Yasushi Akutagawa (芥川 也寸志, Akutagawa Yasushi, July 12, 1925 – January 31, 1989)[1] was a Japanese composer and conductor. His father was Ryūnosuke Akutagawa.
Biography
Akutagawa was born and raised in Tabata, Tokyo, the son of writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa.
In 1954, when Japan did not have diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union yet, Akutagawa entered the Soviet Union illegally, and made friends with Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian and Dmitri Kabalevsky. Akutagawa was the only Japanese composer whose works were officially published in the Soviet Union at that time. His 1950 Music for Symphony Orchestra reflects his love of the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
He was popular as a master of ceremonies of TV shows. As an educator, he devoted himself to training an amateur orchestra, Shin Kokyo Gakudan ("The New Symphony Orchestra"). Akutagawa and The New Symphony Orchestra received the 1976 Suntory Music Award.
In 1990, the year after Akutagawa died, the Akutagawa Composition Award (now called the Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition) was established in his memory.
Selected list of works
Opera
Orpheus in Hiroshima (formerly Dark Mirror), text by Kenzaburō Ōe (1960, revised 1967)
Orchestral works
Prelude for Symphony Orchestra (1947)
Trinita Sinfonica (1948)
Toccata (1949)
Musica per Orchestra Sinfonica (Music for Symphony Orchestra) (1950)
Triptyque for string orchestra (1953)
Prima Sinfonia (Symphony No. 1) (1954, revised 1955)
Divertimento (1955)
Symphony for Children "Twin Stars" for children's choir and orchestra, text by Kenji Miyazawa (1957)
^Randel, Don Michael, ed. (1996). "Akutagawa, Yasushi". The Harvard biographical dictionary of music. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press. p. 9. ISBN978-0-674-37299-3.
