tokyo and Paris. He has composed original soundtracks for Japanese TV series such as the NHK Taiga drama Yae no Sakura (nominated for the 42nd International Emmy Awards, Drama Series). In recent years, he participated in Jane Birkin’s world tours (Jane Birkin sings Serge Gainsbourg “Via Japan”) as musical director, orchestrator and pianist (over 70 concerts in 27 countries) 2011–2013. Since 2016, he also joined her world tour “Gainsbourg Symphonique”, as the orchestral arranger and pianist. Discography Studio albums * ETE,Palma ~ a vague impression of the summer ~ (2006) * PASSACAILLE (2007) * MELANCOLIA (2010) * Cancellare (2012) * clair-obscur (2014) * Broken Blossoms (2015) Original soundtrack albums * The Fallen Angel (Ningen Shikkaku) (2010) * Tamayura OVA (2010) * Tamayura ~ hitotose ~ (2011) * Yae no Sakura I (2013) * Yae no Sakura II (2013) * Yae no Sakura III (2013) * Yae no Sakura complete edition (2014) * The Mourner (2015) Works as a Composer Film * The Fallen Angel (dir. Genjiro Arato / 2010) * The Mourner (dir. Yukihiko Tsutsumi / 2015) * good-bye (dir. Toshihiro Hanyu / 2015) * sinsin

Nobuyuki Tsujii

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

(also known as Nobu Tsujii) is a Japanese pianist and composer. He was born blind due to microphthalmia. Tsujii performs extensively, with a large number of conductors and orchestras, and has received critical acclaim for his unique techniques for learning music and performing with an orchestra while being unable to see. Early life and education Nobuyuki Tsujii was born blind due to microphthalmia. From an early age, he exhibited exceptional talent and musical ability. At age two, he began to play “Do Re Mi” on a toy piano after hearing his mother hum the tune. He began formal piano study at the age of four. In 1995, at age seven, Tsujii won the first prize at the All Japan Music of Blind Students by the Tokyo Helen Keller Association. In 1998, at age ten, he debuted with the Century Orchestra, Osaka. He gave his first piano recital in the small hall of Tokyo’s Suntory Hall at age 12. Subsequently, he made his overseas debut with performances in the United States, France, and Russia. In October 2005, he reached the semifinal and received the Critics’ Award at the 15th International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition held in Warsaw, Poland. In April 2007, Tsujii entered Ueno Gakuen U

Noriyasu Agematsu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer, as well as founding member of the musical group Elements Garden. He composed and arranged tracks on Nana Mizuki’s singles Massive Wonders and Eternal Blaze, “Brave Phoenix” on the single Super Generation and the track “Tears’ Night” on the album Alive & Kicking, composed the track Shin’ai and the music for “UNCHAIN∞WORLD” on the single Silent Bible. He composed and arranged the music for the track “Heart-shaped chant” on the single Secret Ambition and the track Justice to Believe. He composed the music for the track Mugen and the tracks “Trickster” and “DISCOTHEQUE” from the single Trickster. Along with his fellow Elements Garden members, he is the composer and arranger for the BanG Dream! franchise, including overseeing music production for its anime. Works Anime Video games References External links * * * Noriyasu Agematsu at Media Arts Database * Noriyasu Agematsu at Video Game Music Database * Profile at www.ariamusic.co.jp (Japanese)

Noriyuki Asakura

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and vocalist, best known for composing the soundtracks to the anime series Rurouni Kenshin and the video game franchises Tenchu and Way of the Samurai. He is well known for combining traditional Japanese music with elements of rock, jazz, and other world music. He established the music production studio Mega-Alpha in 2003, which composes for various types of media. Career Asakura was born in Itabashi, Tokyo and raised in Ehime Prefecture. Asukara was interested in music since childhood, but gained a greater interest after listening to Led Zeppelin, performing for multiple amateur rock bands as a guitarist and vocalist. While attending Nihon University, Asakura entered the music industry professionally in 1982, marking his debut by performing the theme song for Keiji Yoroshiku as Noriyuki Asakura & GANG. He has since began composing music for television programs and movies, as well as producing music for a number of Japanese pop stars during the 1980s and early 1990s. He debuted in the anime industry by composing 1987’s Junk Boy, followed by Time Travel Tondekeman and the Shakotan Boogie original video animation. Asakura composed his first video game score for

Noriyuki Iwadare

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer. Some of his work include the Langrisser, Lunar, Grandia, and Ace Attorney series. Biography Iwadare was born in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He began to compose video game music after years of being involved with university bands. He began composing for Toaplan, arranging their arcade video game soundtracks for their Sega Mega Drive home console ports, notably the Mega Drive version of Zero Wing (1990), before composing for other companies such as Game Arts on their Lunar and Grandia series. The first award he won was the Best Game Music award, the Mega Drive/Genesis category for Lunar: The Silver Star in 1991. He also won the Best Game Music award in the Sega Saturn Music category for Grandia in 1997 and in the Dreamcast category for Grandia 2 in 2000. Iwadare first composed music for Tokyo Disney Resort, in addition to Japanese dance programs, television programs, and radio programs. He dreams to have orchestral arrangements of his musical works, which he himself has done several times, as with the Gyakuten Meets Orchestra arrangements (orchestral arrangements of the Ace Attorney series music). He was a special guest at the 11th Fre

Osamu Shimizu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Osamu Shimizu (Japanese: 清水脩, Shimizu Osamu) (4 November 1911, Tennōji-ku, Osaka – 29 October 1986, Tokyo) was a Japanese composer. Biography Shimizu was a Japanese classical music composer in both the Japanese and Western Style. He was the son of a Gagaku-musician. He studied composition (music) at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo from 1936 to 1939 under Kunihiko Hashimoto and music theory under Hosokawa Midori. In 1939, his “Hana ni yose taru butoh suite” was selected as the first prize winner in the composition section of the 8th Music Competition. In Japan, Shimizu is most known for composing operas, choral works and songs. He also composed for solo instruments including shakuhachi and koto. Among Pure Land Buddhists, both in Japan and in other countries, especially in Hawaii and California in the United States, he is known for his Gathas (Buddhist music) introduced in the late 1950s sponsored by the Hongwanji Temple in Hawaii. A recording of Ondokusan II was released by Buddhist Churches of America, performed by the opera vocalist Mika Shigematsu with piano accompaniment by Rae Imamura for the BCA Shin Buddhist Service Book in 1994. Shimizu’s opera Sh

Rentarō Taki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese pianist and composer of the Meiji era. Taki was born in Tokyo, but moved to many places during his childhood owing to his father’s job. He went to Tokyo Music School (now known as Tokyo University of the Arts) and was taught by Nobu Koda, graduating in 1901. One of his famous pieces is “Kōjō no Tsuki” (Moon Over the Ruined Castle), which was included in the songbook for junior high school students, along with the “Hakone-Hachiri” (箱根八里). “Hana” (花, “Flower”) is also a well-known song. In the same year, Taki went to the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany for further studies, but fell seriously ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and therefore returned to Japan. He lived quietly in the country afterwards, but soon died at the age of 23. His posthumous work is a solo piano piece called “Urami” (憾, “Regret”), which he wrote four months before he died. Recordings *“Kōjō no Tsuki” performed by Jean-Pierre Rampal and Ensemble Lunaire, Japanese Folk Melodies. transcribed by Akio Yashiro, CBS Records, 1978. *“Kōjō no Tsuki” performed by New Kyoto Ensemble, Distant Winds: The Music of Japan. Intersound, 1992. (no composers are credited on this album) References External links * – Koj

Roh Ogura

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was a Japanese composer and writer. Biography He was born in Kitakyushu and lived in Tokyo and Kamakura. First he learned French Modern Music under Shiro Fukai and Tomojiro Ikenouchi. Then he studied under Joseph Rosenstock about how to conduct Beethoven’s symphonies and he became very interested in German classical music and wrote many symphonies that made him end up being called, “Ogurahms”. Then he faced a deadlock and abandoned most of his works. Gradually, he became very interested in Bartók. Finally he broke a new ground and started writing his original music inspired by Japanese traditional folk songs and old nursery rhymes. He was also gifted writer who published several books. In the late period of his life he was passionate painter too who painted oil paintings. He was a friend of Minoru Matsuya (1910–1995) and taught his son Midori Matsuya (1943–1994) harmony and composition. He was also a teacher of Hiroaki Zakoji (1958–1987). Works *1937 Sonatine for piano *1953 Dance Suite for two pianos *1953 Dance Suite for orchestra *1954 String Quartet in B *1957 Five Movements on Japanese Folk Songs for orchestra *1958 Nine Pieces on Children’s Songs of Tohoku Region for female c

Ryo Takahashi (musician)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musician and composer. Growing up, Takahashi was a fan of American rock band the Ventures, which inspired him to take a musical career, and university inspired him to become a composer, which he was given his first lead role in with Please Tell Me! Galko-chan in 2016. Since 2016, he has done music composition for various series, such as ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. and SK8 the Infinity. Under the name Void_Chords, he has performed theme songs for Two Car, Princess Principal, and Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest. Biography Ryo Takahashi was born on November 1, 1985. Growing up, Takahashi was a fan of American rock band the Ventures, which would inspire him to pursue a musical career. While in university, Takahashi studied musical composition, which would influence him to become a composer. In 2016, he made his debut as lead composer with the anime adaptation of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan. Works TV series * Please Tell Me! Galko-chan (2016) (composer) * Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars (2016) (composer) * ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. (2017) (composer) * Princess Principal (2017) (opening theme performance) * Code: Realize − Guardian of Rebir

Ryōhei Hirose

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was a Japanese composer. Biography He studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, with Tomojirō Ikenouchi and Akio Yashiro. He served as a professor in the music department of the Kyoto City University of Arts from 1977 to 1996, afterwards filling various administrative posts there. He has also served as lecturer at the Mozarteum University of Salzburg (1997), Essen Music University (2003), the Kunitachi College of Music (1977–79), and the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music (1991–1998). He has composed for both Japanese and Western instruments, but is best known for his compositions for shakuhachi and recorder. He has also composed for viola da gamba. Hirose’s recorder music has been widely recorded. See Recorded Recorders for a comprehensive discography. Hirose died on November 24, 2008. Compositions *Triste (cello concerto) (1971) *Festival Overture (orchestra) (1971) *Concerto for Shakuhachi and Orchestra (1976) *Blue Train (flute orchestra) (1979) *Sonata for Flute and Harpsichord (1964) *Hare for 3 shakuhachi (1969) *Aki 2 Shakuhachi (1969, arr. for Rec 1988) *Composition for Percussions, Viola and Violoncello (1970) *Potalaka Rec(A), Vc, Hp

