, often known simply as Tomita, was a Japanese

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, regarded as one of the pioneers of

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

and

space music Space music, also called spacemusic or space ambient, is a subgenre of ambient music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is derived from new-age music and is associated with lounge music, easy listening, and elevator music ...

, and as one of the most famous producers of

analog synthesizer An analog synthesizer () is a synthesizer that uses Analogue electronics, analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a var ...

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

s. In addition to creating note-by-note realizations, Tomita made extensive use of the sound-design capabilities of his instrument, using synthesizers to create new sounds to accompany and enhance his electronic realizations of acoustic instruments. He also made effective use of analog

music sequencer A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling Musical note, note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open ...

s and the

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

, and featured futuristic science-fiction themes, while laying the foundations for

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

music and

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

-like rhythms. Many of his albums are electronic versions and adaptations of familiar classical music pieces. He received four

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nominations for his 1974 album based on music by

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

, '' Snowflakes Are Dancing''.

Biography

1932–1968: Early life and composing career

Tomita was born in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and spent his early childhood with his father in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. After returning to Japan, he took private lessons in orchestration and composition while an

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

student at

Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...

, Tokyo. He graduated in 1955 and became a full-time composer for television, film and theatre. He composed the theme music for the Japanese Olympic gymnastics team for the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In 1965, Tomita wrote music for

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques an ...

's ''

Kimba the White Lion ''Kimba the White Lion'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese ''shōnen manga, shōnen'' manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka which was serialized in the ''Manga Shōnen'' magazine from November 1950 to April 1954. An ani ...

'', but the American-English version had a different theme by Bernie Baum, Bill Giant and Florence Kaye. In the same year he scored the original Japanese version of '' Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon'', but the film was re-scored by Milton DeLugg when it was dubbed into English. In 1966, he wrote a

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement (music), movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. T ...

based on ''Kimba the White Lion'', and an original video animation synchronized to this tone poem was released in 1991. With Kunio Miyauchi, he created the music for the

tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action films or television programs that make heavy use of practical special effects. Credited to special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, ''tokusatsu'' mainly refers to science fiction film, science fiction, War fi ...

science fiction/espionage/action television series '' Mighty Jack'', which aired in 1968. The same year, he co-founded Group TAC.

1969-1979: Electronic music

In the late 1960s, Tomita turned to electronic music with the impetus of

Wendy Carlos Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos; November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer known for electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving to New Y ...

and

Robert Moog Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthe ...

's work with synthesizers. He acquired a Moog III

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

and began building his home studio. He eventually realized that synthesizers could be used to create entirely new sounds in addition to mimicking other instruments. His first electronic album was ''Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock'', released in Japan in 1972 and in the United States in 1974. The album featured electronic renditions of contemporary rock and pop songs, while utilizing

speech synthesis Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal langua ...

in place of a human voice. Tomita then started arranging

's impressionist pieces for synthesizer and, in 1974, released the album '' Snowflakes Are Dancing''; it became a worldwide success and was responsible for popularizing several aspects of synthesizer programming. It was the top-selling classical music album for that year. The album's contents included ambience, realistic string simulations, an early attempt to synthesize the sound of a

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, whistles, and abstract bell-like sounds, as well as a number of processing effects including

reverberation In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflection (physics), reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then de ...

, phase shifting,

flanging Flanging is an audio signal processing, audio effect produced by mixing two identical audio signal, signals together, one signal delayed by a small and (usually) gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a ...

, and

ring modulation In electronics, ring modulation is a signal processing function, an implementation of frequency mixing, in which two signals are combined to yield an output signal. One signal, called the carrier, is typically a sine wave or another simple w ...

Quadraphonic Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic, also called quadrasonic or by the neologism quadio ortmanteau, formed by analogy with "stereo" sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are po ...

versions of the album provided a spatial audio effect using four speakers. A particularly significant achievement was its

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

sound, created prior to the era of polyphonic synthesizers. Tomita created the album's polyphony as Carlos had done before him, with the use of

multitrack recording Multitrack recording (MTR), also known as multitracking, is a method of sound recording developed in 1955 that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources or of sound sources recorded at different times to create a cohesive who ...

