News

2017
Composer in Residence, Brush Creek Foundation of the Arts, Wyoming, January 30 to February 24

Panelist, Paper Presentation on Living Composition: A New Approach to Asian Music, Culture and Spirituality, Round Table "Interculturality in East Asian Music: Education, Theory, Practice and Composition" with Dr. Hee Sook Oh, Seoul National University; Dr. Christopher Hasty; and Dr. Nancy Yunhwa Rao, Rutgers University, 20th Quinquennial Congress of the International Musicological Society (IMS), Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan, March 20 

Guest Composer, Two Lectures on my music, Pai Chai University, Daejeon, South Korea, 1-3pm, April 11 and 12 

Guest Composer, Lecture entitled Creative Approaches to Contemporary Asian Music Performance, Department of Korean Music, 6:00-7:20pm, Seoul National University, South Korea, April 13

World Premiere, "Spring Breathes V" for saenghwang, piri, taepyeongso and string quartet, Gamin and Arz Ensemble, National Gugak Center, Seoul Korea, April 14  

Guest Composer, Jeju National University, Jeju Island, Seoul Korea, 7-9pm, April 17

Guest Composer, Lecture entitled Collaboration with Nature and the Environment, 2017 China-ASEAN Music Week Summit, Guangxi National Palace Concert Hall, Nanning, China, 9:30am-12pm, May 28

World Premiere, "Spring Breathes"- Double Concerto for two Thai classical musicians and Chinese orchestra, conductor Liu Chun, Chinese Orchestra of Guangxi Arts University, Closing Concert, 2017 China-ASEAN New Music Week, Guangxi National Palace Concert Hall, Nanning, China, May 31 

Guest Composer, Lecture entitled Discussion of My Recent Works: Tracing Asian Cultural Legacies and Traditional Sensibilities in “Time Song V: Mandala” and “Imagined Sceneries,”  Department of Composition, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan, 1:30-3:00pm, June 2

Guest Composer, Lecture entitled Towards the Preservation and Development of Traditional Music of Various Countries-From the Angle of World Music Development, Department of Chinese Music, National Taiwan University of Arts, New Taipei City, Taiwan, 10:10 to 12:00, June 6

Guest Composer, Talented Music Program, Taichung Municipal Chingchuei Senior High School, Taichung, Taiwan, June 6-7

​World Premiere, "Spring Breathes IV" for Chinese musical instruments, Little Giant Chamber Chinese Orchestra, MUPA-Taiwan Concert, National Recital Hall, Taipei, Taiwan, June 8

General Manager/Composition Faculty Member, Nirmita Composers Workshop, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, July 13-20  

"Worldscape IV" for piano and pre-recorded sounds, pianist Shannon Wettstein Sadler, Nirmita Faculty Concert, Chulalongkorn Art Centre, Bangkok, July 19

Guest Composer, a series of lectures and workshops, School of Humanities and Communication Arts,  Western Sydney University, Australia, July 29 to August 12

World Premiere, "Spring Breathes VI" for daegeum and percussion, Creativity Unlimited Music Festival 2017, Hyelim Kim (daegeum) and Claire Edwards (marimba), Playhouse Theatre, Western Sydney University, Australia, August 11

Guest Composer, Malaysia Premiere of "After the Gentle Wind..." for solo flute by Daisuke Kino-Shita, SoundBridge Contemporary Music Festival 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 6

Guest Speaker, panel discussion on "The Trend of Cross-Media in Contemporary Music III," SoundBridge Contemporary Music Festival 2017, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 7

Panelist, Symposium on Chinary Ung Celebration 75, Conrad Prebys Music Center, Recital Hall 127, University of California at San Diego, 4pm, November 14

Moderated by Amy Cimini
Dr. Yayoi Uno Everett
Buddhism and Reflexive Globalization in Chinary Ung’s
“Aura” (2005)

Dr. Adam Greene
(working title)
Chinary Ung’s “Singing Inside Aura” Project: Variation,
Recontextualization, and Recomposition in Three Recent Scores

Dr. Koji Nakano
Tracing Cultural Legacies and Traditional Sensibilities in the "Futuristic Folk Music" of Chinary Ung

Guest Composer, Undergraduate Composition Seminar, University of California, San Diego, 2-5pm, November 15

Paper Presentation on Living Composition: The Creative Practice and Performance, International Symposium on Practice-as-Research, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, 9am, December 6