Ryonosuke Hirama

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is a Japanese musician, composer, arranger, record producer, pianist and keyboard player, based in Tokyo and Karuizawa. Career Hirama works on advertisement film and soundtrack, producing original albums, offering songs for various artists, and playing instruments at recordings and lives. Hirama is a central member of tangerine. which is a record producing group. He co-starred with a former erhu player from the Twelve Girls Band as a producer and a pianist at a concert held in Karuizawa 2016 and 2017. Hiramas recent work is a song called Blue Star by The Idolmaster (Dancin’ Blue, 2017). The song was introduced as a live performance in front of a 10,000 person audience at a 2018 New Year concert held at Makuhari Messe Chiba, Japan. Discography Total Production *Flavor Bossa Case (2006) *Flavor Bossa Case II (2006) *FLAVOR BOSSA CASE ORANGE STYLE (2007) *FLAVOR BOSSA CASE SAKURA (2008) *FLAVOR BOSSA CASE TEARS (2008) *Login! (2009) *Plugin! (2009) *SPRING SWEET LOVE (2010) *Flavor Bossa Case BEST OF GROOVE STYLE (2011) *Flavor Bossa Case BEST OF MELLOW STYLE (2011) Collaborations *Twilight Flavour (2005) *Aperitivo TOKYO (2006) *In The Morning BEST (2006) *Flavor Bossa Case BEST OF M

Ryuichi Sakamoto

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was a Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his YMO bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto influenced and pioneered a number of electronic music genres. and his composition “Energy Flow” (1999) was the first instrumental number-one single in Japan’s Oricon charts history. Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) marked his debut as both an actor and a film score composer; its main theme was adapted into the single “Forbidden Colours”, which became an international hit. His most successful work as a film composer was his original score for The Last Emperor (1987), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, making him the first Japanese composer to win an Academy Award. He continued earning accolades composing for films such as The Sheltering Sky (1990), Little Buddha (1993), and The Revenant (2015). On occasion, Sakamoto also worked as a composer and a scenario writer on anime and video games. He was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture in 2009 f

Saburō Kitajima

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is a Japanese enka singer, lyricist, actor and composer. Background He was born Minoru Ōno (大野穣), in Shiriuchi, Hokkaidō, to a fisherman. He was very poor due to the effects of World War II, and was forced to work while he studied. Music career When he was about to graduate from high school, he decided to become a singer. His debut single was called “Bungacha-Bushi,” which was released in 1962. He has many famous songs, including “Namida Bune” (1962), “Kyōdai Jingi” (1965), “Yosaku” (1978) and “Kita no Ryōba” (1986). His 1965 song “Kaerokana” was written by lyricist Rokusuke Ei and composer Hachidai Nakamura. He is very popular in Japan partly due to his looks of a physical laborer, and he mostly sings in the spirit of Japan’s working class and rural laborers. Kitajima regularly appeared on Kōhaku Uta Gassen, an annual end-of-year TV program where many major Japanese singers gather to perform, before announcing his retirement from the show in 2013. He participated a record 50 times, was the “anchor” (final solo performer) 13 times and led the grand finale 11 times. His participation included the infamous DJ Ozma performance at the 57th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen. He returned at the 69t

Saburō Moroi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer. Life Moroi was self-taught in composition while studying at the Tokyo Imperial University before moving in 1932 to Germany to study in the Berlin Musikhochschule under Leo Schrattenholz and Walter Gmeindl. While Moroi had been active in the Tokyo musical scene, forming with other colleagues a society named Surya, he claimed that his creative life truly started from his Berlin days. Returning to Japan in 1934, he built a successful career in subsequent years. His work was part of the music event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Soon after completing his Symphony No. 3 in 1944 he was called up by the Japanese Army to serve in the Second World War. Following the country’s surrender he focused on teaching and writing books on music theory, composing just eight works in the following three decades, including two more symphonies. In his last works he turned to the twelve-tone system. Pupils of Moroi include Ikuma Dan, Toriro Miki, Toshiharu Ichikawa (市川都志春), Yoshirō Irino, Kunio Toda (戸田邦雄), Minao Shibata, Sōkichi Ozaki (尾崎宗吉), Akio Yashiro, Chūji Kinoshita (木下忠司), and Im Won-sik. His son Makoto Moroi was also a composer. List of works Orchestr

Sadao Bekku

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese classical composer. His works include five symphonies, film scores, a flute sonata, a piano concerto, choral work and art songs, and the opera, Prince Arima. His work took strong influence from jazz. His best-known works include the film score Matango (1963). Major works Operas * A Story of Three Women (Le dit des trois femmes) (1964) * 有間皇子 (Prince Arima (Arima-no Miko)) (1963–67) * Aoi-no-ue Orchestral works * Deux mouvements pour orchestre (1946) * Suite classique (1947) * Introduction et Allegro (1954) * Deux prières (1956) * Symphonietta for String Orchestra (1959) * Symphony No. 1 (1961) * Concerto pour violon et orchestre (1969) * Concerto pour alto et orchestre (1971) * Symphony No. 2 (1977) * Concerto pour piano et orchestre (1980) * Festival Overture (1981) * Symphony No. 3 “Spring” (1984) * Memories of Pictures: Suite for Wind Band (1987/2005) * March “Be Pure, Be Fresh” for wind orchestra (1988) * Symphony No. 4 “The Summer 1945” (1989) * Concerto pour violoncelle et orchestre “Autumn” (1997) * Symphony No. 5 “Man” (1999) Chamber works * Trio d’anches for bassoon, oboe and clarinet (1953) * Sonate pour flûte et piano (1954) * Suite japonaise Nr. 1 for win

Sakunosuke Koyama

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Sakunosuke Koyama (19 January 1864 – 27 June 1927) was a Japanese composer and music teacher. He was the founder and president of the Japanese Music Education Federation. Course of life Koyama left for Tokyo in 1880 without permission from his family and began studying English, mathematics and music at the University of Tsukiji. After obtaining his diplomas, he was appointed by the Ministry of Education as a researcher and teacher at a Music Research Center, which later changed to the Tokyo Music School. In the Ministry of Education, he was Izawa Shuji (1851–1917), the leader of the music research department, who within the so-called Dutch studies, Western natural sciences and had studied technology. In addition to his work at this institution, he composed and published a collection of folk songs. In 1897, he was appointed professor. Although he continued to support and guide his students, he left this institution in 1903. He mainly wrote school songs, which helped him to familiarize students with European music. Some songs also made Koyama known outside of Japan, particularly in China, which had begun to incorporate European music into the education system after the defeat in the

Satoru Kōsaki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese music composer and arranger. He is best known for his work on anime, including Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Monogatari, Beastars and The Apothecary Diaries. He worked at Namco, where he primarily composed soundtracks for video games. Since 2005, he has been affiliated with Keiichi Okabe’s music production company Monaca, where he has often collaborated with his colleagues to produce soundtracks for anime and other media. Biography Early life Kōsaki was born on September 16, 1974, in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan. He began playing the piano and Electone, at the age of three. His parents also played classical guitar and frequently played songs by classical guitarists within the household. Although he eventually ceased playing the piano, he played the trumpet in his junior high school’s brass band. He listened to fusion artists such as Casiopea and T-Square, as well as pop artists such as Hikaru Genji, and developed an interest in video game music through the Mycom BASIC Magazine, where he started to program music on a PC-9801. As an information engineering student at Kyoto University, he developed an interest in composing music as a member of the amateur circ

Satoshi Yagisawa

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is a Japanese composer. He graduated from the Musashino Academy of Music. He also finished a master’s courses and graduated with the master of music. He then worked for two years in music research. His work is varied and includes orchestral music, chamber music, choral music and music for traditional Japanese instruments. His compositions for winds, whose titles are self-descriptive, are kept in a dramatic musical language. Furthermore, he acts as a judge in competitions, as guest conductor with many orchestras and as the author of articles in professional journals (“The Flute”, “The Clarinet”, “The Sax”). He arranged in 2003 the theme of music (Music for planting and sowing by the Emperor and Empress of Japan) for the 54th National Arbor Day in Chiba Prefecture. Works Works for wind * 1995 Celebres Overture * 1996 Dimelentas * 2000 Dimelentas II * 2001 March-Bou-Shu * 2001 The Lyric for Wind Orchestra “Appeals of autumnel winds” * 2002 Prelude * 2002 “Soaring over the Ridges” – the Impression of the North Alps * 2003 Flamboyant – Red Flames on the ground * 2003 A Tone poem for Wind Orchestra “And then the Ocean Glows” * 2003 Lemuria – The Lost Continent *# The Paradise of Greenery

Sei Ikeno

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was a Japanese composer who wrote the film scores for directors such as Kōzaburō Yoshimura, Yūzō Kawashima, Yasuzō Masumura and new wave filmmaker Yoshishige Yoshida. Ikeno was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido. In 1950, he entered the Tokyo Music School (now Tokyo University of the Arts) and studied under Tomojirō Ikenouchi and Akira Ifukube. In addition to writing film and other music work, he lectured on composition and orchestration at the Tokyo College of Music and the Tokyo University of the Arts. * 1962: The Temple of the Wild Geese (dir. Yūzō Kawashima) * 1962: Black Test Car (dir. Yasuzō Masumura) * 1962: A Woman’s Life (dir. Yasuzō Masumura) * 1962: The Graceful Brute (dir. Yūzō Kawashima) * 1963: Bamboo Doll of Echizen (dir. Kōzaburō Yoshimura) * 1964: Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword (dir. Kazuo Ikehiro) * 1965: An Innocent Witch (dir. Heinosuke Gosho) * 1966: Woman of the Lake (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida) * 1966: Red Angel (dir. Yasuzō Masumura) * 1967: The Affair (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida) * 1967: Zatoichi the Outlaw (dir. Satsuo Yamamoto) * 1968: Affair in the Snow (dir. Yoshishige Yoshida) References External links * Sei Ikeno music manuscript collection at the Tokyo College of Music