, recording each voice of a piece one at a time, on a separate tape track, and then mixing the result to stereo or quad. It took 14 months to produce the album. In his early albums, Tomita also made effective use of analog

s, which he used for pitch, filter or effects changes and processed Mellotron sounds - especially 8 Voice Choir, creating quite stunning ethereal effects. Tomita's modular human whistle sounds would also be copied in the presets of later electronic instruments. His version of " Arabesque No. 1" was later used as the theme to the astronomy television series '' Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer'' (originally titled ''Star Hustler'') seen on most PBS stations in the United States; in Japan, parts of his version of "Rêverie" were used for the opening and closing of

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

's transmissions; in Catalonia, "Arabesque No. 1" was also used for the intro and the outro for the children TV 1983 program ("imaginary planet"). Following the success of ''Snowflakes Are Dancing'' (1974), Tomita released a number of "classically" themed albums, including arrangements of:

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

's ''

The Firebird ''The Firebird'' (; ) is a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, who c ...

'' (1976),

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

's '' Pictures at an Exhibition'' (1976), and

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

's '' The Planets'' (1976). ''Holst: The Planets'' introduced a science fiction " space theme". This album sparked controversy on its release, as Imogen Holst, daughter of

, refused permission for her father's work to be interpreted in this way. 1978's ''Kosmos'' featured his renditions of

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

's '' Pacific 231'',

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

's '' The Unanswered Question'' and the Star Wars theme. "The Sea Named 'Solaris'" was inspired by the science fiction film '' Solaris''. He explained "The sea of Solaris extracts memories from the sleeping earthmen's brains and reincarnate loved ones from their past. I did not try to express the planet Solaris itself but a certain state of a human mind that might be created by the happenings there. The cherished memories are depicted by Bach's Invention, and the eternal longing is expressed by Bach's chorale ''I Call to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ''." While working on his classical synthesizer albums, Tomita also composed numerous scores for Japanese television and films, including the '' Zatoichi'' television series, two ''Zatoichi'' feature films, the ''Oshi Samurai'' (Mute Samurai) television series and the Toho science fiction disaster film, ''Catastrophe 1999, The Prophesies of Nostradamus'' (U.S. title: ''Last Days of Planet Earth'') in 1974. The latter blends synthesizer performances with pop-rock and orchestral instruments. It and a few other partial and complete scores of the period have been released on LP and later CD over the years in Japan. While not bootlegs, at least some of these releases were issued by film and television production companies without Tomita's artistic approval.

1980-2000: SoundCloud concerts

In 1984, Tomita released ''Canon of the Three Stars'', which featured classical pieces renamed for astronomical objects. For example, the title piece is his version of Pachelbel's

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

in D Major. He credits himself with "The Plasma Symphony Orchestra", which was a computer synthesizer process using the wave forms of electromagnetic emanations from various stars and constellations for the sonic textures of this album. Tomita performed a number of outdoor "SoundCloud" concerts, with speakers surrounding the audience in a "cloud of sound". He gave a big concert in 1984 at the annual contemporary music

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in t ...

festival in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

called ''Mind of the Universe'', mixing tracks live in a glass

pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

suspended over an audience of 80,000 people. He also performed another two special concerts in 1986 to celebrate the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...

centennial (''Back to the Earth'') as well another one in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 1 January 1988 produced to celebrate Australia's bicentenary as unifield country. The Australian performance was part of a A$7 million gift from Japan to the country, which included the largest fireworks display up to that time: six fixed sound and lighting systems — one of those on a moored barge in the centre of the

Sydney Harbour Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a ria, natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove River, Lane ...

, another one was flown by Chinook helicopter during the relevant parts of the show. A fleet of barges with Japanese cultural performances,including a boat parade in which a kabuki theater performance was staged.passed by at various times. His last SoundCloud event was in Nagoya, Japan in 1997, featuring guest performances by

The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer was an American vocal group founded in 1969 in New York City, performing music genres like a cappella, Brazilian jazz, Swing music, swing, vocalese, rhythm and blues, Pop music, pop, and standards. They have won eleven G ...

