Toshirō Mayuzumi

Born

1929-02-20

Died

1997-04-10

Birthplace

Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Biography

Toshirō Mayuzumi (Japanese: 黛敏郎) (20 February 1929, Yokohama – 10 April 1997, Kawasaki) was a Japanese composer known for his implementation of avant-garde instrumentation alongside traditional Japanese musical techniques. His works drew inspiration from a variety of sources ranging from jazz to Balinese music, and he was considered a pioneer in the realm of musique concrète and electronic music (Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica n.d.; Kozinn 1997), being the first artist in his country to explore these techniques (Layne n.d.). In the span of his career, his works included symphonies, ballets, operas, and film scores (Kennedy and Kennedy 2007), and was the recipient of an Otaka prize by the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Purple Medal of Merit (Kirkup 1997).