Toru Takemitsu

Toru Takemitsu

Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. He is famed for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy to create a sound uniquely his own. He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. He died in Tokyo on October 8, 2008.

About Toru Takemitsu in brief

Summary Toru TakemitsuTōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. He is famed for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy to create a sound uniquely his own. He composed several hundred independent works of music, scored more than ninety films and published twenty books. His 1957 Requiem for string orchestra attracted international attention, led to several commissions from across the world and established his reputation as one of the leading 20th-century Japanese composers. He was also a founding member of the Jikken Kobo in Japan, a group of avant-garde artists who distanced themselves from academia and whose collaborative work is often regarded among the most influential of the 20th century. The Toru Take mitsu Composition Award is named after him. He died in Tokyo on October 8, 2008. He had a son, Yutaka, and a daughter, Yuki, with whom he had two sons, Tatsuya and Yutakazu, and one daughter, Shizuka. He also had a step-son, Kiyose, who worked as a teacher in Tokyo and later moved to the United States. His son Yutaku is now the director of the Tokyo Conservatory of Music, Tokyo, where he teaches music and has written a book on music theory and aesthetics. He has also written a biography of Igor Stravinsky, which has been published by The New York Review of Books and is on sale at the New York Museum of Modern Art for $99.99.

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