Seiichiro Kuribayashi

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is a former Japanese musical composer, keyboardist, singer-songwriter, bassist and guitarist under Vermillion records label. Biography During high school at the age of 16, he went studying English for 4 years in Los Angeles. In 1987, Kuribayashi had started his career as a composer. Stay in my eyes (from album Summer Dream) music composition was provided to popular Japanese band Tube from 80s. In the same year, he joined to the special unit with Oda Tetsuro and vocalist of Tube, Nagisa no All Stars. In 1989 he made his major solo debut with album La Jolla. In years 1990–1993 he was a member of music group B.B.Queens as a back-vocalist and bassist. In years 1993–1994 he was member of rock band Zyyg. Meanwhile, as soloist and composer, he’d been providing numerous compositions for artist such as Zard, Maki Ohguro, Wands, Deen and Manish. In 1995 he created his solo project under the name Barbier with single Christmas Time. In 1997 he held the first public live Kuribayashi Seiichiro LIVE TOUR ‘97 “No Pose”. Three videoclips from live were included in Music Video DVD footage BEST LIVE & CLIPS released by Being Inc. In 1998 he released his final studio album Frosted Glass. In 1999 he he

Shigeaki Saegusa

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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

Shigeomi Hasumi

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(7 December 1967 – 18 June 2017) was a Japanese composer, arranger and musician. He also used the alias Glenn Miyashiro. He graduated from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies, Department of Mongolian Studies. He was the grandson of Shigeyasu Hasumi, a historian of Japanese art. His father, Shigehiko Hasumi, a French literature scholar, literary and film critic, was a professor at the University of Tokyo and the 26th President (1997-2001). His mother was Chantal Van Melkebeke, a French-speaking Belgian. Life and work He was born on 7 December 1967 in Tokyo, Japan, to a Japanese father, Shigehiko Hasumi, and a Belgian mother, Chantal Van Melkebeke, whose native language was French. His father’s book Han Nihongo Ron (1977) describes an episode about Shigeomi’s life, who grew up to be bilingual when he was a child. In 1970, the French Broadcasting and Television Office interviewed him and his parents in French for 20 minutes. While in high school, he joined Keihin Kyodaisha, a musician group consisting of Yuichi Kishino, Midori Okamura, Hibiki Tokiwa, and Yu Yamaguchi. In 1995, he made his debut with the electronic light music unit PACIFIC 231 formed with Ta

Shinji Hosoe

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, also known as Megaten and Sampling Masters MEGA, is a Japanese video game composer and musician most famous for scoring Ridge Racer, Street Fighter EX and many Namco arcade games between 1987 and 1996. He also runs the music production and publishing company SuperSweep, alongside long time collaborator Ayako Saso. Biography Early life Hosoe was born on February 28, 1967, in Gero, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. His family moved to Chōfu while he was in first grade of elementary school. At the age of 8, he bought Isao Tomita’s electronic music album The Planets. He also listened to electronic music by artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Jean-Michel Jarre. During his teenage years, he played bass in a Yellow Magic Orchestra tribute band. At the time, he did not have a serious interest in music and received low grades in music classes. After graduating high school, he studied computer graphics at Japan Electronics College. Namco (1985–1996) Hosoe joined Namco in 1985 as a part-time game tester and CG artist, creating music in his spare time as a hobby. After showing his music to fellow co-workers, he was assigned the position of a composer in 1986. This led to him composing for Drago

Shirō Hamaguchi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, arranger and orchestrator. He is best known for composing music to the anime franchises Girls und Panzer, One Piece, and Oh My Goddess! and arranging/orchestrating music in the Final Fantasy series. He frequently collaborates with fellow composers Kohei Tanaka and Akifumi Tada on anime scores. Biography Early life and career Born in Fukuoka, Japan, Shiro Hamaguchi graduated with a music degree from Tokyo University of the Arts, where he befriended fellow video game musician Masashi Hamauzu. After graduation, he was hired as a department project manager at Victor Entertainment from 1994 to 1996. In 1996, he joined the anime and video game music production company Imagine, where he worked alongside famed composers Hayato Matsuo, Kohei Tanaka, and Kow Otani. His debut role was the anime series Violinist of Hameln (1996), where he arranged Tanaka’s works. His music impressed Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, who chose Hamaguchi as the arranger for the Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks album. He provided orchestral renditions of “Aeris’s Theme”, “Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII”, and “One-Winged Angel”, which have become iconic through their use in various Fin

Shunsuke Kikuchi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer who was active from the early 1960s until 2017. He specialized in incidental music for media such as television and film. Kikuchi was regarded as one of Japan’s most highly demanded film and TV composers, working principally on tokusatsu and anime productions, and also popular action films, jidaigeki, and television dramas. Early life and education Kikuchi was born on November 1, 1931 in the city of Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture. He graduated from Aomori Prefectural Hirosaki Technical High School, specializing in mechanics. Kikuchi then attended the Nihon University College of Art. Career After graduating from the Nihon University College of Art, he made his debut composing for the 1961 film . The Tō-Ō Nippō Press wrote that the contrast between the heroic opening theme and the melancholic ballad ending theme that Kikuchi composed for the 1969 Tiger Mask anime, “changed Japanese anime music.” The Tō-Ō Nippō Press also wrote that the success of the TV drama Abarenbō Shōgun, which aired for 800 episodes from 1978 to 2008, had people say; “If Shunsuke Kikuchi is in charge of the music, the show will be a hit.” Retirement and death Kikuchi ceased composing music

Somei Satoh

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer of contemporary music. Style Satoh’s compositions mix Japanese court music with European romanticism and electronic music. Career His musical career began with an experimental, mix media group called “Tone Field” in Tokyo. He studied at Nihon University of Art in the early 1970s and is primarily self-taught in composition. In 1972 and 1981, Satoh produced two other experimental projects. The latter involved placing eight speakers approximately one kilometer apart on nearby mountain tops overlooking a huge valley. In 1985, he collaborated with theater designer Manuel Luetgenhorst to stage his music at The Arts at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn, New York. He wrote his violin concerto for Anne Akiko Meyers. Compositions ;Orchestra * Sumeru (1982) * Homa (1988) * Ruika (1990) * Toward the Night (1991) * Glimmering Darkness (1995) * Kami no Miuri (1995) * Burning Meditation (1995) * Listening to Fragrances of the Dusk (1997) * Firefly Garden (1998) * Kisetsu (1999) * From the Depth of Silence (2000) * Kyokoku (2000) * Violin Concerto (2002) ;Vocal music * Stabat Mater (1987) ;Works using Japanese musical instruments * Chinmoku (Silence) (1977) * Kaze no Kyoku (Music of the

Suguru Goto

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is a Japanese composer and new media artist who lives in Paris. He performances using new technology such as projection mapping, Kinect, motion capture and robotics and programming which he invented himself. He integrates dances, sounds and images into the performance, highlighting boundaries between human and machine, reality and virtual. He was also a researcher and invited composer at IRCAM. He is currently professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Biography After he studied composition and piano in Japan, he moved to the United States to continue his studies at New England Conservatory in Boston. He preceded his post-graduate studies at Technische Universität Berlin and HDK in Berlin, Germany. Under Dieter Schnebel, professor of experimental music, Suguru Goto started his practices in mixing various representations : sound, dance and image. After having pursued his research in IRCAM and Paris University in France, he has been living in Paris for more than 20 years. In 2009, Suguru Goto was invited to Venice Biennale and His work “RoboticMusic” was played there. 1 In 2016, his first book “Emprise 2 ” was published in Tokyo. Suguru Goto explains the history and development of co

Susumu Hirasawa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musician and composer. He is well known for his work for the films of director Satoshi Kon and the animated adaptations of the Berserk manga series, alongside his work as a solo artist and as a member of P-Model. Early life Hirasawa was born on April 2, 1954, to his father , a firefighter as well as a calligrapher. Under the penname , he wrote the names of album and band for the cover art of the P-Model album Potpourri. Hirasawa lived with his older brother, artist , who goes by the moniker “YOU1”. He formed a stage effects team for Mandrake and appeared at the band’s final show, running on a treadmill. Yūichi was P-Model’s art director for the band’s first 9 years of existence, and has done occasional artwork for his brother from 2013 onwards. His only musical credits are for writing the lyrics of “For Kids” and “Sunshine City” (from In a Model Room), and for doing backing vocals on “Rocket” (from The Ghost in Science). Since childhood, Hirasawa had an interest in machinery, and thought of himself as an engineer. He was an RC plane enthusiast, wanting to be a pilot, and repaired broken devices like radios and flashlights given to him by his parents. He studied in the

Tadatoshi Miyagawa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, a Gagaku performer and researcher, as well as a music arranger. His former last and first name was Konoe Toshitake (近衛俊健). Career He was born in the city of Osaka, Higashi-ku, Kyuhoji as the second son (illegitimate child) to Hidemaro Konoye of the Konoe family. His mother was Fumiko Tsuboi (坪井文子). His father, Hidemaro, registered his birth certificate at the East Ward (Higashiku) city hall in Osaka on 22 July 1937. On 19 October 1939, he was adopted by the youngest brother of his father Tadamaro Miyagawa (水谷川忠麿) and he was renamed Tadatoshi (忠俊). In 1963, he studied in the Berlin Municipal Conservatory of Music (which is now the Berlin University of the Arts, or UdK). His first daughter, Yoko, was born in Berlin, West Germany. In 1968, he returned to Japan just before his second daughter, Yuko, was born. His brother Hidetake Konoe is also a composer and conductor. His wife, Sakiko, is the daughter of viscount Suefusa Ano (阿野季房) from the Ano family of Northern Fujiwara clan. Sakiko was a classmate of his from the Gakushūin Elementary School in Tokyo where the children of the Imperial aristocracy (Kuge) were educated. Movies Folk song Summer Festival them son

Takahiro Izutani

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is a video game music composer and guitarist. He is notable for his work in the Metal Gear Solid series. Profile In 1997, his avant-garde rock band Happy Family (Japanese band) released an album, “Toscco” on Cuneiform Records in the U.S. (http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/happyfamily.html) “Happy Family” collaborated with many underground artists in Japan, New York and Europe. Afterwards Izutani began to work for major Japanese labels. He remixed (occasionally as Brent Mini) and produced the songs of many pop artists (Ayumi Hamasaki is the most famous one). In 2006, he started his personal band “DUGO”, and the track “Dublin” was used in an episode in Season 3 of CSI: Miami. Dugo released the first album “Lingua Franca” from Brave Wave Productions in 2017. Works Video games *Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006) *Yakuza 2 (2006) *Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 (2007) *Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008) *Ninja Blade (2009) *Otomedius G (2009) *Bayonetta (2009) *Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010) *The Eye of Judgment: Legends (2010) *Otomedius Excellent (2011) *Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (2011) *Shinobi 3D (2011) *Bayonetta 2 (2014) *Bayonetta 3 (2022) *Resid

