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 ...

from

Aomori, Aomori , officially Aomori City (, ), is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 264,945 in 136,781 households, and a population density of 321 people per square kilometer spre ...

. He graduated from

Kunitachi College of Music The is a private university, private music conservatory in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1926 as the Tokyo Conservatory of Music, Kunitachi now offers study programs in performance, music education, composition, comput ...

with a major in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

. His "Two Movements for Marimba", composed in 1965,School of Music (University of Michigan) publications University School of Music, Ann Arbor School of Music - 1995 "Two Movements for Marimba Movement I Toshimitsu Tanaka (b. 1927)" was awarded the Encouraging Prize of the National Arts Festival for the Centennial Anniversary of the

Meiji Period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

(1968), and the Supreme Prize of the National Arts Festival in 1969. The piece was recorded by

Evelyn Glennie Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, (born 19 July 1965) is a Scottish percussionist. She was selected as one of the two laureates for the Polar Music Prize of 2015. Early life Glennie was born in Methlick, Aberdeenshire, in Scotland. The i ...

in April 1990 for her 1991 album release ''Light in Darkness''. His music is typical of the Japanese

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

repertoire. Tanaka was a professor of Composition Department at Kunitachi College of Music as well as Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts.

References

1930 births 2020 deaths Academic staff of the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts Japanese composers Japanese male composers People from Aomori (city) {{Japan-composer-stub