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In Memoriam: Michio Mamiya (1929-2024)

Dec. 20, 2024

We are saddened to announce the death of composer Michio Mamiya who passed away on December 11, 2024, at the age of 95.  He was a prolific composer of orchestral, piano, choral, and opera works and has composed works that include Japanese Folk Song Collections and Compositions for Chorus based on his research on traditional folk songs from various parts of Japan.

Michio Mamiya was born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido in 1929. His father, a music teacher at a high school for girls, taught him to play the piano from an early age, and he began composing his first pieces of music at the age of six. Mamiya moved to Aomori City at six years old, and later moved to Tokyo after graduating from junior high school. In 1948, he entered the composition department of the Tokyo School of Music (now Tokyo University of the Arts) and graduated in 1952. Mamiya's works are diverse, including orchestral works, chamber music, numerous solo piano pieces, choral works, operas, and works for various Japanese instruments. In 1974, he was commissioned by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) to compose an opera for television, "Narukami," based on "Narukami," one of the 18 Kabuki plays, with his own text. The opera, composed for singer and orchestra and performed by Bunraku puppets, won the Salzburg Television Opera Prize and a gold medal. Michio Mamiya received numerous other national and international awards throughout his career, including the Otaka Prize for his orchestral works. After graduating from the Tokyo School of Music, he studied folk songs from all over Japan. Mamiya was fascinated by the variety and diversity of the "Hayashi-kotoba" found in these folk songs, and composed many choral and solo pieces using these Hayashi-kotoba, most notably the 17 "Compositions for Chorus" and 27 "Japanese Folk Songs for Solo Voice and Piano". In addition to his creative work, he was a lecturer in composition at Tokyo University of the Arts from 1972-90, a lecturer at Toho Gakuen School of Music in 1980, and a specially appointed professor at the same school from 2000-05. In 1977 and 1981, he was invited to the University of Western Ontario, Canada, as a visiting professor for two months each, where he taught composition, music theory, piano teaching, and orchestration. He was also invited as a theme composer to the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, and participated in many music festivals abroad, including those in Hungary, Bulgaria, the United States, and Russia. In addition, Mamiya was the first artistic director of the Shizuoka Music Hall AOI, which opened in 1995, and served for 10 years, during which time he planned and executed a diverse program of more than 200 programs featuring invited musicians from Japan and abroad.

To learn more about Michio Mamiya, visit zen-on.co.jp.

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