Isao Tomita was born in 1932 in Tokyo, moved to China with his father when he was 3, and lived in Peking until he was 8. He went on to Keio University in Tokyo where he majored in the history of art.
But while pursuing an academic career, his avid interest in music and electronics led him to engage private teachers. One of his first compositions, “Wind Mills”, was selected by the Japan Federation of Choral Organizations as the song to be used by all contestants for the best choral group award. This achievement led to a commission for theme music to be used by the Japanese Olympic Team.
Since then, Tomita has composed a number of works for film and television. One such TV project was aired in the US by NBC, under the title “White Lion”. This background music was later incorporated into a tone poem which was recorded by the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra and received a special Medal of Merit from the Japanese Government at the 1967 Japan Art Festival.
For the 1970 Expo… read more
Isao Tomita was born in 1932 in Tokyo, moved to China with his father when he was 3, and lived in Peking until he was 8. He went on to Keio University in Tokyo where he majored in the history of art.
But while pursuing an academic career, his avid interest in music and electronics led him to engage private teachers. One of his first compositions, “Wind Mills”, was selected by the Japan Federation of Choral Organizations as the song to be used by all contestants for the best choral group award. This achievement led to a commission for theme music to be used by the Japanese Olympic Team.
Since then, Tomita has composed a number of works for film and television. One such TV project was aired in the US by NBC, under the title “White Lion”. This background music was later incorporated into a tone poem which was recorded by the Japanese Philharmonic Orchestra and received a special Medal of Merit from the Japanese Government at the 1967 Japan Art Festival.
For the 1970 Expo, Tomita provided the music for the Toshiba Hall. He has since been commissioned by the Japanese Government to compose the music for the Japanese Government Hall at the 1975 Okinawa Marine Expo. In 1973 he established “Plasma Music”, which is dedicated to the creation of a new type of music using synthesizers. In order to be a member of this group, one must be adept at composition, arranging and programming, performing, recording and mixing synthesizer music.
Tomita’s first recording distributed in the US, “Snowflakes are Dancing”, synthesizes the music of Claude Debussy. It was released in April 1974 as a quadra disc on RCA’s Red Seal label. It quickly crossed over to become a pop best seller, reaching the top 50’s of the pop charts. Its success led Tomita to an exclusive recording contract with RCA. The album was selected by NARM (National Association of Record Merchandisers) as best selling classical album of the year, and was a finalist for three Grammys, including best classical album of the year. —Billboard Magazine