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick ( ; born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. During her career, Warwick has won many awards, including six Grammy Awards. She has been inducted into the Hollywood Wa ...

, and

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

. In the late 1990s, he composed a symphonic fantasy for orchestra and synthesizer titled ''

The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature written by the noblewoman, poet, and lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu around the peak of the Heian period, in the early 11th century. It is one of history's first novels, the first by a woman to have wo ...

'', inspired by the eponymous 11th-century Japanese story. It was performed by symphony orchestras in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. A live concert CD version was released in 1999 followed by a studio version in 2000.

2001–2016: Later years

In 2001, Tomita collaborated with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

to compose the background atmosphere music for the AquaSphere entrance at the

Tokyo DisneySea is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo. It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen. The Oriental Land Company owns the park, and licenses intellectual prope ...

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

outside Tokyo. Tomita followed this with a synthesizer score featuring acoustic soloists for the 2002 film , which won the 2003 Japanese Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music. The advent of the

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The ...

format allowed Tomita to further pursue his interests in multichannel audio with reworked releases of ''The Tale of Genji Symphonic Fantasy'' and ''The Tomita Planets 2003''. He also performed a version of

's " Clair de lune" for the soundtrack of '' Ocean's 13'' in 2007. In 2012 Tomita performed '' Symphony Ihatov'' in Tokyo, directing the Japan Philharmonic, an accompanying choir, and featuring cyber-celebrity/ diva, Hatsune Miku, a digital avatar created by the Japanese company

Crypton Future Media , or simply Crypton, is a Japanese media company based in Sapporo, Japan. It develops, imports, and sells products for music, such as sound generator software, sampling CDs and DVDs, and sound effect, FX and background music, BGM libraries. The ...

. In 2015, a number of tracks from ''Snowflakes are Dancing'' were featured on the soundtrack to '' Heaven Knows What'', an American film directed by the

Safdie brothers Josh Safdie, Joshua Henry Safdie (born April 3, 1984) and Benny Safdie, Benjamin Safdie (born February 24, 1986) are independent American filmmakers and actors based in New York City, who frequently collaborate on their films. They are best know ...

. The same year, in recognition of his long career and global influence on electronic music, Tomita won the

Japan Foundation Award The Japan Foundation Awards honor individuals and organizations for significant contributions to "the enhancement of mutual understanding between Japan and other countries." History Activities in an academic or cultural field have been presented ...

, an award launched "to honor individuals or organizations who have made a significant contribution to promoting understanding and friendship between Japan and the rest of the world through academic, artistic and other cultural pursuits".

Death

After having heart disease for many years, Tomita died of heart failure in Tokyo on 5 May 2016.

Legacy

Tomita is considered to be a pioneer in electronic music, but his influence spread beyond the genre both in Japan and overseas. In 1984,

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

cited Tomita as one of the artists he respected most and a major influence exploring classical composers like Mussorgsky and Debussy. In 1987,

