Akikazu Nakamura
Akikazu Nakamura: Shakuhachi Performer, Composer.
Akikazu Nakamura began his professional journey as a quantum chemist, having graduated from the Department of Applied Chemistry at Yokohama National University. However, it wasn’t long until he turned to the shakuhachi for his future career.
Akikazu studied under numerous shakuhachi masters including Katsuya Yokohama. He then went on to study composition and jazz theory at Berklee College of Music, USA, graduating summa cum laude. He finished his tertiary studies at the New England Conservatory of Music as a scholarship student in the Master of Music Composition and the Third Stream program. His compositions are diverse and include orchestral music, choral music, chamber music, big band music, and traditional Japanese music.
He has established a performance method that makes full use of overtones, multiphonics, the traditional Japanese breathing technique of ‘Missoku’, and his own originally developed method of circular breathing, which involves exhaling and inhaling at the same time.
While staying true to the traditions of the Komusō monks, collecting, analysing, and performing their repertoire, he is also active as a performer of rock, jazz and classical music. He has performed in more than 150 cities in over 40 countries, at events and venues such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall (London), the Lincoln Center (New York), Blue Note (New York), the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Polish National Opera, under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan Foundation. His numerous performances have been shared worldwide through over 40 broadcasting stations.
He has also been commissioned by NHK, the German National Radio, the Ravel Quartet in France, the Jean Sibelius String Quartet in Finland, the Munch Trio in Germany, the Saint Florent le Vieil Festival in France, the Margie Gillis Dance Company in Canada, and Music from Japan in the USA.
His CD series ‘The World of Zen Music’ has twice received the Japan Arts Festival Excellence Award. Additionally, he has been awarded the 19th Matsuo Performing Arts Award and the 18th Ministry of Culture Performing Arts Creation Encouragement Award for his other works. He has published 5 books in Japanese.
Akikazu has presented lectures on the structure of Japanese music, overtones and Missoku at Harvard University, Berklee College of Music, Moscow Conservatory and the University of Birmingham, Tbilisi. He has also appeared at the Kennedy Centre, the Philadelphia Composition Society, the International Centre for Japanese Studies and the University of Tokyo, among other places around the world.
He teaches at Tokyo Gakugei University, Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Graduate School, Yamanashi Gakuin University International College of Liberal Arts, Tōhō Gakuen College, and Asahi Culture Centre. He has also contributed to curriculum development of music courses in Junior High Schools at Japan’s Ministry of Education.
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