Jō Kondō (近藤譲; surname
Kondō; b.
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, 1947) is a Japanese
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
of
contemporary classical musicContemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.- Categorization :...
. He won the third prize and made his debut in Japan-Germany Contemporary Music Festival in 1969. He graduated from the composition department of Tokyo University of the Arts in 1972. He serves as Professor of Music at
Ochanomizu Universityis one of only two national women's universities in Japan. The other one is the Nara Women's University.-History:Ochanomizu University was founded in 1875 as a teacher training institute for women located in Tokyo's Ochanomizu neighborhood. On September 1, 1923, the campus was burned down during...
in Tokyo and also teaches at Tokyo University of Arts and
Elisabeth University of Musicis a private university in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1948, and it was chartered as a university in 1963....
in
Hiroshimais the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It became the first city in history assaulted by nuclear armament when the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on it on August 6, 1945, near the culmination...
.
Kondo's works are often structured mathematically, using
minimalMinimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonant harmony, steady pulse , stasis and slow transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells...
principles of composition.
Jō Kondō (近藤譲; surname
Kondō; b.
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, 1947) is a Japanese
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
of
contemporary classical musicContemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.- Categorization :...
. He won the third prize and made his debut in Japan-Germany Contemporary Music Festival in 1969. He graduated from the composition department of Tokyo University of the Arts in 1972. He serves as Professor of Music at
Ochanomizu Universityis one of only two national women's universities in Japan. The other one is the Nara Women's University.-History:Ochanomizu University was founded in 1875 as a teacher training institute for women located in Tokyo's Ochanomizu neighborhood. On September 1, 1923, the campus was burned down during...
in Tokyo and also teaches at Tokyo University of Arts and
Elisabeth University of Musicis a private university in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1948, and it was chartered as a university in 1963....
in
Hiroshimais the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It became the first city in history assaulted by nuclear armament when the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on it on August 6, 1945, near the culmination...
.
Kondo's works are often structured mathematically, using
minimalMinimalist music is an originally American genre of experimental or Downtown music named in the 1960s based mostly in consonant harmony, steady pulse , stasis and slow transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells...
principles of composition. His interests include
hocketIn music, hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of notes, pitches, or chords. In medieval practice of hocket, a single melody is shared between two voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests.In European music, hocket was used primarily in vocal...
, the
music of Ancient GreeceThe music of ancient Greece was almost universally present in society, from marriages and funerals to religious ceremonies, staged dramas, folk music and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. It thus played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks...
, and strong differences in instrumental timbre, all of which are reflected in his compositions. A similar stylistic point of reference would be the Italian composer
Franco DonatoniFranco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...
. The chamber version of his 1975 composition
Sight Rhythmics reflects the latter in its unusual instrumentation of
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
,
banjoThe banjo is a stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments.The name banjo is commonly thought to be derived from the Kimbundu term mbanza...
,
steel drumSteelpans is a musical instrument and a form of music originating from Trinidad...
,
electric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electronic signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical...
, and
tubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
.
Kondo's music has been performed by the
London SinfoniettaThe London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the
NHK Symphony OrchestraThe in Tokyo, Japan began as the New Symphony Orchestra on October 5, 1926 and was the country's first professional symphony orchestra. Later, it changed its name to Japan Symphony Orchestra and in 1951, after receiving financial support from NHK, it took its current name...
, the
Arditti QuartetThe Arditti Quartet is an internationally acclaimed string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music....
,
NEXUSA nexus is a connection or the centre of something. Nexus may refer to:- In organizations :* NEXUS International Broadcasting Association, a non-profit association of broadcasters and producers...
, the
Balanescu QuartetThe Balanescu Quartet is an avant-garde string quartet founded in 1987 by Alexander Bălănescu that achieved fame through the release of several complex cover versions of songs by German experimental electronic music band Kraftwerk....
, and
Aki Takahashiis a Japanese pianist specializing in contemporary classical music.-Biography:Born in Kamakura, she began studying piano at the age of five and received her M.A. degree from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Her teachers included Yutaka Ito, Ray Lev, and George Vásárhelyi...
.
Kondo's works have been recorded on the Hat Art, ALM, Fontec, and
Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label, now part of the Universal Music Group. It is also UMG's oldest active label.-History:...
labels. His scores are published by the
University of YorkThe University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
Music Press and Edition Peters.
His notable students include
Linda Catlin SmithLinda Catlin Smith was born in New York City in 1957, and currently lives in Toronto. She studied composition and theory with Allen Shawn in New York, and with composers Rudolf Komorous, Martin Bartlett, John Celona, Michael Longton, and Jo Kondo at the University of Victoria in British Columbia;...
and
Paul NewlandPaul Newland is a British composer of contemporary classical music. He has won numerous prizes, including the RPS Composition Prize 1990, a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 1993, and in 1995 he was awarded the Royal Academy of Music's Josiah Parker Prize by György Ligeti...
.
External links