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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 - 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 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 |
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. 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. Currently, Dr. Nakano 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 Burapha's Music and Performing Arts International Festival and directs the Experimental Thai MusicLaboratory for Young Composers. “A haunting work” - New York Times |
