Koji Nakano

Koji Nakano (b. August, 1974) is a Japanese composer. Mr. Nakano received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees 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. He received his Ph.D. in composition from the University of California at San Diego, where he studied with Chinary Ung.

Described as "well crafted, sensitive pieces that fall pleasantly on the ear" by the New York Concert Reviews' Harris Goldsmith, composer Koji Nakano's work reflects the relationship between beauty, form and imperfection through the formality of music. As a composer and an educator, Mr. Nakano’s musical activities have included community service and outreach to help bridge Eastern and Western musical cultures. His 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.

His portrait concert Innovation and Tradition was presented at Tenri Cultural Institute in NYC, Musicasa Hall in Tokyo, as well as at Georgia State University as part of the College Music Society’s Fiftieth-First National Conference. In the spring of 2008, Mr. Nakano was Composer in Residence for the Japanese Spring Festival at the United Nations International School Theater in New York City. He also served as one of resident composers of the Thailand International Composition Festival in Bangsaen, Thailand in 2008.

In addition to being the recipient of the prestigious 2008-09 Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, Mr. Nakano has also received the Japanese Government Artist Fellowship from the Japanese Agency of Cultural Affairs, the Margaret Lee Croft Fellowship from Tanglewood Music Center, the Global Connections Grant from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship from MacDowell Colony, the CSG Fellowship from Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the William and Solange Brown Fellowship for New Compositon from Ragdale Foundation, the Annual ASCAPlus Award (8) from ASCAP, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Award from Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, the James and Stephania Mcclennen Fellowship from Millay Colony for the Arts, the Coca-Cola Foundation Fellowship from Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Glock Composition Fellowship from University of California at San Diego, the Composers Assistant Program Grant (3) and the Composer Scholarship from American Music Center, as well as fellowships and composition awards from Yaddo, and Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Blue Mountain Center, Composers Conference at Wellesley College, Ernest Bloch Music Festival, and New School University. At New England Conservatory, he was the winner of composition competitions for the Honors Brass Quintet in 1998 and the Commencement Composition in 1997 and 1999. Mr. Nakano is the first recipient of the Japan Society of Boston’s Toru Takemitsu Award in Composition awarded annually to the most talented young composer in the Boston area.

As a guide to his musical compositions, Dr. Stacey Fraser, Assistant Professor of Music at California State University-San Bernardino, has recently written a paper entitled, Confluence of Musical Cultures in Time Song II, in which she examined the incorporation of a variety of Japanese vocal and instrumental techniques into western musical languages. The paper was first presented as a lecture/recital by Dr. Fraser as part of the Music of Japan Today 2007 Symposium at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and was featured again during the College Music Society’s Fiftieth National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah in November 2007. There was also an essay version of the paper, which was published by Cambridge Scholar Publishing in the UK as part of a book centered on the proceedings of the Music of Japan Today Symposium. Nakano is also a member of the American Music Center, the College Music Society and ASCAP.

List of Compositions

;Chamber works
* "Time Signals" for Brass Quintet, 2007
* "Time Song II: Howling through Time" for female singer, flutist and percussionist, 2006
* "Takekawa" for piano and two percussion, 1999
* "Brass Quintet", 1998
* "Collage in Five Movements" for saxophone, harp, percussion, violin and violoncello, 1998
* "A Rock in the Way of A Floating Stream" for flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, violoncello, percussion and piano, 1997
* "Vision" for violin, violoncello, piano, 1995-6
* "A Love Song without Words" for violin and piano, 1995
* "Distance" for flute and percussion, 1994
* "Inside and Outside" for violin, violoncello, marimba and piano, 1993
* "Kyou" (Resonance) for piano and percussion, 1992

;Orchestral works
* "Ceremonial: Time Song" for orchestra, 2005
* "Collage" for orchestra, 1998-1999

;Operatic works

* "Brush", one act chamber opera, for soprano, baritone, clarinet, violin, violoncello, percussion and piano, 2004
* "Arbutus Trees", an operatic scene, for mezzo soprano, baritone and piano, 2002

;Vocal works accompanied with chamber orchestra

* "Dear Soul for soprano", bass and chamber orchestra, 2000
* "Zone for soprano and chamber" orchestra, 1999 ;Work for chamber orchestra

* "The Scene Imprinted in My Mind" for chamber orchestra, 1995

;Concertos

* "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra", 1996-7
* "Calling Me from Afar", piano concerto No. 1, 1994

;Works for solo instrument

* "Ancient Songs" for solo soprano, 2007
* "Wind" for solo violin, 2003
* "Wood: Marimba" for solo marimba, 2003
* "Frozen Crystal" for solo piano, 2001-2
* "Silent Voices", dedicated to Toru Takemitsu, for solo clarinet in A, 1996
* "Elastic" for solo violoncello, 1994
* "Reminiscences" three pieces for solo piano, 1991-3

;Collaborative works

* "Seance", an aria, for musical Ghosts in Love, 2003
* Incidental music for the" Winter's Tale" and "Coriolanus", for mixed chamber ensemble, 2000
* "Waves", multimedia piece, for video, piano and three percussionists, 1998
* "Where Do Our Sorrows Begin?....," for four instruments, 1998

External links

*Asian World Center at the Creighton University [http://www2.creighton.edu/ccas/asianworldcenter/livingsourcesonasia/kojinakano/index.php]
* [http://hometown.aol.com/ko8454/myhomepage/index.html Koji Nakano Homepage]
* [http://www.interpretations.info/5.10.07.html World Music Institute]
* [http://www.lvso.lt/news_item.php?pid=12&id=70 Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra]
*American Music Center [http://www.amc.net/composers/c_works.asp?ComposerID=18890&ActorID=40923]
*Myspace [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=172036574]