HISATOME, Tomoyuki

‐ HISATOME’s style is different from the trend of Western contemporary music. You may wonder when and where the music was, but it is the present form of art music, which is said to have entered the "The Era of World Music". By actively incorporating non-stationary "living musical tones," he seeks to revive the animistic elements latent in folk music and restore the primal power of music. "Living musical tones" encompass elements such as the distinctive vocal techniques, resonant chest voice, melismatic flourishes (“kobushi”), vocal interjections, and tuning methods involving audible undulations found in folk music; historically, however, Western art music has excluded sounds characterized by accompanying noise and non-stationary fluctuations in timbre, dynamics, and pitch. He examines the cultural contexts in which these elements are employed, seeking to uncover the methodologies that are inherent to them.
He is also constantly trying to confront the problems of modern society. He has long been involved as a music director in "Green Concerts" and "Creating Lullabies in Japan and Asia in the 21st Century" (hosted by the Kyoto 22nd Century Club) on environmental issues, the 9/11 NY terrorism and the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake. He has also created a contemporary music ensemble, H [àkka], in Hiroshima for transmitting messages of rebirth to the world from Hiroshima. 
 He has received numerous commissions from NHK, Zen-On Music Co. Ltd, the Melbourne Composers’ League, and renowned domestic and foreign performers. He won the 1st prize in the 14th Percussive Arts Society Composition Competition in USA, won the 1st prize in the Theatrical Arts Competition of the Japanese Ministry of Education, awarded 2nd prize in 35th Premio Musicale Cittá di Trieste in Italy, awarded 2nd prize in Kobe International Flute Composition Competition, etc. His works have been selected for performance at ISCM World Music Days (1991 Switzerland, 1997 Korea, 2015 Slovenia) and Asian Composers League Festival (1997 Philippine, 2007 New Zealand).
He was born in 1955 in Tokyo and graduated from Meiji University with a politics degree. He received scholarship from Italian Government and studied composition and conducting at Conservatory of G. Verdi in Milan and graduated from Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome (studying with F. Donatoni). He graduated from Graduate School of Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. After being an Associate Professor of Hiroshima University　and a Professor of Aichi University of the Arts and a Specially Appointed Professor of Nagoya College of Music, he is currently an Emeritus professor of Aichi University of the Arts. He is a member of Japan Federation of Composers Inc. He is an Artistic Adviser of Ensemble H [ákka]. Several works are published by Zen-On Music Company Limited, Mieroprint, JFC, Mother Earth Pub. Inc. He has published "Merry Bacteria Music; Tomoyuki Hisatome Works" Fontec (FOCD-2563): contemporary Japanese composers and "ORGANIC MOTIONS; Guitar Works of HISATOME Tomoyuki / Guit.: OHTSUBO Junpei " Recording Laboratory LLC (NIKU-9027)
Major works: Il Pesiero del Bosco, for orchestra / Cham, for chamber orchestra / Merry Bacteria Music, for fl. and alt-sax. / Clap Slap Tremble, for fl. ob. cl. and 3 ba-ling-bings / Dumka in Far East, for alt-sax. and pf. / The Baroque of Waving Tones, for solo 20 stringed-koto / Baroque Pleats –hommage to J.S.Bach and Issey Miyake—, for solo pf. / From the Ancient, for solo Guit. / Beat Sensation, for solo marimba / Ensaladas, for soprano fl. vla. and tape / Humming Bird, for mixed chorus / Prayer Aria, for two Japanese folk singers and children chorus / Mono Opera “Peck’s Tree”, for soprano and string orchestra / Kyogen Music “The Deities of Ape –Sarukami—”, for kyogen-actor and woodwind quintet / Musical Theater “Peace by Women”, for large ensemble