Born on August 12, 1929, in Koriyama, Japan, is a self-taught composer. He first became interested in music while a premedical student at Keio University, and in 1952 turned to music full-time when he joined a young artists’ group., the Experimental Workshop in Tokyo.
Since then, Yuasa had been actively engaged in a wide range of musical composition, including orchestral, choral and chamber music, music for theater, and intermedia, electronic and computer music.
His works, including film and television scores, have won several prizes; among them the Jury’s Special Prize of the 1961 Berlin Film Festival, the Prix Italia (1966, ’67), the San Marco Golden Lion Prize (1967), the Otaka Prize (1972, ’88, ’97, 2005, ’24),Gran Prizes at the Japan Arts Festival (1973, ’83), the Hida-Furukawa Music Grand Prize (1995), the Kyoto Music Grand Prize (1995), the Suntory Music Prize (1996), the Medal with Purple Ribbon (1997), the Imperial Prize (1999) and the Japan Art Academy Prize (1999)
Yuasa had received a number of scholarships at home and abroad: a Japan Society Fellowship (1968–69), Composer-in- Residence at the Center for Music Experiment UCSD (1976), Berlin Artist Program by DAAD (1976–77), the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music in Sydney (1980), University of Toronto (1981) and IRCAM (1987), among others.
He had won numerous commissions for his orchestral, chamber, chorus and electronic compositions including commissions for orchestral works from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation, Saarländischer Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Canada Council, Suntory Music Foundation, IRCAM and National Endowment for the Arts, among others.
As a guest composer and lecturer, Yuasa had contributed to the Festival of Arts In This Century in Hawaii (1970), New Music Concerts in Toronto (1980), the Asian Composers League in Hong Kong (1981), a concert tour for Contemporary Music Network by the British Arts Council (1981), the Asia Pacific Festival in New Zealand (1984), Composers Workshop in Amsterdam (1984, ’87), Internationale Ferienkurse Für Neue Musik in Darmstadt (1988), Lerchenborg Music Tage (1986, ’88) and Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo (1990), among others.
His music had been widely performed throughout the world at such festivals as the ISCM World Music Days (1971, ’74, ’78, ’79, ’ 81, ’83-’86, ’91, ’93, ’95, ’05) Warsaw Autumn (1969, ’76, ’78, ’ 81, ’84, ’86, ’05) and Horizon 84.
From 1981 to 1994, Yuasa was actively engaged in music research and education at the University of California, San Diego. Presently, he taught at the Graduate School in the Art Department of Nihon University and at the Tokyo College of Music and was Professor Emeritus of UCSD.
He passed away in July 21, 2024. |