Guest Composer, Talented Music Program, Taichung Municipal Chingchuei Senior High Schoo1, Taichung, Taiwan, December 11-12

Radio Interview by Ma-li Liu, IC Broadcast (website: www.ic975.com), 23:00-24:00, December 20 

​Guest Composer, Lecture and Panel Discussion, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, 1:20-3pm, December 21 

World Premiere, "Spiritual Forest" commissioned by Taipei Chamber Singers, Music Unlimited Program, National Recital Hall, Taipei, Taiwan, 7:30pm, December 22

Recipient of 2017 ASCAPlus Award, ASCAP, USA

2018
Guest Composer, Composers Forum, Rice University, Houston, 2-3:30, January 19  

Gardner Read Fellowship, MacDowell Colony, NH, January 24 to February 26

Director of International Programs, Burapha's Music and Performing Arts Festival 2018, Burapha University, Thailand, March 18 to 30

World Premiere (1st lullaby), "Three Lullabies" from the chamber opera "Spiritual Forest," guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan, A Program of Music influenced by Indian and Japanese music and aesthetics, Department of Music, Bowdoin College, Studzinski Recital Hall, Maine, May 5

US Premiere, "Worldscape IV" for piano and pre-recorded sounds, pianist Chen-Hui Jen and sound technician Jacob Sudol, Music at Noon Concert, Recital Hall, Santa Clara University, CA, May 9

Performance of "Worldscape IV" for piano and pre-recorded sounds, pianist Chen-Hui Jen and sound technician Jacob Sudol, School of Music, San Francisco State University, CA, May 11

Music Instructor, International Transdisciplinary Collaboration for Awareness Program sponsored by the EnviroLab Asia for the students from Claremont Colleges, Yale-NUS College and Burapha University, Chanthaburi, Thailand, May 20-26

Guest Composer, Composition Seminars and Mater Classes, Talented Music Program, Taichung Municipal Chingchuei Senior High School, Taichung, Taiwan, June 4-5

Guest  Composer, Lecture on Cross-cultural Compositions rooted in Asian Traditional Aesthetics, Department of Traditional Music, Taipei National University of the Arts, June 11

World Premiere, "Three Lullabies" from the chamber opera "Spiritual Forest," commissioned by Aaron Larget-Caplan's New Lullaby Project for guitar, Green Festival Center, International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven, CT, June 14

"Three Lullabies" from the chamber opera "Spiritual Forest," guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan, Eastport Arts Center, ME, August 10

"Three Lullabies" from the chamber opera "Spiritual Forest," guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan, Jacob Edwards Library, Southbridge, MA,, August 16

World Premiere, "Spring Breathes VI" - ​The version for flute and piano, Sounds Modern series, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, September 8

Guest Composer, Creative Mind Series sponsored by Asian Cultural Center, Eric Hotung Studio, HK Arts Center, September 22

World Premiere, "Spring Breathes VII" for Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Western instruments with new choreographed Thai dance, Hong Kong Crossroads Ensemble, commissioned by Hong Kong Asian Young Musicians' Connection, Y Studio, Chai Wan YMCA Centre, Hong Kong, September 25 

Guest Composer, Composition Class, Education University of Hong Kong, 15:30-18:30, September 27

Guest Composer, lecture on my music, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, September 25-28

World Premiere (revised version), "Spring Breathes" for Korean traditional wind instruments and Japanese traditional flutes, Recital Hall, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, September 28 

Guest Composer, lecture/demonstration on Japanese traditional music and aesthetics with Kohei Nishikawa, Asia Society Hong Kong Center, 7pm, September 29

Recipient of 2018 ASCAPlus Award, ASCAP, NYC, USA 

2019
Guest Composer, lecture and workshop on "Living Composition: A New Approach to Asian Music, Culture and Spirituality," World Music Class, University of California, San Diego, 9:30-10:50am, January 29 & 31

Guest Composer, lecture on my music, composition seminar, Chapman University, CA,  5-6:50pm, February 6 

World Premiere, chamber opera "Spiritual Forest" commissioned by CSUSB Opera Theater, Recital Hall, California State University, San Bernardino, February 8 

"Arigatoo" from the chamber opera Spiritual Forest - arranged for soprano and piano, Stacey Fraser and Alastair Edmonstone, 5th Season of Desert Hot Springs Classical Concerts, Grace Church, CA, 4pm, April 14

