Yoshiaki Onishi

Yoshiaki Onishi
Birth name Yoshiaki Onishi
Born 1981 (age 33–34)
Hokkaido, Japan
Genres Contemporary classical
Occupation(s) Composer, Conductor, Clarinetist
Instruments Clarinet
Years active 2000-present
Website www.yoshiakionishi.com

Yoshiaki Onishi (大西　義明 Onishi Yoshiaki, born 1981 in Hokkaido, Japan) is a composer and conductor. He is a recipient of several international prizes and honors. He currently resides in New York.

Education

In 2000 he entered the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific, studying composition and clarinet, graduating in 2004.[1] Between 2005 and 2008 he did his graduate studies in music composition at Yale University.[2] In February 2015 he received his doctorate from Columbia University, where his principal teachers have been Fabien Lévy, Tristan Murail and Fred Lerdahl.

Onishi is the recipient of 2011 Gaudeamus Prize in Music Composition,[3] and the 2012 Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship.[4]

Onishi as a composer

Onishi’s music has been in part characterized by the engineering of timbres. In his 2009 work for string quartet, Culs-de-sac (en passacaille), he employs varieties of extended techniques for the string instruments. Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times said of the piece: “Who needs electronic instruments when a composer can draw such varied, eerily alluring sounds from good old string instruments?”.[5]

Onishi’s works have been commissioned by performers and organizations including Mayumi Miyata, Pacific Music Festival, Norfolk and Lucerne Festivals.[6] His composition, Départ dans… was commissioned by Takefu International Music Festival in 2010, and became the winning piece of the Gaudeamus Prize in Music Composition in 2011.

Several performance organizations, including JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Nieuw Ensemble, and Ensemble Intercontemporain, have performed Onishi’s works.[7]

Works

The following is a partial list of works.

Onishi as a conductor

Currently Onishi is an assistant conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra until 2013.[8] He is also affiliated with New York-based percussion ensemble Iktus Percussion as a conductor of the Iktus+.[9] He has also guest conducted several ensembles, including the Wet Ink Ensemble. [10]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.pacific.edu/About-Pacific/Success-Stories.html
  2. ↑ http://music.yale.edu/news/?p=5697
  3. ↑ http://www.muziekcentrumnederland.nl/en/contemporary/projects/gaudeamus-music-week/music-week-2011/
  4. ↑ http://www.civitella.org/fellows_personal.aspx?fellowid=535
  5. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (1 July 2010). "New Faces Head Off to a Venerable Spot". New York Times. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  6. ↑ http://www.yoshionishi.com/English/Compositions.html
  7. ↑ http://www.yoshionishi.com/English/Compositions.html
  8. ↑ http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cuo/staff.html
  9. ↑ http://www.iktuspercussion.com/iktus
  10. ↑ Kozinn, Allan (27 January 2012). "New Music Opens a New Hall". New York Times. Retrieved 4 July 2012.

External links