Miya Masaoka facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Miya Masaoka
Masaoka (c. 2003)
Born	1958 (age 66–67) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education	San Francisco State University, Mills College
Known for	Sound art, musical composition

Miya Masaoka performing in 2016

Miya Masaoka (born in 1958 in Washington, D.C.) is an American composer, musician, and sound artist. She is known for her work in contemporary classical music and experimental music. Her art includes composing new classical pieces, improvising, using electronic sounds, and creating sound installations. She also uses traditional Japanese instruments and performs unique art pieces. Miya Masaoka lives in New York City.

Masaoka often plays a special 21-string Japanese instrument called a koto. She makes its sound even more interesting by using computer software, preparing the strings in unique ways, and bowing them. She has created art pieces and installations that use plants, live insects, and special sensor technology. Her full-length ballet was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2004. She has won many important awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (2021), the Doris Duke Award (2013), and the Herb Alpert Award (2004). She also received a Fulbright Fellowship to study traditional Japanese theater (Noh), court music (gagaku), and a rare koto (ichi gen kin). She is a professor at Columbia University, where she directs the MFA Sound Art Program.

Miya Masaoka's Early Life and Education

Miya Masaoka started learning classical music when she was eight years old. In her early twenties, she moved to Paris, France. After returning to the U.S., she studied music at San Francisco State University. She earned her bachelor's degree with high honors. Later, she received her master's degree from Mills College, where she won an award for music composition.

Miya Masaoka's Creative Work

Masaoka's work covers many different types of art and media. She has created pieces for voices, orchestras, and even short films. She has also made special clothes with lights (LED KIMONO) that react to movement. She has even used sensors to turn the movements of insects, the responses of plants, and brain activity into sound. These projects are called "Pieces For Plants" and "Thinking Sounds."

Many groups and artists have asked her to create new works. These include Bang on a Can, So Percussion, and Alonzo King’s Ballet. Her orchestral piece "Other Mountain" was chosen for a special performance by the La Jolla Symphony in 2013.

Masaoka also founded and led the San Francisco Gagaku Society from 1989 to 1996. This group studied gagaku, which is ancient Japanese court music. She learned from Master Suenobu Togi, whose family had been playing gagaku for over 1000 years.

Her love for nature and outdoor sounds inspired her to record migrating birds. She recorded them in deep canyons near the San Diego Airport. This led to her work "For Birds, Planes and Cello," written for Joan Jeanrenaud. Another piece, "While I Was Walking, I Heard a Sound," is for 120 singers. In one part, three choirs and nine opera singers make bird calls and other nature sounds.

As a koto player, Miya Masaoka often improvises. She has performed and recorded with many famous musicians. Some of these include Pharoah Sanders, Pauline Oliveros, and Steve Coleman.

Masaoka describes her inspiration: "I am deeply moved by the sounds and energy of the natural world. People, history, memory, and the sounds of nature and culture—from our human heartbeat to the rhythms of the moon and oceans—are all so complex yet so basic."

She also started the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival in 1999.

Miya Masaoka's Compositions

Miya Masaoka has created many different types of musical works. Here are some examples:

Orchestral and Large Ensemble Works

• Other Mountain (2013) - For a full symphony orchestra.
• Off a Craggy Cliff (2009) - For two large groups of musicians playing together online.
• Twenty Four Thousand Years is Forever (1997) - For a small orchestra with special instruments like the sheng (a Chinese mouth organ) and koto.
• Dark Passages (1998) - A multi-media story with readers, a string quartet, Buddhist chanters, actors, and videos.
• Pieces for Plants (2007) - An interactive piece where sensors on plants create sounds.

Choral and Smaller Ensemble Works

• While I Was Walking, I Heard a Sound… (2003) - For three choirs singing without instruments and nine solo singers.
• Spirit of Goze (1990) - For taiko drums, piano, and koto.
• LED Kimono (2009) - Features a dancer wearing special electronic clothes that light up and react to sound.
• Swimming Through Madness (2010) - For two 13-string kotos.
• The Dust and the Noise (2013) - For piano, percussion, violin, and cello.

Solo and Unique Works

• Topaz Refractions (1990) - For 21-string koto.
• Ritual for Giant Hissing Madagascar Cockroaches (1995-98) - A performance where the movement of cockroaches triggers their hissing sounds.
• Bee Project #1 (1996) - Uses koto, violin, percussion, and live, amplified bees with projected video.
• For Birds, Planes and Cello (2004) - For cello and recorded sounds from nature.
• Balls (2007) - For piano, a special player piano (Disclavier), and ping-pong balls.

Works for Dance

• Clytemnestra (1993) - A solo koto piece.
• Koto (2004) - A full-length ballet featuring koto and recorded sounds.

Installations and Exhibitions

• Koto in the Sky (2000) - An interactive art piece with lasers beamed across buildings.
• Pieces for Plants #5 (2001) - An interactive sound installation where a houseplant, electrodes, and a computer create sounds.
• Inner Koto (2005-7) - A multi-channel sound installation shown in New York City and at the Winter Olympics in Italy.

Miya Masaoka's Recordings

Miya Masaoka has released many recordings of her music.

Solo and Group Recordings

• Compositions Improvisations (1994) - Her first solo CD.
• Monk's Japanese Folksong (1998) - With her trio.
• For Birds, Planes and Cello (2004) - Music she composed for Joan Jeanrenaud.
• While I Was Walking, I Heard a Sound… (2004) - Features 120 singers.

Collaborations with Other Artists

Masaoka has also worked with many other musicians on recordings, creating unique sounds together. Some of these include:

• Séance (1996) - With Henry Kaiser.
• Sliding (1998) - Duets with Jon Rose.
• Digital Wildlife (2000) - With Fred Frith and Larry Ochs.
• Duets with Accordion and Koto (2008) - With Pauline Oliveros.

Miya Masaoka as a Performer

Miya Masaoka has performed with many different artists and groups. She often plays her koto in these performances. Some notable collaborations include:

• With Steve Coleman on Myths, Modes and Means (1996).
• With Toshiko Akiyoshi on Suite for Koto and Jazz Orchestra (1997), a work written especially for Masaoka.
• With Dr. L. Subramaniam on Global Fusion (1999).
• With Christian Wolff on Burdocks (2001).
• With George Lewis on Sequel (2006).

Films Featuring Miya Masaoka

• 1999 – L. Subramaniam: Violin From the Heart: This film includes a scene where Masaoka performs with L. Subramaniam.
• 2010 – The Reach of Resonance: A film directed by Steve Elkins.

See also

• Koto