{{Short description|Japanese composer}} {{Infobox person | name = Akira Miyoshi | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1933|1|10}} | birth_place = Tokyo, Japan | death_date = {{death date and age|2013|10|4|1933|1|10}} | death_place = Tokyo, Japan | resting_place = | other_names = 三善 晃 | occupation = composer | years_active = | spouse = | children = }} '''Akira Miyoshi''' (三善 晃; January 10, 1933 &ndash; 4 October 2013<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/entertainment/news/20131005-OYT1T00657.htm |title=日本作曲界の重鎮・三善晃さん死去…８０歳 |date=5 October 2013 |accessdate=5 October 2013}}</ref>) was a Japanese composer.

==Biography== Miyoshi was born in Suginami, Tokyo. He was a child prodigy on the piano, studying with Kozaburo Hirai and Tomojiro Ikenouchi. He studied French literature at the University of Tokyo,<ref name=OMOL/> and then studied composition with Henri Challan and Raymond Gallois-Montbrun at the Paris Conservatory from 1955 to 1957. He was very influenced by Henri Dutilleux.<ref name=OMOL>Oxford Music on Line, ''Miyoshi, Akiro''</ref> He returned to Japan in 1957 and graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1960. In 1965, he became a professor at the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1996, Miyoshi was awarded the Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Government. In 1999, he received the 31st Suntory Music Award. He received the Otaka prize six times for his compositions.<ref name=OMOL/>

== Works ==

=== Orchestral === * 1960 ''Trois mouvements symphoniques – (Kôkyô sanshô)'' * 1962 ''Concerto'' for piano and orchestra * 1964 ''Duel'' for soprano and orchestra * 1964 ''Concerto for Orchestra'' * 1965 ''Concerto for violin and orchestra'' * 1969 ''Concerto'' for marimba and string ensemble * 1969 ''Odes métamorphosées'' * 1970 ''Festival Overture'' * 1970 ''Requiem'' for mixed choir and orchestra * 1974 ''Concerto'' for cello and orchestra * 1978 ''Noesis'' * 1979 ''Psaume'' for mixed choir and orchestra * 1982 ''En-Soi Lointain'' * 1984 ''Kyômon'' for children's choir and orchestra * 1988 ''Litania pour Fuji'' * 1991 ''Création sonore'' * 1991 ''Etoiles à cordes'' * 1995 ''Dispersion de l'été'' * 1996 ''Étoile à échos'' for cello and orchestra * 1997 ''Fruits de brume'' * 1998 ''Chanson terminale: Effeuillage des Vagues''

=== Works for wind orchestra === * 1972 ''Sapporo Olympic Fanfare'' * 1987 ''Subliminal Festa – (Secret Rites)'' * 1990 ''Stars Atlanpic '96'' * 1991 ''Cross-By March'' * 2000 ''Millennium Fanfare'' * 2002 ''West Wind'' (timpani concerto)

=== Chamber music === * 1954 ''Violin Sonata'' * 1955 ''Sonata'' for flute, cello and piano * 1962 ''String Quartet No. 1'' * 1967 ''String Quartet No. 2'' * 1969 ''Huit poèmes'' for flute octet * 1973 ''Nocturne'' for flute, clarinet, marimba, double bass and percussion * 1975 ''Litania'' for double bass and percussion * 1979 ''Hommage'' for flute, violin and piano * 1980 ''Ixtacchihuatl'' for percussion ensemble * 1982 ''Rêve colorie'' for two clarinets * 1985 ''Message Sonore'' for flute, clarinet, marimba, double bass and percussion * 1987 ''C6H'' for cello * 1989 ''Ombre Scintillante'' for flute and harp * 1989 ''Perspective en Spirale'' for clarinet and piano * 1990 ''5 Esquisses'' for tuba and marimba * 1992 ''String Quartet No. 3: Constellation Noire''

=== Music for piano === * 1958 ''Piano Sonata'' * 1960 Suite ''In Such Time'' * 1973 ''Chaînes'' Prelude for piano * 1980 ''En vers'' for piano * 1981 ''A Diary of the Sea'' (28 pieces) * 1984 ''Phenomene sonore I'' for two pianos * 1985 ''Cahier sonore'' for four-hand piano * 1995 ''Phenomene sonore II'' for two pianos * 1998 ''Pour le piano – mouvement circulaire et croisé''