Guest Composer, lecture on my music, Department of Composition, Taipei National University of the Arts, 1:30-3:10pm, April 22 

Guest Composer, lecture on my music, Department of Music, National Taichung University of Education, 3:30 to 4:20pm, April 23

Guest Composer, Composition Seminars and Mater Classes, Talented Music Program, Taichung Municipal Chingchuei Senior High School, Taichung, Taiwan, April 23-25

Spring Breathes VI - The version for flute and piano, Calliope Duo, China-ASEAN Music Week, Nanning, China, 5pm, June 2

Invited Participant, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center 60th Anniversary Homecoming, June 21-23, 2019, Bellagio, Italy 

Lecture-Recital "Spiritual Forest: A Chamber Opera and a Confluence of Musical Cultures" by Stacey Fraser, 2019 CMS International Conference, Ghent, Belgium, July 10 

World Premiere of "Whisper" choreographed by Visaka Saeui and music by Koji Nakano, International Young Choreographer Project, Tsoying Senior High School, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, July 21-22
​
Guest Composer, lecture for contemporary music class, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, 11am to 2pm, October 4

Guest Composer, lecture for orchestration class, Sangmyung University, Seoul, South Korea, 3-5pm, October 7

Guest Composer, lectures on Japanese culture and aesthetics in  my music, Pai Chai  University, Daejeon, South Korea, 1-5pm, October 8 

Spring Breathes for shinobue, ru-teki and percussion - solo version, Kohei Nishikawa, Black Box Theater, Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, Burapha University, Thailand, 1:00pm, October 25 

Guest Composer, Composition Seminars and Mater Classes, Talented Music Program, Taichung Municipal Chingchuei Senior High School, Taichung, Taiwan, November 20 
 
Worldscape for amplified pipa and pre-recorded sounds, Pipa Recital, Yun-Han Su, The Odeum of NTU Center of the Arts, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, November 24

Worldscape for amplified pipa and pre-recorded sounds, Pipa Recital, Yun-Han Su, Recital Hall of National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, 2:30pm, December 8 

Recipient of 2019 ASCAPlus Award, ASCAP, NYC, USA

2020
"Worldscape IV" for piano and pre-recorded sounds, lecture-recital of Chen-Hui Jen and Jacob Sudol, Barness Recital Hall, 3rd International Symposium & Festival "Composition in Asia," University of South Floria, USA, 10:30am, January 31  

"Living Composition: The Co-Creative Process and Practice," published research with a research grant through the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts at Burapha University, Thailand, February 20

"Worldscape IV" for piano and pre-recorded sounds, Misty Shore Duo (Chen-Hui Jen and Jacob Sudol), 2020 XXIII New Music Festival Miami ISCM Festival, Miami Urban Studio, Main Gallery, USA, 7:30pm, February 26  

Award-winning composer Koji Nakano’s compositions reflect the relationship between beauty, form, and imperfection through the formality of music. He is recognized as one of the major voices among Asian composers of his generation.
 
Dr. Nakano obtained his Bachelor’s Degree and Master’s Degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. From 2002 to 2003, he studied with Dutch composer Louis Andriessen in Amsterdam and at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague as the Japanese Government Overseas Study Program Artist. In 2006, he received his Ph.D. in composition from the University of California at San Diego.
 
In 2008, Dr. Nakano became the first composer to receive the S&R Washington Award Grand Prize. His portrait concert has been presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at Tenri Cultural Institute of New York, among other venues. In the winter quarter of 2013, Dr. Nakano was a visiting faculty member at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he taught world music composition. He has also been a guest professor in composition at Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts, and Seoul National University. In 2016, he was named the Scripps Erma Taylor O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Professor at Scripps College in the U.S.
 
Co-founder of the Asian Young Musicians’ Connection (AYMC), Dr. Nakano commissions emerging composers to create music that is performed by worldwide professional musicians at AYMC’s annual concerts, lectures, and workshops. Currently, he is the Head of International Affairs for the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts at Burapha University in Thailand, where he teaches composition as a full-time faculty member. At Burapha, he is also Director of International Programs for the Annual Music and Performing Arts International Festival and directs the Experimental Thai Music Laboratory for Young Composers.
 
​
“A haunting work” -New York Times
​