Tanaka, Karen 1961
Profile
Last updated：August 31, 2019
Profile
Born in Tokyo. Began studying piano and composition in early childhood, studying composition under Akira Yuyama. After withdrawing from Aoyama Gakuin University's Department of French Literature, she studied composition under Akira Miyoshi and piano under Nobuko Amada at Toho Gakuen School of Music. While enrolled, she received awards at the 52nd and 53rd Japan Music Competitions, the 1984 Viotti International Composition Competition, the 1985 Trieste International Competition for Symphonic Composition, and was selected for the 8th Composition Award of the Japan Symphony Foundation.
In 1986, she studied in Paris as a French government scholarship student and became a researcher at IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique). She studied composition under Tristan Murail. In 1987, she won first prize at the Gaudeamus Composition Award. In 1988, she received the Muramatsu Award. From 1990-91, she trained in Florence as an overseas research fellow of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and a Nadia Boulanger Scholarship recipient, studying composition under Luciano Berio. In 1996, she was a Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow at the Tanglewood Summer Music Festival. In 1998, she served as Music Director of the Yatsugatake Music Festival.
She has gained attention for her transparent and colorful compositional style utilizing electronics, and has received numerous commissions from major orchestras, music foundations, and music festivals both domestically and internationally, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Arts Council England, Canada Council for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and Radio France. She is also dedicated to educational works; CDs of "Hoshi no Doubutsutachi" (Star Animals), "Hikari no Kodomotachi" (Children of Light), and "Chikyu" (Earth) (published by Kawai Publishing) are widely popular through the performances of pianist Ikuyo Nakamichi. Her major works are published by Chester Music in London, Schott Music in New York, and Editions Bim in Switzerland; piano works are published by Kawai Publishing and Ongaku no Tomo Sha. She is currently a professor at California Institute of the Arts, residing in Los Angeles. (As of August 2019)
Works(16)
Piano Solo (4)
pieces (7)
Various works (5)