Joji Yuasa

Joji Yuasa (湯浅譲二 Yuasa Jōji, born August 12, 1929)[1] is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. [2]

Biography

Born in Kōriyama, Fukushima, he is self-taught as a composer.

In 1951 or 1952, together with the composer Tōru Takemitsu and other artists and musicians, he founded Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop), an organization for the exploration of new directions in the arts, including multimedia.[3]

Since then, Yuasa has written a wide range of compositions, including orchestral, choral and chamber music, music for theatre, and intermedia, electronic and computer music. His works have been commissioned by 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. He has received a number of fellowships and awards, from: 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),

As a guest composer and lecturer, he 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),

From 1981 to 1994 he was a music researcher and professor at the University of California, San Diego, 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.

References

  1. ↑ Slonimsky, Nicolas (1978). "Yuasa, Joji". Baker's Biographical dictionary of musicians (6th ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. p. 1930. ISBN 0-02-870240-9.
  2. ↑ Luciana Galliano, The Music of Joji Yuasa ed. Peter Burt. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4438-3763-7
  3. ↑

External links