is a Japanese composer and conductor. A native of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, he was a pupil of

Kan'ichi Shimofusa Kanichi Shimofusa ( ja, 下総皖一; March 31, 1898 - July 8, 1962) was a Japanese composer. Kanichi Shimofusa was born in Sunahara, Haramichi-''mura'', Saitama (now Ōtone, Saitama). He studied composition with Kiyoshi Nobutoki at Tokyo Music ...

; he studied conducting with

Kurt Wöss Kurt Wöss also Kurt Woess (2 May 1914, in Linz, Austria – 4 December 1987, in Dresden, Germany) was an Austrian conductor and musicologist. Wöss was principal conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra from 1951 to 1954. From 1956 to 1959 ...

and Wilhelm Loibner and, like them, later became a conductor of the

NHK Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese broadcast orchestra based in Tokyo. The orchestra gives concerts in several venues, including the NHK Hall, Suntory Hall, and the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. History The orchestra began as the ''New Symphony Orchestra'' o ...

. As a conductor he has served with numerous orchestras throughout Japan; as a composer his prime influences are

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

and

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was wel ...

performed the world premiere of the composer's six-movement 1967 First Cello Concerto, a piece described by ''

Gramophone A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

'' as "attractive", with the additional comment that it "sounds like

Japanese folk music Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

rendered orchestral by Kodaly". His best-known work is a ''Rhapsody for Orchestra'' based on Japanese

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

s. Toyama won the

Suntory Music Award The , previously known as the , designed to promote Western music in Japan, has been given by the Suntory Music Foundation since their establishment in 1969. The award is presented annually to individuals or groups for the greatest achievement in t ...

in 1982.

References

Biography
at Naxos.com 1931 births 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Japanese composers 20th-century Japanese male musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century Japanese composers 21st-century Japanese male musicians Concert band composers Japanese classical composers Japanese conductors (music) Japanese male classical composers Living people Musicians from Tokyo {{Japan-composer-stub