News
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
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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 - The solo version for shinobue, ryuteki and percussion, 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 ASCAP Plus Award, ASCAP, NYC, USA
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2020
"Worldscape IV" for amplified 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 amplified 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

Instructor, Global Contemporary Music Composition Workshop for Cambodian Traditional and Folk Musicians presented by the Nirmita Composers Workshop via Zoom,  August 29 to September 11

Recipient of 2020 ASCAP Plus Award, ASCAP, NYC, USA


2021
Online paper presentation "Living Composition as Flexible Music-Creating Ancient Chanting and Time Song IV: Diverse Voices," 8th Burapha University International Conference on Interdisciplinary Research "Redesigning Research and Innovation for Sustainability," 2pm, September 3  

Guest Lecturer, Arts and Culture Management Program, Faculty of Fine Arts, Srinakharinwirot University, 1:30 to 4pm, September 30, October 11 and October 18

Recipient of 2021 ASCAP Plus Award, ASCAP, NYC, USA

Artist Statement 
As a composer, a scholar and an educator, my musical activities have included community service and outreach to help bridge Eastern and Western musical cultures.  My music strives to merge both musical traditions and also makes references to theatre, philosophy, rituals and spirituality.

Over a decade ago, I created the term “living composition.” For me, the word “living” means transforming over time as if nature changes every hour, day, month and throughout seasons. The purpose of creating such a “living” composition is to capture an ever-changing beauty in nature, which amuses, inspires and surprises us everyday.  

As an Asian composer, I have written a variety of living compositions and the majority of them were co-created through collaborations with the performers. The concept of living composition reflects the relationship between beauty, form, and imperfection through the formality of performing arts in Asia and beyond.   

Introduction 
In 2008, Dr. Nakano became the first composer to receive the S&R Washington Award Grand Prize from the S&R Foundation in USA. 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, Dr. Nakano was named the Scripps Erma Taylor O’Brien Distinguished Visiting Professor at Scripps College in the U.S.

​From 2012 to 2021, Dr. Nakano taught composition as a full-time faculty member of the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts at Burapha University in Thailand, where he was the Head of International Affairs. At Burapha, he was also Director of International Programs for Burapha's Music and Performing Arts International Festival and directed the Experimental Thai MusicLaboratory for Young Composers.

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 regular concerts and workshops. 

“A haunting work” - New York Times