Takahiro Konagawa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese guitarist, singer, and musical composer from Kashiwa, Chiba. He came out as a guitarist of Charcoal Filter in November 1999. He has also performed as a solo artist since December 2003. His first solo album The first tears was released in July 2006. He played guitar on the Puffy AmiYumi song Tokyo I’m on My Way Profile * Nickname: Kona * Blood group: A * Birthplace: Ōita Prefecture * Education: Graduation from Keio Senior High School and dropping out Keio University * Height: 5 ft. 6in. (168 cm) * Family: Parents and a younger brother * Favorite musicians: Green Day, Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses, U2, Weezer, The Beatles * Main use guitar: Fender Custom Clapton Stratocaster Discography The first tears (July 19, 2006) # tears # Stop Magic # Inori (祈り, Prayer) # Melody # Mokutekichi (目的地, Destination) # Mercy Drive Composition Konagawa is composing all of his songs and many of Charcoal Filter’s songs. For example, Sotsugyō (卒業, Graduation), BY MY SIDE, Niji (虹, Rainbow). In addition he composed the following songs for Takashi Tsukamoto and Satomi Yoshida. * Boku no Koe (僕の声, My Voice) by Takashi Tsukamoto * Grapefruit Moon (グレープフルーツムーン) by Satomi Yoshida * Quatre Saisons (キャトル

Takahiro Moriuchi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, known professionally as Taka, is a Japanese singer and musician who is the lead vocalist of the Japanese rock band One Ok Rock. Moriuchi is the band’s main lyricist and composer. In 2017, Kerrang! magazine placed him at number 27 on their list of the “50 Greatest Rockstars in the World”. He was also listed by Rock Sound magazine as one of “50 Most Influential Figures in Rock”. Prior to One Ok Rock, he was in the boyband NEWS throughout 2003 until he left the group and the agency. He performs in English and Japanese. Personal life Taka was born on April 17, 1988, the eldest son of famous Japanese singers Masako Mori and Shinichi Mori. He has two younger brothers named Tomohiro Moriuchi who works at TV Tokyo, and Hiroki Moriuchi who is the lead singer of the band My First Story. His sister-in-law is model and actress Maika Yamamoto. He attended Keio Elementary School and graduated in March 2001, then continued his studies at Keio Middle School in April 2001. He joined soccer club in his first year of middle school. In April 2004, he attended Keio High School until his first year of high school (March 2005). He then dropped out to pursue his musical career, which his parents opposed

Takahito Eguchi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, orchestrator, and musician. He is best known for collaborating with Noriko Matsueda on Final Fantasy X-2 and with Tomoya Ohtani on several Sonic the Hedgehog games. Eguchi became interested in music when he was six years old after hearing his neighbor playing the piano. He attended the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi where he acquainted Matsueda. Eguchi worked at Square Enix from 1998 to 2003 and currently works at Sega. He created mostly electronic music in the early part of his career but now focuses on orchestral composition and arrangement, along with performing keyboards. Biography Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Eguchi became interested in music at the age of six when he heard his neighbor playing the piano. While his father, a judo athlete, initially tried to push him into pursuing sports, he eventually agreed to let him take piano lessons, as long as he agreed to study with his sister. Eguchi enrolled at the Tokyo Conservatoire Shobi, Eguchi joined Square (now Square Enix) in 1998; his first job was composing the 1999 title Racing Lagoon alongside Matsueda. Although his role was minor compared to Matsueda’s, he was responsible for the opening and ending themes, t

Takanori Arisawa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer and arranger best known for composing the Sailor Moon and Digimon (Seasons 1-4) anime series. He wrote music for the series, including its video games. Born in Tokyo, Arisawa began to learn piano at the age of 20. After graduating from Senzoku Gakuen College, Arisawa started his career in 1980 by composing “Shinjuku Transfer”. He worked for the Tokyo Broadcasting System and wrote several TV dramas. From the 1990s until his death, Arisawa began composing for anime series exclusively. His work on Sailor Moon was initially based on pop music, but gradually began to change to those found in classical music. Sailor Moon was successful and Arisawa won several awards for his work. After Sailor Moon, Arisawa composed music for several shows, including the Digimon series, until his death from bladder cancer in 2005. Biography Arisawa was mostly self-taught, having been interested in music from childhood. He started to learn piano when he was 20 years old, and entered Senzoku Gakuen College when he was 22, eventually graduating with degrees in Composing and Orchestral Music. He studied jazz and pop arrangement with arranger Norio Maeda. In 1980, Arisawa’s song “Shinju

Takashi Yoshimatsu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese classical music composer. He is well known for composing the score for the 2003 remake of Astro Boy. Biography Yoshimatsu was born and raised in Yoyogi, Tokyo. He did not receive formal musical training while growing up. Yoshimatsu was a fan of The Walker Brothers and The Ventures when he was 13, but symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky fascinated him when he was 14. When he entered Keio High School, he had hoped to go to medical school, but eventually changed his aspirations to become a symphony writer. While studying at the Faculty of Engineering at Keio University, he became an apprentice of Teizo Matsumura. Although he says that he was not influenced in any way by Matsumura’s style, his 1974 solo piano piece, To the companion star of Sirius (Op. 1), shows a strong influence of contemporary music, including Matsumura’s. He was introduced to Manabu Kawai, a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, who encouraged him to study harmony and counterpoint, but he gave up taking lessons after a few months and left the university in March 1974. At this time, while composing music as art music, he was also fascinated by progressive rock music suc

Takeaki Kunimoto

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a former composer of video game music. He used to work for the Japanese video game developer Hudson Soft. With them he would go on to compose several of their most famous early hits, including Star Soldier, Milon’s Secret Castle, Mickey Mousecapade and Robowarrior. In recent years, he has dedicated his time to performing video game music at live venues in the Shibuya area, as well as releasing several albums containing his video game music material. Kunimoto is noted as one of the first to write accompanying lyrics to the music featured in the video games he composed for, printed in the instruction booklet supplied with the game software. Biography Kunimoto began his career after attending college and being scouted by Hudson Soft staff member Sasagawa Toshiyuki who visited the musical instrument store Kunimoto was working at, often coding the pre-composed melodies in keyboard software. Sasagawa assigned him to compose for Challenger on the Famicom. He went on to compose the majority of Hudson Soft’s earlier hits. Most of his work was done on the YAMAHA CX-11 (MSX) + SFG-01 module. In 1987, Kunimoto made the move to Tokyo in order to begin a career as a live musician and session

Takeharu Ishimoto

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer and musician. Formerly employed by Square Enix, he joined them in 1999 as a synthesizer programmer on Legend of Mana, working for them on several games. In 2002, he was promoted to the role of composer, beginning with World Fantasista, and composed for several large-budget games, such as The World Ends with You, the Final Fantasy series, and the Kingdom Hearts series. In addition to his work for Square Enix, he is a composer and guitar player for the band The Death March. He left Square Enix at the end of 2017, becoming a freelancer. Biography According to Ishimoto, he first got into music due to living in the country, where there was nothing else to do. He first worked as a synthesizer programmer, beginning with Legend of Mana in 1999, before becoming a composer starting with the PlayStation 2 soccer game World Fantasista. In 2004, he began to compose for games in the Final Fantasy series, which he had previously worked on as a synthesizer programmer for Final Fantasy X. His last work as a synthesizer programmer was for Kingdom Hearts II in 2005; since then, he worked exclusively for Square Enix as a composer. Ishimoto was also a member of the Jap

Takehisa Kosugi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer, violinist and artist associated with the Fluxus movement. Early life Kosugi was born in Tokyo in 1938, and studied musicology at the Tokyo University of the Arts, graduating in 1962. Early musical influences Kosugi first became drawn to music listening to his father play harmonica and listening to violin recordings of Mischa Elman and Joseph Szigeti while as a child in post-war Japan. His later influences as a university student included the 1950s musical experimentation occurring in Europe and the US. He was also influenced by jazz, citing Charlie Parker’s “spontaneity and freedom.” Musical career Group Ongaku He started Tokyo-based seven-member ensemble Group Ongaku with his first improvisation partner Shuku Mizuno, which was active from 1958 to 1962. The group explored the limits of music by using the noises of ordinary objects and eschewing conscientiousness of the other members’ sound. Their first concert was the “Concert of Improvisational Music and Sound Object” at the Sōgetsu Art Center on September 15, 1961. Along with Natsuyuki Nakanishi and Jiro Takamatsu of Hi-Red Center and the sculptor Hiroshi Kobatake, Kosugi participated in “Kuroku fuchidora

Takekuni Hirayoshi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese classical composer. Biography Takekuni Hirayoshi graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts Department of Music in 1961 and completed his graduate work there in 1967. He studied with Yoshio Hasegawa (長谷川良夫) and Yoshiho Ikuma (伊熊良穂). He was the 1969 recipient of the Otaka Award (尾高賞). Subsequently, he was a part-time lecturer at Tokyo University of the Arts, and professor at Toho Gakuen School of Music and Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. The compositions of Hirayoshi encompass many genres, among which his many popular choral works are notable. In his later years, he focused on piano music for children. Selected works The compositions of Takekuni Hirayoshi are published mainly by the Japan Federation of Composers, Ongaku-no-Tomo Sha and Edition Kawai. ;Orchestral * Composition (コンポジション) for orchestra * Ballade (バラード) for orchestra * Epitaph (エピタフ) for string orchestra (1971) * Symphonic Variations (交響変奏曲) * Umi no aru fūkei (海のある風景) ;Band * Composition for symphonic band (シンフォニックバンドのためのコンポジション) * Rhapsody for symphonic band (シンフォニック・バンドのためのラプソディ) * High School Festival Prelude (高校祝典序曲) (1978); commissioned for the 70th anniversary of Hyōgo High School ;Concert

Takeo Watanabe

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese musician and composer. In addition to composing the well known theme song for Cutie Honey he has also composed music for multiple anime television series and films including Lone Wolf and Cub, Candy Candy, and Mobile Suit Gundam. Tomei Tengu BGM written and performed by Takeo Watanabe was used in the soundtrack of the 2003 movie Lost in Translation fourteen years after his death. In 2008 Takeo Watanabe posthumously received an Award of Merit from the Tokyo International Anime Fair. He died at the age of 56. Biography Eldest son of . Graduated from Musashi(?) University he studied music in Paris, France. Works Television Animation * * * - See The Little Mermaid * * * * * * * * * * * * * * (In the English version of this series as well as in adaptations based on the English version, Watanabe’s score was replaced with one by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy.) * * * TV dramas * Historical dramas * * * * Theatrical releases Movies * (ja) Hakuja komachi (1958) Actor * * The Ninja: A New Beginning (1966) * (ja) Nemuri Kyoshiro 9: Burai-Hikae masho no hada (1967) * (ja) Waka oyabun o kese (1967) * (ja) Waka oyabun senryū-hada (1967) * When the Cookie Crumbles (1967) * (ja) Bakuto r

