Takemitsu, Toru

(b. 8 October 1930 in Tokyo, d. 20 February 1996 in Tokyo)

At the age of sixteen, while mountain climbing in his native Japan, Tôru Takemitsu dropped his camera into a waterfall. Trying to retrieve it, he caught pneumonia and had to spend many weeks convalescing at home. It was during that time, while listening to music on the radio, that he decided to become a composer. He began to study scores and to teach himself to play the piano. At eighteen, he sought out Yusuji Koyose as his teacher; although he studied with him on and off for a while, Takemitsu remained largely self-taught.

Takemitsu was one of the first important composers to bridge the musical worlds of the East and the West.

"I believe the existence of a stream of sounds. Sounds coexist with our life, and we don't usually recognize that. Music is always here and there. Thus, the composers' task is to curve and shape them into the form of what we call music." - T. Takemitsu