On the occasion of the passing of composer Atsutada Odaka

Composer Atsutada Odaka passed away on February 16th at a hospital in Tokyo due to colon cancer. He was 76 years old and was a native of Tokyo.
At their regular Tokyo concert in March 2016, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra premiered Otaka's "Piano Concerto," the 41st piece in the Japan Philharmonic Series, conducted by his beloved student Junichi Hirokami. At their regular Tokyo concert in July 2018, they also performed the masterpiece "Symphony: Beyond Time," which won the Otaka Prize, conducted by Maestro Hirokami.
Atsutada Odaka's father, Hisatada Naotada, was a conductor and composer who worked with the NHK Symphony Orchestra mainly around the time of World War II. His younger brother, Tadaaki Odaka, is also a true maestro who has shouldered the responsibilities of the modern Japanese music scene.
Atsutada himself studied in France and taught at Tokyo University of the Arts for many years. Although he produced only a small number of works, his intelligent and refined writing style has earned him extremely high praise both in Japan and abroad. Rather than relying on the experimental elements of what is commonly known as "avant-garde" music, or the acoustic analysis and noise of the spectral school, Atsutada was a composer who established a solid métier that was unconventional, based on traditional musical notation.
Once again, we would like to express our condolences to Mr. Odaka Atsutada.

Photography: Atsushi Yamaguchi

2021 June 2
日本フィルハーモニー交響楽団