is a Japanese-American composer, conductor, and clarinetist. He is a recipient of several international prizes and honors. He currently resides in the United States. In 2018 he won a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
and is currently the Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of Delaware School of Music.
Education
In 2000 he entered the
Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific, studying composition and clarinet, graduating in 2004. Between 2005 and 2008 he did his graduate studies in music composition at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. In February 2015 he received his doctorate from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where his principal teachers have been
Fabien Lévy
Fabien Lévy (born 11 December 1968) is a French composer.
Biography
Lévy was born in Paris, France. After having been a jazz pianist, he studied composition with Gérard Grisey, orchestration with Marc–André Dalbavie and ethnomusicology wi ...
,
Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail (born 11 March 1947) is a French composer associated with the "spectral" technique of composition. Among his compositions is the large orchestral work ''Gondwana''.
Early life and studies
Murail was born in Le Havre, France. His fa ...
and
Fred Lerdahl
Alfred Whitford (Fred) Lerdahl (born March 10, 1943, in Madison, Wisconsin) is the Fritz Reiner Professor Emeritus of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on musical grammar and cogn ...
.
Awards
* Fromm Commission (2018)
*
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
(2018)
* Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (2012)
*
Gaudeamus International Composers Award
The Gaudeamus International Composers Award is made by the Gaudeamus Foundation. The prize is awarded yearly, to a young composer at Dutch music concert, ''Gaudeamus Muziekweek''.
The Gaudeamus Foundation had held an annual music week of Dutch co ...
(2011)
Onishi as a composer
Onishi’s music has been in part characterized by the engineering of timbres. In his 2009 work for string quartet, ''Culs-de-sac (en passacaille)'', he employs varieties of extended techniques for the string instruments.
Anthony Tommasini
Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", Tommasini was the chief ...
of the New York Times said of the piece: “Who needs electronic instruments when a composer can draw such varied, eerily alluring sounds from good old string instruments?”.
Onishi’s works have been commissioned by performers and organizations including
Mayumi Miyata
is a Japanese player of the '' shō'', a traditional Japanese mouth organ.
Miyata was born on April 1, 1954, in Tokyo and graduated from the Kunitachi College of Music, where she majored in piano. While in school, she began studying '' gagaku ...
,
Pacific Music Festival The Pacific Music Festival (パシフィック・ミュージック・フェスティバル) is an international classical music festival held annually in Sapporo, Japan. It was founded in 1990 by Leonard Bernstein, along with the London Symphony Or ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
and
Lucerne Festival
Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne, Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess, it current ...
s. His composition, ''Départ dans…'' was commissioned by
Takefu International Music Festival in 2010, and became the winning piece of the Gaudeamus Prize in Music Composition in 2011.
Performance organizations, including JACK Quartet, Quatuor Diotima, Yarn/Wire,
Nieuw Ensemble
The Nieuw Ensemble ( or ; English: New Ensemble) is a Dutch musical ensemble.
It was founded in 1980 in Amsterdam. It has a unique instrumental structure, using plucked instruments such as mandolin, guitar and harp in combination with wind, str ...
,
Ensemble Intercontemporain
The Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) is a French music ensemble, based in Paris, that is dedicated to contemporary music. Pierre Boulez founded the EIC in 1976 for this purpose, the first permanent organization of its type in the world.
Organi ...
, and
Klangforum Wien
The Klangforum Wien is an Austrian chamber orchestra, based in Vienna at the Konzerthaus, which specialises in contemporary classical music.
Founded by composer and conductor Beat Furrer in 1985, it is run on collective principles, having no o ...
have performed Onishi’s works.
Since 2014, Onishi's works are published by Edition Gravis Verlag.
Works
The following is a partial list of works.
* ''Gz III'' (2019–20), for bass clarinet and bassoon
* ''Second String Quartet'' (2019–20)
* ''Antefenas-Studies'' (2018), for ensemble and electronics
* ''Vgf II'' (2011), for 15 players
* ''Gz, a Vuza Canon'' (2017), for tenor recorder and shakuhachi
* ''Envoi II'' (2017), for string trio
* ''Tramespace'' (2012–15), diptych for large ensemble
* ''Palinody'' (2010), for 14 players in 7 groups
* ''Départ dans...'' (2010), for 5 players
* ''Culs-de-sac (en passacaille)'' (2009, rev. 2010/18), for string quartet
Onishi as a conductor
During his time at the
University of Missouri School of Music
The School of Music is an Academic department, academic division of the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Its focus is the study of music, awarding Bachelor's degree, baccalaureate, Master's degree, master's, and Doctorate, doctoral ...
in
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...
, Onishi became an assistant conductor of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. Previously he was an assistant conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra until 2013. He is also affiliated with New York-based percussion ensemble Iktus Percussion as a conductor of the Iktus+. He has also guest conducted several ensembles, including the Wet Ink Ensemble.
References
External links
Official WebsiteOnishi's Page on Columbia Composers*
Interview by Radio 4, The NetherlandsNational Public Radio: “JACK Quartet and ICE, In Concert At (Le) Poisson Rouge”Gaudeamus Muziekweek 2011 Jury ReportOnishi's Vimeo SiteOnishi's Soundcloud Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onishi, Yoshiaki
1981 births
21st-century clarinetists
21st-century classical composers
21st-century conductors (music)
21st-century Japanese composers
21st-century Japanese male musicians
Gaudeamus Composition Competition prize-winners
Japanese classical clarinetists
Japanese classical composers
Japanese male conductors (music)
Japanese male classical composers
Columbia University alumni
Living people
Musicians from Hokkaido
University of Missouri School of Music faculty