Takeshi Abo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer. He joined the industry through developer StarCraft, Inc. in the early 1990s, mainly working on conversions of Western video games. In the mid-1990s, he joined KID. After KID declared bankruptcy in December 2006, he has joined 5pb. Works *Anonymous;Code *Chaos;Child *Chaos;Child Love Chu Chu!! *Chaos;Head *Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu! *Close to ~Inori no Oka *Dunamis 15 *Disorder 6 *Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club *Famicom8BIT - momo-i *FlixMix (NEC PC-98 version) *Gear Works (NEC PC-98 version) *Gokujyou Seitokai *Infinity series **Never 7: The End of Infinity **Ever 17: The Out of Infinity **Remember 11: The Age of Infinity **12Riven: The Psi-Climinal of Integral *Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb (NEC PC-98 version) *Iris ~~Irisu~~ *King’s Bounty (NEC PC-98 & FM Towns versions) *Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos (NEC PC-98 & FM Towns versions) *Legend of Kyrandia I (NEC PC-98 & FM Towns versions) *Legend of Kyrandia II: The Hand of Fate (NEC PC-98 & FM Towns versions) *Lord of the Rings (PC-98 version) *Mabino x Style *Marionette Mind *Megadimension Neptunia VII *Memories Off *Memories Off 2nd *Omoide ni Kawaru Kimi ~~Memories Off~~ *

Takeshi Hayama

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musical arranger and guitarist under Being Inc. records. Biography In 1978, he debuted with his own blues band under Trio Records. In 1990s he entered to Being recording agency. Takeshi becomes the main arranger of Japanese singer-songwriter Maki Ohguro. Along with Masao Akashi they were the most busy arrangers during 90s. During the same period time he provided arrangements for another Being artist as Zard, Deen or Wands as is under charge of arranging famous million-sells hits as Makenaide, Kono Mama Kimi Dake wo Ubaisaritai, Motto Tsuyoku Kimi wo Dakishimetara or Anata Dake Mitsumeteru. After the establishment of Giza Studio, he continued providing arrangements for artist as Aiuchi Rina, U-ka Saegusa in dB or Aya Kamiki. Takeshi appears sometimes as a supportive guitarist in Hills Pan Kōjō Live. Since 2012, he’s a music teacher of rock and pop department in Senzoku Gakuen of Music. In celebration of his 60 birthday, he held special live with former vocalist of Field of View, U-ya Asaoka. He is active as of 2021. List of provided works as an arranger Maki Ohguro *Harlem Nights *La La La *Natsu ga Kuru *Atsuku Nare *Anata Dake Mitsumeteru *Chotto *Da Da Da *Shiroi Gr

Takeshi Kobayashi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, is a Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger, and record producer. History Kobayashi started his professional career in the late 1970s. After working in the backing bands for singers such as Yosui Inoue, Misato Watanabe, and Anri, he came into prominence as a musical collaborator for the Southern All Stars frontman Keisuke Kuwata’s eponymous 1988 solo album. Although his own leader albums failed to receive public attention, Kobayashi garnered commercial success in collaboration as producer or songwriter with other artists. As an arranger of his own composition “Anata ni Aete Yokatta” co-written and performed by Kyōko Koizumi in 1991, Kobayashi won the 33rd Japan Record Awards for Best Arrangement category. In 1992, he undertook the production work with the Japanese pop-rock band Mr. Children on their debut album entitled Everything. The producer and the band have gone on to record together to date, achieving mainstream success with cumulative sales of over 58 million copies albums and singles as of March 2013. In 1995, Kobayashi formed another multi-million selling pop group My Little Lover fronted by his then-girlfriend and first spouse Akko, and remained as a full-ti

Taku Iwasaki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and arranger. His hometown is Tokyo, Japan. He is a graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Works Anime *The Irresponsible Captain Tylor (OVA series (theme songs composition, etc.); 1995, 1996) *Now and Then, Here and There (1999) *Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (1999) *R.O.D -Read or Die- (2001) *The SoulTaker (2001) *Sadamitsu the Destroyer (2001) *Rurouni Kenshin: Reflection (2001) *Go! Go! Itsutsugo Land (2001) *GetBackers (2002) *Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe (2002) *Witch Hunter Robin (2002) *R.O.D the TV (2003) *Yakitate!! Japan (2004) *Black Cat (2005) *Angel Heart (2005) *Binchō-tan (2006) *Ōban Star-Racers (2006) *Kekkaishi (2006) *009-1 (2006) *Gurren Lagann (2007) *Persona: Trinity Soul (2008) *Soul Eater (2008) *Black Butler (2009) *Katanagatari (2010) *C (2011) *Heaven’s Memo Pad (2011) *Ben-To (2011) *Jormungand (2012) *JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency (2012) *Gatchaman Crowds (2013) *Noragami (2014) *The Irregular at Magic High School (2014) *Akame ga Kill! (2014) *Magic Kaito 1412 (2014) *Gatchaman Crowds insight (2015) *Noragami Aragoto (2015) with Kayo Konishi, Yukio Kondoo (MOKA☆) and ELECTRO

Tamayo Kawamoto

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tamayo Kawamoto (河本圭代), also simply known as TAMAYO, is a Japanese video game music composer. During her time at Capcom, she wrote music for games. After leaving Capcom in 1988, she joined Taito and became a member of their in-house band, Zuntata. She later joined up with Japanese singer Cyua to form the group Betta Flash. Career Kawamoto was one of the first musicians hired at Capcom. In 1989, she joined Taito as a composer, becoming a member of their house band and sound team, Zuntata. *Ghouls ’n Ghosts (Arcade) References External links *Interview by Capcom *Interview with Zuntata Members

Tappi Iwase

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, sometimes credited professionally as TAPPY, is a Japanese musical composer. He is best known for his contributions to the Metal Gear and Suikoden franchises. Iwase studied music with Dick Grove at the Grove School of Music prior to its closure in 1991. Iwase is credited with composing all of the music for Metal Gear Solid, with the exception of the ending theme “The Best Is Yet to Come”, whereas the music for the cinematic scenes was composed by Gigi Meroni. This includes the well-known main theme to Metal Gear Solid, arrangements of which were subsequently used in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. References External links *

Taro Hakase

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musician who specialises as a violinist and composer. Biography Career Hakase was involved in a Japanese band called Kryzler & Kompany which formed while he was in college. He played the violin, while Tsuneyoshi Saito played keyboards, and Yoshinobu Takeshita played bass. Their first eponymous album was released in September 1990 and sold 74,000 copies. Their second, Kryzler And Company #, sold over 81,000 copies. Steve McClure of Billboard wrote that they have become “Japan’s unlikeliest pop idols, attracting hordes of screaming fans, a far cry from the decorum and reserve usually shown by Japan’s classical music audiences.” The band provided the music for Celine Dion’s single “To Love You More” which was recorded as the theme song for the Japanese drama Koibito Yo (My Dear Lover). The song reached number one on Billboard Japan. He then joined Dion on her nationwide promotional tour making television appearances and performed the song during her 1996–1997 Falling into You Tour and her 1998–1999 Let’s Talk About Love Tour as guest violinist. When Dion went on hiatus to have her son, Hakase pursued a solo career, and Kryzler & Kompany disbanded after having produced 11

Taro Kudo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game designer and video game music composer. He is best known for his work on the Mario role-playing games. He began his career working for Konami and Square in the 1990s, then joined fellow ex-Square designers at Love-de-Lic in 1996, where he designed UFO: A Day in the Life. Kudo worked as company director for Vanpool prior to its disestablishment. Works References External links *Composer profile at OverClocked ReMix *Developer Profile at MobyGames

Teiichi Okano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Teiichi Okano ( Okano Teiichi; 16 February 1878, Tottori, Tottori, Japan – 29 December 1941) was a Japanese composer. Selected works ;Popular songs * “Furusato” (故郷) (1914) * “Haru ga kita” (春が来た) (1910) * “Haru no ogawa” (春の小川) (1912) * “Hinomaru no hata” (日の丸の旗) (1911) * “Momiji” (もみじ) (1911) * “Oborozuki yo” (朧月夜; “Dark Moon Night”) for soprano, flute and harp (1914) * Momotarō’s song (1911) Oborozuki yo Oborozuki yo (朧月夜; “Dark Moon Night”) is a song composed by Teiichi Okano with lyrics by . The song was written to pass down the Japanese landscape to posterity. In 1914, the song appeared in the list of " for 6th-grade," to be taught in the Japanese public school system. It is still sung to this day. Japanese Source: 1．菜の花畠に、入日薄れ、見わたす山の端、霞ふかし。春風そよふく、空を見れば、夕月かかりて、にほひ淡し。 2．里わの火影も、森の色も、田中の小路をたどる人も、蛙のなくねも、かねの音も、さながら霞める朧月夜。 Translation Source: 1. Evening sun goes down in a mustard field. When I look out over mountain ridges, they are veiled in dense mist. I feel the spring breeze and I look up at the sky. Then, the evening moon rises high and it is colored softly. 2. The lamps of a village, green of the forest, people who walk along a path between rice paddies, croaking of

Teizo Matsumura

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Teizo Matsumura (松村禎三 Matsumura Teizō; 15 January 1929 – 6 August 2007) was a Japanese composer and poet. Orphaned and suffering from tuberculosis, during his recovery in the early 1950s he began to write both haiku and music. He studied with Tomojiro Ikenouchi and Akira Ifukube. He was influenced by Ravel and Stravinsky, but also Asian traditions. He was Professor Emeritus of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Matsumura is best known for his opera Chinmoku (in English Silence) based on the novel of the same name by Shusaku Endo. This has been recorded. Matsumura is the recipient of the 1974 UNESCO International Rostrum of Composers and of the 1978 Suntory Music Award. Major works *Achime for soprano, percussion and 11 players (1957) *Cryptogame for instrumental ensemble (1958) *Musique pour quatuor à cordes et pianoforte (1962) * Symphony No. 1 (1965) *Prélude pour orchestre (1968) *Aprasas for female chorus with 2 harps, piano, harpsichord, celesta and string orchestra (1969) *Totem Ritual for mixed chorus with 8 percussions, piano, harpsichord and orchestra (1969) *Deux berceuses à la Grèce for piano (1969) *Poème I for shakuhachi and koto (1969) *Courtyard o

