(Commissioned by violinist Patrick T.S. Yim)
Takuma Itoh spent his early childhood in Japan before moving to Northern California where he grew up. His music has been described as “brashly youthful and fresh” (New York Times). Featured amongst one of “100 Composers Under 40” on NPR Music and WQXR, he has been the recipient of such awards and commissions as: the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Music Alive: New Partnerships grant with the Tucson Symphony, the Barlow Endowment, the Chamber Music America Classical Commission, the ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize, six ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Leo Kaplan Award, the American Composers Orchestra Underwood New Music Readings, the Symphony in C Young Composer Competition, the New York Youth Symphony First Music, The New York Virtuoso Singers, Maui Arts & Cultural Center, and the Renée B Fisher Foundation.
In 2018, Itoh was instrumental in creating an innovative education program, Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds, which brought over 8,000 young students to hear new orchestral compositions alongside original animations while raising awareness of Hawaii’s many endangered forest bird species.
Itoh’s music has been performed by the Albany Symphony, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Ensemble Échappé, Ossia New Music, the New York Youth Symphony, Symphony in C, the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), the Shanghai Quartet, the St. Lawrence Quartet, the Cassatt Quartet, the Momenta Quartet, Invoke Quartet, Sara Davis Buechner, Jeffrey Jacob, Joseph Lin, Ignace Jang, Syzygy Ensemble (Australia), H2 Quartet, Kyo-Shin-An Arts, the Music from Copland House, the Varied Trio, Kojiro Umezaki, HUB New Music Ensemble, Duo Yumeno, Post-Haste Reed Duo, Pro Musica Nipponia, and Linda Chatterton. In addition, his works can be heard on Albany and Blue Griffin Records, and is published by Theodore Presser, Resolute Music, and Murphy Music Press. In 2015, Itoh scored the music for the short film “Salesi” directed by Garin Nugroho and Vilsoni Hereniko that was featured at the Honolulu Film Festival.
Itoh has been a fellow at the Mizzou International Composers Festival, Cabrillo Composer Workshop, Wellesley Composers Conference, Copland House CULTIVATE, Pacific Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. He holds degrees from Cornell University, University of Michigan, and Rice University. His past teachers include Steven Stucky, Roberto Sierra, William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, Shih-Hui Chen, Anthony Brandt, Pierre Jalbert, and Karim Al-Zand.
Since 2012, Itoh has been teaching at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa where he serves as an Associate Professor of Music.
プロフィール
１９８４年神奈川県に生まれ、１９９１年に北カリフォルニアに移る。ライス大学（２００６年卒業）、ミシガン大学大学院（２００８年修士課程修了）、コーネル大学大学院（２０１２博士課程修了）。アメリカ芸術・文学アカデミーのチャールズ・アイヴズ賞、バーロウ音楽基金、米国作曲家作詞家出版者協会（ASCAP）が米国在住の若手作曲家に贈るモートン・グールド賞（２００４、２００７、２０１０、２０１１、２０１３、２０１４ 年）、全米大学バンド指導者協会（CBDNA）のフレドリック・フェネル賞をはじめとする、各種の賞を受賞。また、 パシフィック・ミュージック・フェスティバル（２００５年と２００９年）、アスペン音楽祭（２００６年）など のサマーコースに参加。作品はこれまで上海カルテット、セントローレンス・カルテット、アルバニー交響楽団、ツーソン交響楽団、ハワイ交響楽団、スタンフォード大学交響楽団、ニューヨーク・ユース交響楽団、ジョーセフ・リン（ジュリアード弦楽四重奏の第一バイオリニスト）、デュオ夢乃、日本音楽集団、梅崎康二郎、H2カルテットなどにより、ニューヨーク市のカーネギーホール、札幌、バンコク、メルボルン、ダブリン、カトヴィツェ（ポーランド）などアメリカ、アジア、ヨーロッパ、オーストラリアの各地で演奏されている。 この間作曲をスティーヴン・スタッキー、ロバート・シエラ、ウイリアム・ボルコム、ブライト・シェン（盛宗亮）、ピエール・ジェルバートの各氏に師事、ジェリ・アレンにジャズピアノの指導を受ける。現在はハワイ大学の作曲科助教授。
Patrick T.S. Yim, violinist 