Koji Nakano

Bio:

Composer Koji Nakano's works reflect the relationship between beauty, form and imperfection through the formality of music. As a composer and an educator, his musical activities have included community service and outreach to help bridge Eastern and Western musical cultures. Koji's recent work strives to merge both musical traditions and also make reference to theatre,philosophy, rituals and spirituality in a series of compositions entitled Time Song. Koji is the first recipient of The Toru Takemitsu Award in Composition from the Japan Society of Boston awarded annually to the most talented young composer in the Boston area. In 2008, Koji became the first composer to receive the S&R Washington Award Grand Prize from the S&R Foundation, which is awarded to the most talented young artist (in the fields of fine arts, music, drama, dance, photography and film), for his/her contributions to U.S.-Japanese relations. The past distinguished awardees include soprano Maki Mori (2000), pianist Yu Kosuge (2002), violinist Yosuke Kawasaki (2004), Sayaka Shoji (2006), and Tamaki Kawakubo (2007). Koji received his Bachelor’s Degree in composition with distinction, and Master’s Degree in composition with academic honors and distinction, Pi Kappa Lambda, from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studied with Lee Hyla and John Harbison. Later, he studied with Dutch composer Louis Andriessen in Amsterdam and at the Royal Conservatory of Hague as the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program Artist. Koji received his Ph.D. in composition from the University of California at San Diego, where he studied with Chinary Ung. Koji is a member of the American Music Center, ASCAP, and currently serves as a Fellow Council member of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. In 2009, Janet Jieru Chen and Koji co-founded The Asian Young Musicians' Connection which promotes new music by commissioning compositions from emerging Asian composers along side with worldwide professional musicians for its regular concert in Asia and North America. His upcoming projects include a new work for the Pacific Rim Music Festival, Time Song III: Reincarnation "The Birth of a Spirit" (String Quartet version) for Borealis String Quartet, and his second chamber opera Spiritual Forest for the Music Department at California State University at San Bernardino. Koji will be Visiting Professor of Composition at the Taipei National University of the Arts in the spring of 2011.

Member Since:

March 24, 2007

Sounds Like:

My works show the merging of Asian and Western musical traditions, and also makes reference to theatre, philosophy, rituals and spirituality. A series of compositions entitled Time Song reflect my current interest in, and ongoing research of various Asian musical cultures, ceremonies, spirituality as well as a variety of folk singing and instrumental techniques.

Record Label:

Unsigned