Tenpei Sato

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a video game composer and voice actor. His most notable works are his soundtracks for Nippon Ichi Software games, such as Disgaea and Phantom Brave. He also provides voice-over for games and movies. Biography Sato was born in 1967 in Kawagoe, Japan and grew up in Tokyo. He began playing piano at the age of six, and made his first composition, a piece for guitar, at the age of twelve. His first job was at Telenet Japan, where he composed the score for the action role-playing game XZR and popular side-scroller Valis II. After leaving Telenet, he joined Glodia, and together with Nobuhito Koise, composed the soundtrack to the cult classic Emerald Dragon. Later he would compose both Vain Dream with Abreath Nakamura and Bible Master II. After leaving Glodia, he joined Birdy Soft, and produced soundtracks for four of their games. He has since spent much of his career working with Nippon Ichi Software, which is where his music has gained its greatest recognition. Games he has composed for include the Rhapsody series, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, La Pucelle: Tactics, and Phantom Brave. In an interview, he commented that he was most looking forward to the orchestral arrangements of “Determi

Tetsuji Hayashi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, singer-songwriter, and arranger known for his influential contributions to the development of J-pop and city pop during the 1980s. He was exposed to Western pop music from an early age, sparking his passion for music. He honed his skills as a composer and arranger, and in 1978, he composed Mariya Takeuchi’s debut album, Beginning, followed by her hit single “September” in 1979 and “Mayonaka no Door” for Miki Matsubara that same year. His collaborations extended to other prominent artists such as S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, Masaki Ueda and Junichi Inagaki. Despite initially planning retirement in 2008, Hayashi returned to the spotlight due to fan support at a commemorative concert. Since then, he has continued to compose and produce music. His legacy was celebrated with the release of the compilation album 50th Anniversary Special A Tribute of Hayashi Tetsuji: Saudade in 2023, accompanied by a concert showcasing his impact. Early life and education Tetsuji Hayashi was born on August 20, 1949, in Fuji, Shizuoka, as the youngest of five siblings. His father ran a paper mill. Exposed to Western pop music from an early age, he and his brother were lent an acoustic

Tetsurō Kashibuchi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese musician, composer, and record producer. Life After performing first in so-called utagoe coffeehouses, he joined the band Hachimitsu Pie, and when they disbanded, he joined the Moonriders. Together with his Moonrider bandmates Ryōmei Shirai and Hirobumi Suzuki he started a unit called Artport. In the 1980s, he composed many songs and produced albums for idols, especially for Yukiko Okada. He died on December 17, 2013, from esophageal cancer. Works (selection) Albums * Rira no hoteru (1983) * Kanojo no toki (1985) * fin meguriai (1993) * Kashibuchi Tetsuro SONGBOOK (1998) * Kyo wa ame no hi desu (2002) * Live Egocentrique (2003) * Tsukuribanashi (2004) * Jiyu na merodi – Hachimitsu Pie〜Moonriders (2009) * LE GRAND (2009) Producer, composer for * Agnes Chan * Seri Ishikawa * Rie Nakahara * Eve * Yukiko Okada * Megumi Ōishi * Akiko Ikuina Soundtracks Movies * Koisuru Onnatachi (1986) * Tsuribaka Nisshi 5 (1992) * Tsuribaka Nisshi 6 (1993) * Tsuribaka Nisshi 7 (1994) * Tsuribaka Nisshi 8 (1996) * Tsuribaka Nisshi 9 (1997) * Tsuribaka Nisshi 10 (1998) Anime * Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989) * Compiler (1992) TV commercials * Nomura Securities（2005） * Sek

Tomosuke Funaki

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer who has contributed to the Bemani series of music video games. He has produced songs for Beatmania, Beatmania IIDX, Pop’n Music, Dance Maniax, Guitar Freaks, DrumMania, Mambo a Gogo, and Dance Dance Revolution (Dancing Stage). He collaborated with the Shibuya-Kei vocalist “EeL” to provide original songs for BEMANI under his “EeL” pseudonym. Between 2000 - 2004 Funaki produced a series of Lounge Music compositions to accompany games created by Bemani Works using the name “Orange Lounge”. The tracks were recorded with French-speaking Japanese vocalist Shizue Tokui. In all they recorded just 14 tracks, with another eight or more extended remixes Orange Lounge’s signature track, “Love Is Orange” is a reference to the 1967 instrumental hit “Love Is Blue” by Paul Mauriat, whose work Funaki has cited as an influence. “Nick boys” is the pseudonym for his Hip hop-influenced collaboration with Des-ROW. “Zektbach” is the pseudonym used for his classical music influenced concept pieces by forms of fantasy worlds, usually with choirs and classical instrumentation. Bemani works beatmania *Feel the light, beatmania 6th Mix *What is love?, beatmania 7th Mix *u gotta groove -

Tomoyasu Hotei

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, also known simply as Hotei ( ), is a Japanese musician, singer-songwriter, composer, record producer and actor. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Hotei claims record sales of over 40 million copies and has collaborated with artists from around the world. Hotei first rose to prominence in the 1980s as the guitarist for Boøwy, one of Japan’s most popular rock bands, before starting a solo career. In 2003, he was ranked number 70 on HMV’s list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts. He ranked second in a 2011 poll on who the Japanese people thought was the best guitarist to represent Japan. An iconic artist in his native Japan, he moved to London in 2005 and continues to perform and release music globally. Hotei’s song “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” has been featured in numerous films, commercials, video games, and events, including Quentin Tarantino’s feature film Kill Bill. Early life Hotei was born to a Korean father and a Russian-born Japanese mother. He first began playing the guitar in junior high school. Inspired by a poster of T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan, he stole money from his mother’s purse and bought a Stratocaster at fourteen years old. His first band,

Tōru Takemitsu

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music and writer on music. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for his subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation. Takemitsu composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. His 1957 Requiem for string orchestra attracted international attention, led to several commissions from across the world and established his reputation as the leading 20th-century Japanese composer. He was the recipient of numerous awards and honours and the Toru Takemitsu Composition Award is named after him. Biography Youth Tōru Takemitsu was born on 8 October 1930 in the northern Hongō district of Tokyo. The family moved a month later to the then Japanese-controlled Dalian, Manchuria, where Tōru’s father Takeo Takemitsu, was a government official. After his father’s early death in 1938, Tōru’s mother Reiko sent him back to Japan to attend elementary (1938–1943) and middle school (1944). He lived with an aunt and uncle, again in Hongō, Tokyo

Toshi Ichiyanagi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese avant-garde composer and pianist. One of the leading composers in Japan during the postwar era, Ichiyanagi worked in a range of genres, composing Western-style operas and orchestral and chamber works, as well as compositions using traditional Japanese instruments. He studied composition with Tomojirō Ikenouchi, Kishio Hirao, and John Cage. His decision to return to Japan, while Ono remained in New York, rendered the marriage untenable. Career Returning to Japan in 1960, Ichiyanagi collaborated with the anti-art collective Neo-Dada Organizers. Many of Ichiyanagi’s early scores use graphic notation: Sapporo (1963) is one of the better known examples. Another notable early work is the 1960 composition Kaiki, which combined Japanese instruments, shō and koto, and western instruments, harmonica and saxophone. Another work, Distance (1961), required the performers to play from a distance of three meters from their instruments. Anima 7 (1964) stated that chosen action should be performed “as slowly as possible”. In 1963, Ichiyanagi co-founded an avant-garde music collective called New Direction along with fellow composers Takehisa Kosugi, Yūji Takahashi, and Kenji Kobayashi

Toshio Hosokawa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. He studied in Germany but returned to Japan, finding a personal style inspired by classical Japanese music and culture. He has composed operas, the oratorio Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima, and instrumental music. He was the cofounder and artistic director of a Japanese festival for contemporary music and has been a composer in residence at international festivals such as the Venice Biennale, Lucerne Festival, Warsaw Autumn and Rheingau Musik Festival. His operas premiered at the Munich Biennale and La Monnaie, among others. Hosokawa lives in Nagano and Mainz. Career Hosokawa was born in Hiroshima on 23 October 1955. * 2021: Goethe Medal Compositions IRCAM has a detailed list of Hosokawa’s works, also Schott Music, Opera class=“wikitable sortable” ! Premiere ! Title ! class=unsortable Description ! class=unsortable Libretto and source ! class=unsortable Notes - 19 April 1998, Gasteig / Munich Biennale Vision of Lear Opera in 2 acts, 105’ Tadashi Suzuki, after his stage play The Tale of Lear - 17 March 2012, , Brussels The Raven monodrama for soprano, 45’ Setting of Poe’s The Raven - 24 January 2016, Staatsoper Hamburg Stilles Mee

Toshio Iwai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese interactive media and installation artist who has also created a number of commercial video games. In addition he has worked in television, music performance, museum design and digital musical instrument design. Education and early work Iwai was born in 1962 in Kira, Aichi, Japan. As a child, he spent time creating flip book-style animations in the corner of text books and making motor-driven mechanical toys, since these were the only technologies available to him. In 1981 Iwai matriculated in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Tsukuba, studying Plastic Art and Mixed Media. Influenced by the work of Norman McLaren, he began producing installation art that combined pre-cinema animation techniques (the phenakistoscope and the zoetrope) with modern methods of image capture and creation (photocopiers, video cameras and computer graphics) and of stroboscopic lighting (video monitors, video projectors and LEDs). His 1985 installation Time Stratum won the Gold prize at the High Technology Art Exhibition ‘85, held in Shibuya Seibu, Tokyo. In Piano - As Image Media (1995), audience members operate a trackball to draw lighted dots on a grid projected onto a sheet of

Toshio Masuda (composer)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer. He has composed and synthesized scores for several Japanese television shows and animated series. Masuda is perhaps best known as the composer of the 2002 hit anime series Naruto where he combined traditional instruments like the shamisen and shakuhachi together with guitar, drums, bass, piano and other keyboard instruments along with chanting. Works Animation * Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf (1992) * Flint the Time Detective (1998) * Excel Saga (1999) * Jubei-chan (1999) * Di Gi Charat specials (2000) * Hand Maid May (2000) * Daa! Daa! Daa! (2000) * Mahoromatic (2001) * Puni Puni Poemy (2001) * Naruto (2002) * Ai Yori Aoshi (2002) * Nanaka 6/17 (2003) * Di Gi Charat: Leave it to Piyoko! (2004) * Jubei-chan 2 (2004) * Di Gi Charat Nyo! (2004) * Mushishi (2005) * Ghost Hunt (2006) * Otogi-Jūshi Akazukin (2006) * Higepiyo (2009) * Kamisama Kiss (2013) * Mushishi -Next Passage- (2014) * Kamisama Kiss◎ (2015) * Nobunaga no Shinobi (2016) * Nobunaga no Shinobi: Anegawa Ishiyama-hen (2018) * My Clueless First Friend (2023) OVA * Animation Runner Kuromi (2001) * Puni Puni Poemy (2001) * Animation Runner Kuromi2 (2003) Specials *Mushi-Shi Special: The Shadow

