was a Japanese composer. His father, Baku Ishii, was a prominent Japanese ballet dancer, and his brother

Maki Ishii was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Born in Tokyo, Ishii studied composition privately (with Akira Ifukube and Tomojiro Ikenouchi) and conducting with Akeo Watanabe from 1952 in Tokyo. In 1958, he moved to Berl ...

was also a composer. His ''Symphonia Ainu'' won a prize at the 1958 Art Festival, inspiring him to do further work inspired by nationalist primitivism. His musical style appeals directly to the emotions, and shows the influence of

Carl Orff Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...

. In addition to orchestral and vocal music, he has written extensively for the stage, including 6 operas, 3 ballets and 9 film scores, including the 1962 science-fiction film ''

Gorath is a 1962 Japanese epic science fiction disaster film directed by Ishirō Honda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Based on an idea by Jojiro Okami, the film is about mankind's efforts to move Earth out of its orbit to prevent it from col ...

''. Ishii accepted a position as professor at Shōwa College of Music in 1986.

Selected works

*''Marimo'' (ballet) *''Sinfonia Ainu'' for soprano, chorus and orchestra *''Suite from Marimo'' for orchestra *''Going in a Wide Plain'' for wind orchestra *''Music for Percussions by Eight Players'' *''Sonata'' for viola and piano (1962) *''Preludes'' for piano *''The Music for Flute'' (flute solo) *''Songs of a Withered Tree and the Sun'' for male chorus and piano *''Japanese Folk Songs'' for voice and piano *''

'' (film score) *''Kesa and Morito (袈裟と盛遠)'' (opera, 1968)

References

*Kanazawa, Masakata. "Kan Ishii", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed 20 May 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). * 1921 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Japanese classical composers 20th-century Japanese male musicians Composers from Tokyo Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Japanese male classical composers {{Japan-composer-stub