Toshi Ichiyanagi

Born in 1933 in Kobe (Japan), composer Toshi Ichiyanagi studied piano and composition in his home country, and from 1952 onwards in New York. It was there that Ichiyanagi came into contact with John Cage, who had a strong impact on him. Back in Japan in the late 1960s, Ichiyanagi began concentrating on the development of electro-acoustic music and developed an individual form of minimal music that is characterised by a special flexibility in structuring time. In his works, Ichiyanagi often uses traditional Japanese instruments. Since the 1980s, he has turned away from experimental approaches, moving towards a more traditional style of composing that is characterised by an independent synthesis of elements taken from Western and Japanese music.