Toshiro Mayuzumi

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer. He was known for his implementation of avant-garde instrumentation alongside traditional Japanese musical techniques. His works drew inspiration from a variety of sources ranging from jazz to Balinese music, and he was considered a pioneer in the realm of musique concrète and electronic music, being the first artist in his country to explore these techniques. Over the span of his career, he wrote symphonies, ballets, operas, and film scores. Mayuzumi was the first Japanese composer to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, for the 1966 film The Bible: In the Beginning…. He was the recipient of an Otaka prize by the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Purple Medal of Merit. John Huston called him a “modern Beethoven”. Biography Born in Yokohama, Mayuzumi was a student of Tomojirō Ikenouchi and Akira Ifukube at the Tokyo University of the Arts immediately following the Second World War, graduating in 1951. He then went to Europe where he attended the Paris Conservatoire national supérieur de musique, studying with Aubin and becoming familiar with the new developments of Olivier Messiaen and Pierre Boulez, as well as with the techniques of mus

Tsuneo Fukuhara

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Tsuneo Fukuhara (; 14 November 1932 – 1 November 2022) was a Japanese composer and record producer. Life and career Born in Osaka, Fukuhara was the adoptive son of composer and record producer . He spent his early life in Okinawa, and studied classical music at the Osaka College of Music. He is considered a pioneer in fusing traditional Okinawan style with elements from other popular genres such as classical music, rhythm & blues and bossa nova, Fukuhara died of aortic stenosis on 1 November 2022, at the age of 89. References External links * * *

Urato Watanabe

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese classical and film music composer. Early life Urato Watanabe was born on March 2, 1909, in Aomori, Japan, his family moved to Tokyo when he was two years old. He studied music at the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduating in 1929. In 1955, Watanabe traveled to Europe for the first time to participate in the International Folk Music Conference in Oslo, Norway. Works Film scores * Shirayuki-sensei to kodomo-tachi (1950) * Elegy (1951) * A Man in the Storm (1957) * Suzunosuke Akado: The One-Legged Demon (1957) * Doggie March (1963) (1966) - Soundtrack writer * Judgment (1962) References External links * *

Ushio Torikai

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ushio Torikai (鳥養潮; surname Torikai; born July 11, 1952, in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. She is known for her highly individual musical voice, developed over many years of research and compositional experience in diverse musical fields including European classical music, traditional Japanese music, ancient Japanese music and computer/electronics. Early life Torikai was raised in Matsumoto, Nagano, where she attended Matsumoto Fukashi High School. She then moved to Tokyo and graduated from the faculty of Economics at Keio University. Career She started a concert series of her own music in 1979, and was invited to the Paris Biennale in 1982. Concerts of her music have since been presented in major cities in Europe, North America and Japan, including at the Georges Pompidou Center (Paris), the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York), the Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco), and Meiji Shrine (Tokyo). Torikai’s compositions vary considerably in instrumentation, ranging from Western orchestral instruments to traditional Japanese ones, computer/electronics to reconstructed ancient Asian instruments, and Western Choir to

Yasuaki Fujita

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a video game composer and sound designer. Best known for his work with Capcom, he normally went by the alias of Bun Bun. During the NES era, he worked on the music for Mega Man 3 (in lieu of Harumi Fujita), Tenchi wo Kurau II, The Little Mermaid, and Darkwing Duck for Capcom. After the NES era, he created the majority of the music for Breath of Fire (video game), while doing a few pieces for Final Fight 2, along with a few other projects. He was also one of the keyboardists for the Capcom house band, Alph Lyla, before they disbanded in the late 1990s. He also designed the well known 16-bit era Capcom logo jingle. Works References External links * Official website

Yasuhiko Fukuda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. History and career Born in Tokyo’s Itabashi prefecture, Fukuda began playing piano at the age of 4, and while at school became interested in anime (“We were the first anime generation”). He graduated from Takeheya Senior High School in 1976 and began attending the department of literature at Waseda University in 1978. Around this time, he won a prize for excellence in the Yamaha-sponsored band tournament EAST WEST 78. Graduating from Waseda in 1980, Fukuda went on to make his professional debut, playing keyboards in the band QUYS. The band was formed alongside bassist Yoshihiro Naruse (currently of Casiopea) and drummer Okai Daiji (ex-member of Yonin Bayashi). The following year marked his recording debut as a session musician on June Yamagishi’s 1981 solo album All The Same, along with his major debut with Hideo Saito in the band YOU. In 1982 he was a participating member of Bakufu Slump prior to their debut, and in 1983 played with Minami Kousetsu as a live tour musician. Following these early exposures to the industry, Fukuda became a frequently employed studio musician - he went from playing for artists such as Kodomo Band, Shogo Hamada,

Yasuhiko Fukuoka

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yasuhiko Fukuoka is a composer for concerts, film, and television. A native of Japan, he studied Film Scoring and Music Synthesis at Berklee College of Music. His works have been performed in North America, Central America, Europe and Asia, and his appearances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Birdland, Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival), and many others. Yasuhiko currently lives and works based out of New York, NY. Biography Yasuhiko Fukuoka is a composer, pianist, and arranger By the age of 12, Yasuhiko knew he wanted to be a musician. Born in Nara, Japan, he studied classical piano, composition and percussion with various prestigious professors in Japan. At the age of 15, his self-published CD caught the attention of a producer at Kintetsu Cable Network (Japan), and he began his career in music. By the time he graduated from high school, he had already written and produced music for TV and film, as well as composed for various bands and concerts. At 18, he was granted a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music and moved to Boston. While working with great musicians from all over the world, he learned different genres of music including classical, contemporary,

Yasuji Kiyose

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yasuji Kiyose (清瀬保二 Kiyose Yasuji, 13 January 1900 – 14 September 1981) was a Japanese composer. He studied composition privately with Kōsaku Yamada and Kōsuke Komatsu and in 1930, took an active part in organizing the Shinkō Sakkyokuka Renmei, (which later grew into the Japanese section of the ISCM). In 1948, Kiyose took on Hiroyoshi Suzuki and Tōru Takemitsu for a brief period as pupils in composition. His music at times incorporates Japanese pentatonic scales, and other elements of Japanese folk-song; his far better known pupil Takemitsu, developed this tendency further in a great number of his works. Major works *Six Japanese Folk Songs from Shinano District for voice and piano (1929) *Country Dances for piano (1930) *Short Suite for piano (1931) *Piano Compositions No. 1 (1931–34) *Dance on the Seashore for piano (1932) *Spring Time at the Hills for piano (1932) *Folk Dances for piano (1933) *Two Dances for piano (1934) *Little Suite for piano (1935) *Ryūkyū Dances for piano (1936) *To Ancient Times for orchestra (1937) *Scherzo for two pianos (1937) *Piano Compositions No. 2 (1937–40) *Japanese Festival Dance for orchestra (1942) *Violin Sonata No. 1 (1942) *Ballade for pian

Yasunori Mitsuda

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer. He is best known for his work in video games, primarily for the Chrono, Xeno, Shadow Hearts, and Inazuma Eleven franchises, among various others. Mitsuda founded a music production studio and record company, Procyon Studio and Sleigh Bells, in 2001. Mitsuda joined Square upon graduation in 1992. He worked there designing sound effects for two years before being assigned his debut project in Chrono Trigger (1995). Mitsuda went on to compose for several other games at Square, including Xenogears (1998) and Chrono Cross (1999). He left the company and became independent in 1998. Mitsuda has also worked on anime series, films, and television programs. His music in Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and Chrono Cross has since been cited as among the best in video games. Biography Early life Mitsuda was born in Tokuyama, Japan, on January 21, 1972, and was raised in the Kumage District of Yamaguchi Prefecture. He took piano lessons beginning at the age of five, but was more interested in sports at the time and did not take music seriously, quitting by the age of six. Around the same time, Mitsuda also began to compose for non-video game media, including several NHK-produc

Yasuo Kuwahara

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yasuo Kuwahara (, Kuwahara Yasuo; December 12, 1946, in Kobe, Japan – December 6, 2003) was a Japanese mandolin player and composer for mandolin orchestra. He was chairman of various musical institutions and organizations, including the Nara National Women’s College, the Kuwahara Mandolin Institute and the Japan Association of Music Exchange. *Song of the Japanese Autumn *Novemberfest *Steamy Steaming *Outward of Forest *Pear-shaped Dance *Within the Fence Mandolin solo *Moon and Yamanba *Jongara *Winter Light *Impromptu *Perpetual Movement *Silent Door *Improvised Poem Compositions Yasuo Kuwahara’s expressive compositions tell stories in musical fashion. : Track 7, The Song of the Japanese Autumn: I. Andante : Track 8, The Song of the Japanese Autumn: II. Allegro non troppo : Track 9, The Song of the Japanese Autumn: III. Meno mosso : Track 10, The Song of the Japanese Autumn: IV. Allegro non troppo : Track 11, The Song of the Japanese Autumn: V. Andante References See also * List of mandolinists (sorted) * List of Japanese composers

Yasushi Akutagawa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer and conductor. His father was Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Biography Akutagawa was born and raised in Tabata, Tokyo, the son of writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, who died when he was two years old. Akutagawa studied composition with Kunihiko Hashimoto, Kan’ichi Shimofusa and Akira Ifukube at the Tokyo Music School. He was one of the members of Sannin no kai (The Three) along with Ikuma Dan and Toshiro Mayuzumi. In 1954, when Japan did not have diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union yet, Akutagawa entered the Soviet Union illegally, and made friends with Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian and Dmitri Kabalevsky. Akutagawa was the only Japanese composer whose works were officially published in the Soviet Union at that time. His 1950 Music for Symphony Orchestra reflects his love of the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Akutagawa’s compositions were influenced by Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Akira Ifukube. His film scores include works for directors like Kon Ichikawa, Heinosuke Gosho, Tomu Uchida and Tadashi Imai. He was popular as a master of ceremonies of TV shows. As an educator, he devoted himself to training an amateur orchestra, Shin Kokyo Gakudan

Yasushi Ishii

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese musician from Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. He specializes in experimental, jazz fusion and hard rock. He is famous for his work with anime scores. He composed music for and scored the first Hellsing anime, with the music released as two separate soundtracks. He also was the voice for the Intelligencer in the video game Chaos Legion. *MINI-ALBUM (2009) *Darker than Black: Origins * Drifters References External links *

