Joji Yuasa (湯浅譲二 Yuasa Jōji, born August 12, 1929) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.
Born in Kōriyama, Fukushima, he is self-taught as a composer.
In 1951 or 1952, together with the composer Tōru Takemitsu and other contemporary artists and musicians, he founded Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop), an organization dedicated to the exploration of new directions in the arts, including multimedia.[1]
Since then, Yuasa has been actively engaged in a wide range of musical composition, including orchestral, choral and chamber music, music for theatre, and intermedia, electronic and computer music. Yuasa has won numerous commissions for his works from such institutions as the Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Saarland Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra,NHK Symphony Orchestra, Canada Council, Suntory Music Foundation, IRCAM and National Endowment for the Arts of the U.S.A., etc. Yuasa has received a number of scholarships at home and abroad: Japan Society Fellowship (1968-69), Composer in Residence at the Center for Music Experiment UCSD (1976), Berlin Artist Program by DAAD (1976-77), the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music in Sydney (1980), the University of Toronto (1981) and IRCAM (1987), etc.
As a guest composer and lecturer, Yuasa has contributed to the Festival of the Arts of This Century in Hawaii (1970), New Music Concerts in Toronto (1980), Asian Composers League in Hong Kong (1981), concert tour for Contemporary Music Network by British Arts Council (1981), Asia Pacific Festival in New Zealand (1984), Composers Workshop in Amsterdam (1984), Darmstadt Summer Course for Contemporary Music (1988), Lerchenborg Music Tage (1986, 1988), Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo (1990), and Music of Japan Today: Tradition and Innovation (Hamilton College, NY - 1992), etc.
From 1981 to 1994 he was a music researcher and professor at the University of California, San Diego(currently a professor emeritus), where he is currently a professor emeritus. He has also served as a guest professor at the Tokyo College of Music since 1981, and a professor for the postgraduate course of the College of Arts at Nihon University since 1993. Yuasa is the recipient of a 1996 Suntory Music Award.
On March 3, 2007, the Music From Japan ensemble will present a concert entitled "The World of Joji Yuasa" at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, which will be preceded by a pre-concert lecture by the composer. The concert will include early and recent works by the composer, as well as a new composition commissioned by Music From Japan.[2]