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
​
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 ASCAP Plus 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

Instructor, Global Contemporary Music Composition Workshop, 2020 Nirmita Composers Workshop (online),  August 29 to September 11

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

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
​