prominent Japanese composer; b. Tokyo, Oct. 8, 1930; d. there Feb. 20, 1996. Takemitsu studied composition privately with Yasuji Kiyose. In 1951 he organized the Tokyo Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop), with the aim of creating new music that would combine traditional Japanese modalities with modern composition techniques. In 1970 he designed the Space Theater for Expo '70 in Osaka.

Takemitsu was a visiting professor at Yale University during 1975, served as regent lecturer at the University of California, San Diego, in 1981, lectured at Harvard, Boston, and Yale Universities, and was composer-in-residence of the Colorado Music Festival, all during 1983. In 1984 he was composer-in-residence at the Aldeburgh Festival. He received numerous honors, including honorary memberships in the Akademie der Künste of the German Democratic Republic in 1979 and the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1984. In 1985 he received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French government.

Takemitsu's music combines Eastern and Western musical characteristics. From the East, short MOTIVES are played out as floating dramas, subtle and exotic, through which he seeks "to achieve a sound as intense as silence." From the West, he has used virtually every conceivable technique developed by European and American modernists.

Takemitsu has composed orchestral works, string quartets, keyboards, and vocal works. Some of his works, such as Autumn for BIWA, SHAKUHACHI, and orchestra (1973) and Ceremonial for SHO and orchestra (1992), incorporate traditional Japanese instruments. In 1994 he won the Grawemeyer Award from the University of Louisville for his Fantasma/Cantos for clarinet and orchestra.