Yoko Kanno

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer of soundtracks for anime series, video games, television dramas and movies. She has written scores for Cowboy Bebop, Terror in Resonance, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Wolf’s Rain, Turn A Gundam and Darker than Black. Kanno is a keyboardist and the frontwoman for Seatbelts, who perform many of her compositions. Early life Yoko Kanno was born on 18 March 1963, in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Her earliest experiences with music came from attending church with her parents. She studied keyboard on both the piano in her home and the organ at her kindergarten. In elementary school, she began participating in composition contests, but in high school, Kanno began to take more of an interest in literature than in music. Kanno attended Waseda University, where she majored in literature, but she transcribed music for various student groups at Waseda in her free time. During this time, Kanno—whose parents had allowed her to listen only to classical music—was introduced to rhythm by a friend who played drums in a school band. She attended Otakon and Anime Expo in 1999, as well as Anime Expo New York in 2002. In 2010, she made a

Yoritsune Matsudaira

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. Matsudaira was descended, on his father’s side of the family, from the Matsudaira clan, related to the Tokugawa clan who ruled Japan as shōgun during the Edo period (specifically from the branch of the family which was enfeoffed at the Hitachi-Fuchū Domain), and on his mother’s side of the family from the Fujiwara clan, who were court regents from the 7th to the 12th centuries. His style was influenced by gagaku, the ancient court music of Japan. His music has been frequently performed in Europe. His eldest son, Yoriaki (Yori’Aki) Matsudaira () was also a composer. Works Opera *Genji-Monogatari The Tale of Genji (1990–93) *Uji-jujo The ten Chapters of Uji (1998) Orchestral *Pastorale (1935) *Tema e variazioni sul tema di Etenraku per pianoforte e orchestra (1951) *Figures sonores (1956) *U-mai (1957) *Sa-mai (1958) *Suite di danze nelle stile dell’antico “Bugaku” giapponese (1959) *Sinfonietta (1961) *Bugaku per orchestra da camera (1962) *Tre movimenti per pianoforte e orchestra (1962) *Danza rituale e finale (1963) *Concerto per pianoforte e orchestra (1964) *Concerto da camera per clavicembalo, arpa e strumenti (1964) *Pre

Yoshifumi Ushima

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yoshifumi Ushima (; 9 September 1966 - 7 August 2022) was a Japanese singer-songwriter, composer, guitarist, arranger and music producer. Life and career Born in Sukumo, Ushima made his professional debut in 1994 composing and performing “Flying in the Sky”, the opening theme of the anime series Mobile Fighter G Gundam; he later wrote and performed other songs for the anime, notably the second opening theme “Trust You Forever”, as well as songs of other anime series and films. Ushima also served as composer and songwriter for other artists, notably Chihiro Yonekura, AKB48, Yusuke, and Shinnosuke Furumoto. A commemorative concert featuring MIQ and Yurika, among others, was held on 22 September 2022 in Tokyo. Discography ;Albums * 1995 - Free Judgement * 1996 - Sleepless Dreamer * 2007 - FIRE BIRD * 2018 - EARTH WIND ;Singles * 1994 - FLYING IN THE SKY * 1994 - Trust You Forever * 1995 - BACK TO THE GROUND References External links * *

Yoshihisa Hirano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and arranger. He is best known for composing the scores for anime series, such as Death Note, Hunter × Hunter (2011), Hajime no Ippo and Edens Zero. He has also made the orchestration for video games, mostly in the Final Fantasy franchise. His musical style combines impressionism and atonal music. He employs techniques such as polyrhythm, tone clusters, polytonality, brass glissandi and polymodal chromaticism to create unique musical textures. Biography Yoshihisa Hirano was born in Wakayama, Japan, in 1971. He started to study composition by himself as an elementary student because of his interest for baroque music. He then discovered jazz in high school, and this enthusiasm has shaped his career in music. He mentioned having listened to Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane, among others. His admiration of them once gave him dreams of becoming a jazz musician, but he then discovered contemporary music. He gained interest in the works of John Zorn, one of the musicians who had the biggest influence on him in his youth. On the other hand, symphonies by Shostakovich also greatly impressed him, and helped him make up his mind to study compo

Yoshirō Irino

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a Japanese composer. Biography Irino was born in Soviet Vladivostok. He attended high school in Tokyo and went on to study economics at Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo). After World War II, Irino, along with colleagues Minao Shibata and Kunio Toda, studied the twelve-tone method of composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg. In 1951, Irino used the composition technique to compose his Concerto da Camera for Seven Instruments. This work is credited to be the first Japanese dodecaphonic composition. During the same time, the magazine Ongaku Geijutsu published two articles by Irino: “Schoenberg’s Composing Technique” and “What is Twelve-Tone Music?”. Subsequently, Irino used the twelve-tone technique in numerous compositions and wrote extensively about contemporary music. Working to introduce foreign contemporary music and music literature to Japan, he made Japanese translations of important books such as Die Komposition mit zwölf Tönen (12音による作曲技法) by Josef Rufer and Schoenberg and His School (シェーンベルクとその楽派) by René Leibowitz. Irino did not, however, compose serial music, a technique of the same period widely used with the Darmstadt School. In 1973, the Asian Comp

Yoshitaka Hirota

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer and bass guitarist, whose most notable works include the soundtracks to the Shadow Hearts series. Hirota was previously a sound effects programmer having worked on various Square titles. His first work as a video game composer was for the 1999 Nintendo 64 game Bomberman 64: The Second Attack. Biography Early works As a teenager, Hirota’s older brother would play covers of The Beatles and The Carpenters. Hirota composed his first song at the age of ten. At the age of 20, unsure of his career path, Hirota was invited by composer Yasunori Mitsuda to work at Square, and was hired as a sound designer. Square Hirota has a friendship from childhood with fellow composer Yasunori Mitsuda who he has worked with on Bomberman 64: The Second Attack, Biohazard 2 Drama Albums, Shadow Hearts and Shadow Hearts II. Under the direction of Mitsuda, Street Fighter Alpha 3 was to have a “hard” sound, and Biohazard 2 was to have an “ominous sound”. Shadow Hearts Kyoko Kishikawa has worked with Hirota on Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts II (although not Shadow Hearts: From the New World) and Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange, providing eerie female scat vocals for a number of his

Yugo Kanno

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese composer and musician known for his work on many television dramas, anime series, and movies. Biography Kanno was born in Saitama, Japan. He attended junior high school in Kawagoe before later moving to Takanezawa for university. While attending school, he was fascinated by Impressionist Music. He graduated from the Tokyo College of Music, department of composition, film scoring course and started providing music for movies, commercials, and artists while he was still a student. On December 14, 2007, Kanno held his first orchestral concert which, according to his website, “started with a strong desire to listen to live music.” His first orchestra concert was held at Suntory Hall’s Blue Rose in 2007. His first 2-day Valentines concert was held at Bunkamura Orchard Hall in 2014, Yupoto Hall in 2015, Mielparque Hall in 2016, Hitomi Memorial Hall in 2017/2018, and Sakura Hall in 2019, and was well received. He also participated in several collaborations such as 2014 “Yugo Kanno x Junichi Hirokami x Kyoto City Symphony Orchestra”, “Yugo Kanno x MOZU Concert”, “Gunshi Kanbei Talk & Concert”, 2015 “Kizuna Concert”, and amongst others. Furthermore, in 2016, “Symphony No. 1 ~

Yukihiko Haida

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

was a composer, ukulele player and steel guitarist. He and his brother Katsuhiko Haida founded the Nihon Ukulele Association. Early life and education Haida was born in Honolulu on 24 April 1909, to parents who were Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. In 1923, while in Japan to place his late father’s ashes in the family grave, Haida was caught up in the chaos after the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake, during which his family home was burgled and his passport was stolen. Being unable to return to Hawaii, Haida enrolled in in Tokyo. He later studied for a while at Chuo University and Keio University, leaving the latter without graduating. Career In 1928 Haida formed the Moana Glee Club, a Hawaiian music group, with his younger brother Katsuhiko Haida. The band popularized the ukulele in Japan. In 1933 Haida temporarily returned to Hawaii to study with M.K. Moke. Haida began writing and arranging songs, and taught guitar in Koenji, Tokyo in 1935. Some of his students included Fumimaro Konoe’s daughter and Kaneko Kentaro’s grandchild. He signed with Victor Records and began recording and publishing music. In 1979 Haida was honored for his career and achievements at the 21st Japan Record Awards

Yuta Bandoh

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

, also known as , is a Japanese composer. He is best known for his work on Belle (2021), Yuri on Ice (2016), Kaiju No. 8 (2024), and Poupelle of Chimney Town (2020), as well as his collaborations with Kenshi Yonezu. Bandoh won the 45th Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Music for his work on Belle. Early and personal life Bandoh was born in Osaka in 1991. Due to his father’s work, he moved frequently in his childhood before settling in Saitama in fourth grade of elementary school. He began playing the piano when he was three years old. When he was a child, he wanted to become either an architect or a film director. In sixth grade of elementary school, his piano teacher encouraged him to become a composer. In February 2024, Bandoh announced that he had married poet in July 2023. Education and career Bandoh attended the affiliated music high school of Tokyo University of the Arts before studying composition there. He subsequently attended their graduate school. He composed the theme song “Voices” for Hōdō Station in 2021. In October 2022, he held his first solo exhibition at Hamarikyu Asahi Hall. Selected works Film Television Music Awards References External lin

Yuzo Koshiro

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

is a Japanese video game composer. He is often regarded as one of the most influential innovators in chiptune and video game music, producing music in a number of genres including rock, jazz, symphonic, and various electronic genres such as house, electro, techno, and trance. Koshiro has been cited as creating some of the most memorable game music of the 1980s and 1990s contributing for games such as Nihon Falcom’s Dragon Slayer and Ys series, as well as Sega’s The Revenge of Shinobi and Streets of Rage series. His mother, Tomo Koshiro, was a pianist. She taught him how to play the piano at the age of three, and by the age of five, he had a strong command of it. In 1975, he began taking music lessons from Joe Hisaishi and studied with him for three years. Everything Koshiro has learned after that has since been self-taught. While he was still in high school during the early 1980s, Koshiro began composing music on the NEC PC-8801 as a hobby, including mockups of early arcade game music from Namco, Konami, and Sega. The sequencing skills and experience he gained from this would later be utilized in his early video game projects. The video games that influenced him most were The Tower