Tsutomu Tagashira

Profile

Born in 1962 in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture. Educated at Hachinohe High School, then at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Tokyo Geidai), where he completed the undergraduate course in composition and went on to take his Master of Arts in composition. During his student years, he studied under Teizo Matsumura.

In 1989, his Lyrical Fantasy was shortlisted for the 11th Composition Prize of the Japanese Symphony Foundation; in 1998, REI for Orchestra was shortlisted for the 20th. Both were performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and broadcast on NHK-FM.

From there, his work moved into music for the screen — theme music and scoring for many programmes on NHK Educational TV, NHK-FM, NHK BS, and NHK World. His broadcast credits include the theme music for NHK-BS and NHK World coverage of the Sydney Olympics, the Salt Lake City Olympics, and the 2002 FIFA World Cup; theme and incidental music for the NHK ETV series Minna no Uta, Otona no Kiso Eigo, and the radio drama series Seishun Adventure and FM Theatre.

Across these years, the work has not been confined to any single field: orchestral and chamber music, the publication of choral works, collaborations with shōmyō (Buddhist chant), recordings with the Just Intonation Music Society, and music for Chinese films and television drama series — each answered in the way the work itself asked.

Formerly a lecturer in the Music Performance Department of Shobi Gakuen University. A full member of JASRAC (the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers); has served in the past as Vice-Chair of the Distribution Committee, and through that work has come to know the inner workings of the royalty-distribution system at first hand.

Selected Works

Roughly two hundred works in total; the list below is a selection by category.

Orchestral & Concert Works

• 1989 Lyrical Fantasy (叙情的幻想曲) — orchestra / Shortlisted, 11th Composition Prize, Japanese Symphony Foundation
  Tadaaki Otaka, conductor / Tokyo Symphony Orchestra / Tokyo Bunka Kaikan; broadcast NHK-FM
• 1992 Hokumei Shōka (北溟頌歌) — chamber orchestra / Commissioned by Musikkeller
  Satoshi Uegaki, conductor / Musashino Civic Cultural Hall
• 1993 Paraphrase on the Itsuki Lullaby (五木の子守唄によるパラフレーズ) — orchestra / International Artists' Association, Berlin
  Chie Hayashi, soprano / Schauspielhaus, Berlin
• 1995 The Light from Above, Eternal (天上の光は永遠に) — piano concerto / Commissioned by Tokyo IMC
  Paola Bruni, piano / Tsutomu Tagashira, conductor / Vienna
• 1998 REI for Orchestra — orchestra / Shortlisted, 20th Composition Prize, Japanese Symphony Foundation
  Kazuyoshi Akiyama, conductor / Tokyo Symphony Orchestra / Nakano ZERO; broadcast NHK-FM
• 2010 Standing by Sal Tree — string quartet / Hara & Tagashira works concert
• 2013 Suite for Erhu and Piano (二胡とピアノのための組曲) — commissioned by erhu player Kanae Nozawa

Broadcast Music — NHK

• 1992–96 Theme music and scoring for Hatena ni Tackle, Ashita e Jump, Sawayaka 3 Gumi, Kitto Ashita wa / NHK ETV
• 2000 Theme music, Sydney Olympics — NHK-BS news / NHK-BS
• 2002 2002 FIFA World Cup — theme music and incidental music / NHK World TV
• 2002 Theme music, Salt Lake City Olympics — NHK World news / NHK World
• 2012 Theme music and scoring — Otona no Kiso Eigo / NHK ETV
• 2013 NHK Minna no Uta — "Katatsumuri, Kataomoi" / NHK
• 2014 Music for NHK Special The Forbidden City (故宮) — as part of the composer collective "Planet Terra"
• 1999–2011 Music for many radio drama productions — NHK FM Theatre series, Seishun Adventure series

Buddhist Chant & Just Intonation

• 1994 Shōmyō Daikyōen (声明大響宴) — synthesiser / shōmyō
  1200th anniversary concert of the founding of the Konpon Chū-dō on Mount Hiei; broadcast NHK-BS
• 1996 Neoriento (Sea / Earth / Moon / Sky / The Long Stretch of Time) — Columbia Records, CD "Shōmyō Gensō — Beyond Time and Space"
• 1997–98 Just Intonation CDs "To the Land of Light" I·II·III and "To the Garden of Resonance" — Just Intonation Music Society

International Works

• 2014 Chinese film Motive (動機) — original score, orchestral / theatrical release
• 2016 Chinese television series Sword and Fairy: The Ordinary in the Clouds (仙剣云之凡) — original score
• 2017 Chinese television series The Legend of Qixingji (奇星記之鮮衣怒馬少年時) — original score

Choral & Educational Works

• 1991–92 Choral works published in the Ongaku no Tomo Sha "Music Education" supplement
  "Kaze ga Fuku to", "Minna Nanika ni", "Ocre Rouge no Ki no Shita de", and others

Affiliations & Activities

• 　 Full Member, JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers)
  Previously served as Vice-Chair of the Distribution Committee.
• 　 Co-Representative, FT Music Office LLC (from February 2025)
• 　 Auditor, ADEC/BF-J (Association for the Development of Cultural Exchange between Burkina Faso and Japan) (from 2026)