was a Japanese singer, noted for her interpretation of

Giacinto Scelsi Giacinto Francesco Maria Scelsi (; 8 January 1905 – 9 August 1988, sometimes cited as 8 August 1988) was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French. He is best known for having composed music based around only one pitch, ...

's "Canti del Capricorno".

Biography

Hirayama was born in 1923 in Tokyo. Her parents were lawyers and she had a good education. One of her first musical influences was the Japanese composer Fumio Hayasaka. Hirayama studied music at Tokyo University of the Arts,

Accademia di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

in Rome, Accademia Chigiana in Siena and at the Mozarteum Salzburg; she soon discovered her affinity for contemporary music. In the early 1950s she moved to Italy. There she met

in 1957, at a concert of Scelsi's neighbor, but she did not initially know that he was a composer. When Scelsi heard Hirayama singing old Japanese songs at a concert, he asked her if she would be interested in his music. They began to work together in 1959. The first work of Scelsi and Hirayama, "Hô", debuted in 1961 at the music festival "Nuova Conconanza". He later dedicated his “Canti del Caprircorno” (1962–1972) to her. Hirayama owned a full score of "Canti del Capricorno" with Scelsi's handwritten comments and played an important role in the origination process of the 20-song musical cycle. In 2006, at the age of 82, she decided to record the "Canti del Capricorno" again. Hirayama is famous for her "dirty voice", as she described it herself, and her gift for musical improvisation. Her voice covered four octaves.

References

*Musikkonzepte 31: Giancinto Scelsi, München 1983 *Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (1991-), 2007, Vol. 168 (3), S. 54: Eine schöpfungsgeschichte: DIE SCELSI-INTERPRETIN MICHIKO HIRAYAMA NIMMT NOCH EINMAL DEN GESAMTEN ZYKLUS «CANTI DEL CAPRICORNO» AUF {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirayama, Michiko 1923 births 2018 deaths Japanese women singers Singers from Tokyo Japanese expatriates in Italy Japanese expatriates in Austria