Minoru Miki

Minoru Miki (16 March 19308 December 2011) was a Japanese composer and Artistic director. He was known for promoting Japanese, Chinese and Korean traditional instruments as well as some of their performers.
In his catalogue these traditional instruments figure solo or in various types of ensembles, with and without Western instruments. This catalogue demonstrates a large stylistic and formal diversity including operas and other kinds of stage music; orchestral; concerto; chamber and solo music; and music for films. This work has found international recognition placing Miki in the company of other celebrated Japanese composers such as Tōru Takemitsu.
Minoru was a pioneer in the composition of contemporary classical music for large ensembles of traditional Japanese musical instruments. In 1964, he founded the Nihon Ongaku Shūdan (Pro Musica Nipponia ensemble), also known as Ensemble Nipponia, for which he has composed extensively.
Biography
Minoru was born in Tokushima on March 16, 1930. His first musical experiences were of the traditional music of this region. He had no formal music education before moving to Okayama for high school. Here he first encountered European classical music. From there, he moved to Tokyo, graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts in 1964. In that same year, Miki founded Pro musica Nipponia (日本音楽集団), an orchestra of traditional Japanese instruments for which he would compose a large amount of work. He also began collaborating with koto virtuoso Keiko Nosaka, developing the 20-string koto and reviving the instrument's repertoire with many new works in various genres and combinations. This included five concertos for koto and orchestra.
In 1975 Minoru composed his first opera, Shunkinsho, based on Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's novel of the same name. Interest in Japanese traditional music by members of the English Music Theatre Company led to the commission of Ada, An Actor's Revenge after Otokichi Mikami. Written by Minoru, this was an opera in two acts to an English libretto by James Kirkup which opened in London in October 1979.
Ada premiered in London in 1979 and was one of the last works commissioned and performed by the EMTC before its ultimate disbandment in 1980. During this period, Minoru developed a relationship with director Colin Graham that was to last until Graham's death in 2007. The most notable result of this collaboration was the opera Jōruri which was commissioned by Graham for the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, premiering in 1985.
With his 1992 work Wakahime, Minoru adopted a pan-Asian perspective, incorporating music and instruments from a number of Asian countries into his compositions and collaborating with a number of Asian artists. Some of Miki's operas from thereon – mostly notably Wakahime and Aien – also increasingly dealt with episodes of Japan's presence and interaction with its neighboring Asian countries. This recurring theme was often performed on stage and incorporated the traditional instruments of these neighbouring countries.
Miki died of sepsis at Mitaka city hospital, Tokyo, during the early hours of December 8, 2011.
Works
Operatic cycle on Japanese history
Shunkinshō (1975)
Ada, An Actor's Revenge (1979); piano score by Geoffrey Tozer
Jōruri (1985)
Wakahime (1991)
Shizuka to Yoshitsune (1993)
The River Sumida / Kusabira (1995)
Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji) (1999)
Ai-en (2005)
The Happy Pagoda (2010)
Other operas
The Monkey Poet (1983)
Yomigaeru (1986–1992)
Terute and Oguri (1993)
Ballet
From the Land of Light
Orchestral
Trinita sinfonica (1953)
Symphony Joya (1960)
Symphony from Life (1980)
Beijing Requiem for string orchestra (1990)
MAI 舞 (1992)
Concertante
Marimba Concerto (1969)
Eurasian Trilogy (1969; 74; 81), Japanese and Western instruments
Koto Concerto No. 1 (1974); this piece is also the second movement of Eurasian Trilogy
Koto Concerto No. 2 (1978)
Koto Concerto No. 3 (1980); aka Concerto Requiem
Koto Concerto No. 4 (1984); aka Pine Concerto
Koto Concerto No. 5 (1985)
Z Concerto (1992), marimba and percussion soli
Pipa Concerto (1997)
Requiem 99 (1998); marimba solo, orchestra of Japanese traditional instruments
Trio Concerto (2000), shakuhachi, pipa, 21-koto soli, orchestra of Japanese instruments
Shakuhachi Concerto (2002), aka Lotus Concerto
Chamber music
Piano Sextet (1965), fl, ob, cl, bn, hn, pf
Piano Trio (1986), pf, vn, vc
String Quartet (1989)
Marimba Spiritual (1983), marimba solo with percussion trio
Solo
Time for Marimba, (1968), marimba
Ballades for koto (I-Winter, 1969; II-Spring, 1976; III-Summer, 1983, ; IV-Autumn, 1990)
Film music
On the Road: A Document (Dokyumento rojō) (1964); directed by Noriaki Tsuchimoto
In the Realm of the Senses (1976); directed by Nagisa Oshima
Vocal
Shirabe, 4 songs for tenor and harp (1979)
Requiem (1963), baritone solo, male chorus, orchestra
The Mole's Tale (1966), male chorus, 2 perc.
Written
References
三木稔、「日本楽器法」、東京：音楽之友社、1996年。
三木稔、「オペラ《源氏物語》ができるまで」、東京：中央アート出版社、2001年。
External links
1930 births
2011 deaths
20th-century classical composers
20th-century Japanese composers
21st-century classical composers
21st-century Japanese composers
Japanese classical composers
Japanese male classical composers
Japanese opera composers
Male opera composers
People from Tokushima Prefecture
Tokyo University of the Arts alumni
20th-century Japanese male musicians
21st-century Japanese male musicians