Yasushi Akutagawa

Yasushi Akutagawa

Genres: contemporary classical, japanese, composer, Classical, conductor

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About Yasushi Akutagawa

Yasushi Akutagawa (Japanese: 芥川也寸志; July 12, 1925 - January 31, 1989) was a Japanese composer and conductor. He was born and raised in Tabata, Tokyo. His father was Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Akutagawa was taught composition by Kunihiko Hashimoto and Akira Ifukube at the Tokyo Conservatory of Music. He was one of the members of "The Three" (Sannin no kai) along with Ikuma Dan and Toshiro Mayuzumi. In 1954, when Japan did not yet have diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, he entered the Soviet Union illegally, and made friends with Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian and Dmitri Borisovich Kabalevsky. Akutagawa was the only Japanese composer whose works were officially published in the Soviet Union at that time. His works were influenced by Igor Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev and Akira Ifukube. He was popular as a master of ceremonies of TV shows as well. As an educator, he devoted himself to train an amateur orchestra, Shin Kokyo Gakudan ("The New Symphony Orchestra"). Almost one year after Akutagawa died, in 1990, the Akutagawa composition award was established in his memory.

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