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

toured Tomita's home studio. Tomita's music was featured during the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. "Rise of the Planet 9" from Dr. Copellius composed by Tomita was played during the cauldron lighting in the Opening Ceremony, while the Debussy piece "Moonlight" arranged by Tomita was played during the extinguishing of the torch in the closing ceremony.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Switched on Hit & Rock'' (1972) (as ''Electric Samurai'') *'' Snowflakes Are Dancing'' (1974) US #57 Can #57 *'' Pictures at an Exhibition'' (1975) US #49 Can #55 *''Firebird'' (1976) US #71 Can #88 *'' Holst: The Planets'' (1976) US #67 *''The Bermuda Triangle'' (1978) US #152 *''Kosmos'' also known as ''Cosmos'' and ''Space Fantasy'' (1978) US #115 *''Daphnis et Chloé'', also known as ''Bolero'' and ''The Ravel Album'' (1979) US #174 *''Grand Canyon'' (1982) *''Dawn Chorus'', also known as ''Canon of the Three Stars'' (1984) *''Nasca Fantasy'' (1994) (supporting Kodō) *''Bach Fantasy'' (1996) *''The Tale of Genji Symphonic Fantasy'' (2000) *''The Planets 2003'' (2003, DVD-A only) *''The Bermuda Triangle'' (2004) *''Planets: Ultimate Edition'' (2011, re-recording with an additional movement and featuring bonus tracks to the album from 1976 to 2011) *''The Tale of Genji Symphonic Fantasy Ultimate edition'' (2011, new recording with new movements) *''Clair de Lune - Ultimate Edition'' (2012, revised and expanded '' Snowflakes Are Dancing'') *'' Symphony Ihatov'' (2013) *''Pictures at an Exhibition - Ultimate Edition -'' (2014, revised and expanded) *''Space Fantasy'' (2015, revised and expanded ''Kosmos'') *''Okhotsk Fantasy'' (2016)

Live albums

*''The Mind of the Universe - Live at Linz'' (1985) *''Back to the Earth - Live in New York'' (1988) *''Hansel und Gretel'' (Laserdisc-only 1993) *''The Tale of Genji'' (1999) *''Planet Zero'' (2011) *''Dr. Coppelius'' (2017, with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra)

Compilation albums

*''Sound Creature'' (1977, demonstration/education album with part unreleased material) *''Greatest Hits'' (1979) *''A Voyage Through His Greatest Hits, Vol. 2'' (1981) *''The Best of Tomita'' (1984) *''Space Walk - Impressions of an Astronaut'' (1984) RCA Records, USA *''Tomita on NHK'' (2003) *''Tomita Different Dimensions'' (1997)

Soundtracks

* '' Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon'' (1965, no soundtrack album) Japanese version *''Kimba the White Lion#Music, Jungle Emperor Symphonic Poem'' (1966, 2009 re-recording, orchestral suite based on the TV series) *''Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival'' (1970) *''Catastrophe 1999: Prophecies of Nostradamus'' (1974) *''Demon Pond'' (1979, no soundtrack album) *''Misty Kid of Wind'' (1989) *''Storm from the East'' (1992) *''A Class to Remember, School, Gakko'' (1993) *''Shin Nihon Kikou'' (Tomita supervised re-recordings of various TV scores 1994) *''First Emperor'' (1994) (as musical supervisor) *''Gakko II'' (1996) *''Jungle Emperor Leo'' (1997) *''21 seiki e no densetsushi Shigeo Nagashima'' (2000) *''Sennen no Koi Story of Genji'' (2001) *''Tokyo Disney Sea Aquasphere Theme Music'' (2002) *''The Twilight Samurai'' (2002) *''The Hidden Blade'' (2004) *''Blood Will Tell'' (2004) *''Black Jack (manga)#Anime, Black Jack: The Two Doctors of Darkness'' (2005) *''Love and Honor (2006 film), Love and Honor'' (2006) *''Kabei: Our Mother'' (2008) *''Welcome Home, Hayabusa'' (2012) *''Isao Tomita Tezuka Osamu's Work Selection of Music'' (2016) (compilation CD release in Japan)

Honours

Order of the Rising Sun, Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2003)

References

External links

* * *
Isao Tomita
- Last.fm *
Isao Tomita Interview
at NAMM Oral History Program, NAMM Oral History Collection (2014)
Fans' "Sound Creature" website
(include

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomita Isao 1932 births 2016 deaths Anime composers Composers from Tokyo Electronic composers Japanese classical composers Japanese classical musicians Japanese electronic musicians Japanese film score composers Japanese male classical composers Japanese male film score composers Japanese video game composers Keio University alumni Keio Senior High School alumni New-age composers New-age synthesizer players RCA Victor artists Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class Vocaloid musicians

Biography

1932–1968: Early life and composing career

1969-1979: Electronic music

1980-2000: SoundCloud concerts

2001–2016: Later years

Death

Legacy

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Soundtracks

Honours

See also

References

External links