Taira, Yoshihisa 1937 - 2005
Author: Nakatsuji, Maho
Last updated：April 24, 2018
Author: Nakatsuji, Maho
Born in Tokyo on June 3, 1937 (Showa 12), Yoshihisa Taira studied composition at the Faculty of Music, Tokyo University of the Arts, under Tomojiro Ikenouchi and Yoshio Hasegawa. After graduating from the university in 1966, he moved to France as a government-sponsored scholarship student. He studied composition at the Conservatoire de Paris, graduating in 1971, and was influenced by A. Jolivet, H. Dutilleux, and O. Messiaen, among others. After receiving the Lili Boulanger Prize in 1971, he continued to compose with Paris as his base, and opportunities to participate in international music festivals such as the Royan Festival increased. He received the SACEM Grand Prix for Composition in 1974 and the highest honor at the UNESCO International Congress of Composers in 1982. From 1983, he taught at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He passed away in Paris on March 13, 2005 (Heisei 17).
Yoshihisa Taira's name became known in Japan after his work Chromophonie was performed at a regular concert of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in 1974. In 1992, he was invited to the Akiyoshidai International 20th Century Music Festival, and in 2002, his commissioned work for Art Tower Mito, Saiun for chamber orchestra, was premiered under the baton of Seiji Ozawa. Taira's works are characterized by the resonance of sound and a delicate preference for timbre. Viewing music as a form of prayer, Taira imbued his works with a religious quality in the sense of devotion to a single entity. He constantly sought to listen for the "breath of sound" and continuously strived to create music with which the audience could breathe together.
Author : Nakatsuji, Maho
Last Updated: April 24, 2018
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Author : Nakatsuji, Maho
Yoshihisa Taira was born in Tokyo on June 3 in 1937. He studied composition under Tomojirō Ikenouchi and Yoshio Hasegawa at the Tokyo University of the Arts. After graduating the university in 1966, he went to France as a student sent abroad by the Japanese government. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire under the tutelage of A. Jolivet, H. Dutilleux and O. Messiaen. Taira graduated from the conservatoire in 1971 and was awarded the Lili Boulanger Prize at the same year. Subsequently, his opportunities to participate in national music festivals such as the Royan Festival increased. Taira won the SACEM Grand Prix de Composition in 1974 and the UNESCO International Composers Tribune Award in 1982. From 1983, Taira began teaching at the Ecole Normale de Musique. On March 13 in 2005, he passed away in Paris.
It was after a concert performance by the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Taira’s “Chromophony” in 1974 that the name of Yoshihisa Taira began to be known in Japan. He was invited to Akiyoshidai National 20th century Festival in 1992 and received a commission from Mito Museum, “Saiun (Color rimmed Clouds)” for chamber orchestra, which had its first public performance conducted by Seiji Ozawa in 2002.
The essence of Taira’s works exhibits a taste for echoes and the delicacy of tone color. Devoting himself wholeheartedly to music and approaching music, so to speak, as a form of prayer, Taira continued to search for a music in which always the ‘breath of sound’ can be heard and in which the audiences, too, are able to breathe themselves.