Biography
Ichiro Seki entered the world in Tokyo during 1949 and completed his studies at the NHK Japanese Traditional Music School by 1973. Pursuing Western compositional techniques independently, he concentrated on merging traditional Japanese instruments with their Western counterparts. Among his various works appear a composition pairing the shakuhachi with harpsichord, included on the album Contrasts, along with another scored for shakuhachi accompanied by female voice. Recognition came in 1975 when he earned top honors in Japanese traditional music at the Pan-Music Festival. Extensive performances throughout Japan and abroad followed this achievement. Multiple composition awards arrived during the 1990s. Specifically, 1996 brought first prize in a contest dedicated to compositions for Japanese musical instruments, and two years later the piece "Pentagonia," written for five soloists plus an ensemble of one hundred shakuhachi, received its premiere at the World Shakuhachi Festival 1998 held in Boulder, CO. His mentors included the renowned shakuhachi expert Katsuya Yokoyama for that instrument, Hiroshi Aoshim for piano instruction, and both Shuko Mizuno and Yoriaki Matsudaira in the field of composition.