東京大学工学部卒業。東京芸術大学作曲科卒業。同大学院修了。
1977年ジュネーブ国際バレエ音楽作曲コンクールにてグランプリ並びにジュネーブ市賞を受賞。1982年文化庁舞台芸術創作奨励賞並びに特別賞を受賞。1984年度文化庁芸術祭優秀賞受賞。ISCMに入選。2000年第18回中島健蔵音楽賞受賞。2003年別宮賞受賞。2004年「風神･雷神」のCDが文化庁芸術祭大賞を受賞。
2005年万博記念オペラ「白鳥」が世界初演され、この公演に佐川吉男音楽賞が授与される。2006年初演された「協奏的交響曲～エランヴィタール～」が第55回尾高賞を受賞。
管弦楽作品の多くは国内ではNHK交響楽団を初め主要なオーケストラで、海外でもスイス・ロマンド、オランダ放送、BBCスコティッシュ、フランス国立放送、ベルリン・シンフォニー、ニュルンベルク・シンフォニー、ハンブルク・カメラータ、香港フィルハーモニー等のオーケストラにより演奏され高い評価を得ている。室内楽、器楽、邦楽、合唱作品等多数。
特に詩人谷川雁との共作「白いうた 青いうた」全53曲は様々にアレンジされ“世代を超えて歌い継がれる歌”（畑中良輔）として広く支持されている。3.11震災後、作品にA.E.番号（after the Earthquake）を付した。ちなみにA.E.1は<弦楽四重奏曲Asura>。福島の詩人和合亮一の「詩の礫」をエディットした「つぶてソング」全12曲は広く歌われ、同じ詩人による合唱組曲<決意>、<黙礼スル第1番、第2番><ふと口ずさむ>は各々に鮮明な問題意識を表出している。
2011年ヴァイオリン作品個展､2013年室内楽作品個展を開催。2018年ニューヨークで開催されたミュージック・フロム・ジャパン音楽祭のテーマ作曲家として招かれ新作ピアノ五重奏曲を含む作品展が好評を博した。2019年4月開催の「つぶてソングの集いin 南相馬」は第7回ウィーンフィル＆サントリー音楽復興祈念賞受賞。
桐朋学園大学院大学教授、東京音楽大学客員教授を歴任。桐朋学園大学院大学名誉教授。

Graduated from the Faculty of Technology at Tokyo National University in 1970. Graduated from the Composition Class of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1975. Completion of the post graduate course at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1978.
Grand Prix of Composition at the 8th International Competition of Ballet Music, Geneva, and the Citizen’s Award of Geneva in 1977. He was awarded Special Prize and Incentive Prize for Creative Stage Art at the Fine Arts Festival (1982), Prize for Excellence at the Fine Arts Festival.
Accepted at IMC (1984), the 18th Nakajima Kenzo Prize (2000) and Awarded Bekku Prize (2003). The CD “Fûjin-Raijin” on the Camerata label selected as Grand Prix of the Phonogram Section in the Fine Arts Festival (2004). He was awarded Sagawa Yoshio Music Prize for symphonic opera “White Bird” (2005) and the 55th Otaka Prize for Sinfonia concertante “Elan Vital” (2006).

He has contributed many remarkable works to the orchestral, chamber, piano and choral music repertoires. He is a present-day romantic, and one of considerable intelligence. His music reflects two worlds, the “melodic wind round” where all is delicacy, elegance and sensuality, and the “rhythmic wind round” which abounds with constructive, centrifugal energy. His recent creative activity is devoted to effecting a unification of these two worlds.
Remarkably, his orchestral works have been domestically performed by the NHK Symphony Orchestra and others, and in oversea countries they also have been performed by some of the leading orchestras, such as the Suisse Romande, Netherlands Radio, BBC Scottish, Radio France, Berliner Symphoniker, Nürunberg Symphony Orchestra, Hamburger Camerata, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. In particular, he is one of the most popular composers in the world of choral music, and his pieces have been constantly performing all over the country.
In 2011, he had an individual concert I for violin pieces. In 2013, concert II for chamber pieces. In 2018, he was invited as a theme composer to N.Y by MFJ (Music From Japan) to hold a individual concert including Piano Quintett (new piece), String Quartet No.2-Asura, Choral Concerto for Mixed Choir. Those were deeply impressed for audience and critics.
He has held a guest Professor at the Tokyo College of Music, a Professor at the graduate school of Toho Gakuen.

• ORCHESTRAL WORKS
• WORKS FOR PERCUSSION
• WIND ORCHESTRA
• JAPANESE INSTRUMENTAL WORKS
• STAGE WORKS
• VOCAL WORKS (SOLO)
• CHAMBER WORKS
• VOCAL WORKS (CHORAL WORKS)

※ABBREVIATIONS
FP: First Performance, CM:Commissioned by,
PB: Published by, RD: Recorded by,
PZ: Prize, prep.: in preparation