Toru Takemitsu
8 October 1930 – 20 February 1996
Toru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer who combined Western avant-garde technique with Japanese instruments and aesthetics. Largely self-taught, he co-founded the interdisciplinary group Jikken Kobo and gained international attention with Requiem for Strings and November Steps. He also wrote scores for more than ninety films, including works by Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Toru Takemitsu.
- Adonis (1930–present) Overlapped 66 years →
- Ahmad Shamlou (1925–2000) Overlapped 66 years →
- Akio Morita (1921–1999) Overlapped 66 years →
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Overlapped 66 years →
- Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) Overlapped 66 years →
- Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002) Overlapped 66 years →
Life events
Taken to Dalian in Japanese-occupied Manchuria as an infant, where he spent his early childhood.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgCame back from Dalian shortly before the outbreak of the Pacific War.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgTook up composition in his late teens after hearing Western music broadcast on the radio during the wartime and occupation years.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWorked with composers, painters and engineers on mixed-media performances in Tokyo.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe work brought him wider notice after Igor Stravinsky praised it during a visit to Japan.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWritten for biwa, shakuhachi and orchestra on a commission for the orchestra's 125th anniversary.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgOne of his best-known orchestral works, inspired by a dream and by an image of Marcel Duchamp.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgOne of the most widely heard of his many film scores.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe clarinet concerto won the University of Louisville prize in 1994.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgDied of pneumonia at the age of 65 while being treated for cancer.
Source: en.wikipedia.org