=== Music for guitar === * 1974 ''Protase "de loin à rien"'' for two guitars * 1975 ''Epitase'' * 1985 ''5 Poèmes'' * 1989 ''Constellation Noire'' for guitar and string quartet

=== Music for percussion === * 1962 ''Conversation'' – Suite for marimba *# Tender Talk *# So Nice It Was...Repeatedly *# Lingering Chagrin *# Again The Hazy Answer! *# A Lame Excuse * 1965 ''Torse III'' for marimba *# These *# Chant *# Commentaire *# Synthese * 1977 ''Étude Concertante'' for 2 marimbas * 1987 ''Rin-sai'' for marimba solo and six percussion players * 1991 ''Ripple'' for marimba solo * 2001 ''Prelude Etudes'' for marimba

=== Music for traditional Japanese instruments === * 1972 ''Torse IV'' for shakuhachi, 2 koto, 17-gen and string quartet * 1986 ''Ryusho Kyoku Suifu'' for shakuhachi, 2 koto und 17-gen * 1994 ''Gikyoku'' for Japanese instruments

=== Songs === * 1962 ''En blanc'' for soprano and piano * 1962 ''Sei sanryoh hari'' for soprano and piano * 1991 ''Koeru Kage ni'' for soprano and piano

=== Choral music === * 1962 ''Three Lyrics (Mittsu no Jojoh)'' for women's choir and piano * 1962 ''To my married Daughter'' for mixed choir * 1966 ''Four Seasons'' for mixed choir * 1968 ''Five Pictures for Children'' for mixed choir and piano *# The weathercock *# The trumpet-shell *# "Yajiro-be" – A balancing toy *# The sand-glass *# A top of acorn * 1970 ''Ohson fuki (Ohson didn't come back)'' for men's choir and piano * 1971 ''Four Autumn Songs'' for women's choir and piano * 1972 ''Odeko no koitsu'' for children's choir and piano * 1973 ''5 Japanese Folksongs'' for mixed choir *# Awa odori *# Sado Okesa *# Kiso bushi *# Soran bushi *# Itsuki no komoriuta * 1973 ''Otewanmiso no uta'' for mixed choir * 1975 ''Hengetan'ei'' for mixed choir, shakuhachi, percussion instrument and 17-gen * 1976 ''Kitsune-no-uta (Song of Fox)'' for children's choir, speaker, and piano * 1978 ''Klee no ehon dai1shū (Klee's Picture book No.1)'' for mixed choir and guitar * 1979 ''Klee no ehon dai2shū (Klee's Picture book No.2)'' for men's choir * 1982 ''Norainu Doji'' for women's choir and piano * 1983 ''Ballades to the Earth'' for mixed choir * 1983 ''Poems of Animals'' for mixed choir and piano * 1984 ''Poems of Animals'' for women's choir and piano * 1984 ''Collection of songs "Died in the Country"'' for mixed choir and two pianos * 1985 ''Letters To God'' for children's choir and marimba * 1987 ''Umi (The Sea)'' for mixed choir and two pianos * 1991 ''Yamagara Diary'' for children's choir, sanukite and marimba * 1992 ''Asakura Sanka'' for speaker, mixed choir, Japanese flute and Taiko * 1996 ''Kamuy no kaze (Wind of Kamuy)'' for mixed choir and piano * 2007 ''The Day - August 6'' for mixed choir and piano

=== Stage works === Incomplete list: * 1959 ''Ondine'', opera * 1999 ''Faraway Sail'', opera

=== Anime music === * ''Anne of Green Gables''

=== Books and writings === * Akira Miyoshi: ''The Silent Beat of Japanese Music'', in Japanese Essences (Japan as I see it – 3) Shichi Yamamoto, Kenichi Fukui et al., Tokyo. 1985. * Yoko Narasaki: ''Toru Takemitsu to Akira Miyoshi no Sakkyoku Yoshiki'' (The Style of Composition of Toru Takemitsu and Akira Miyoshi). Tokyo: Ongaku no Tomosha, 1994.

== External links == *{{IMDb name|1062672}} *[http://chorch.fc2web.com/e/miyoshi_a.html Akira Miyoshi - List of Works] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110718113112/http://www.tokyo-concerts.co.jp/index.cfm?lang=eg&menu=artists.035 Akira Miyoshi (TOKYO CONCERTS)]

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Miyoshi, Akira}} Category:1933 births Category:2013 deaths Category:20th-century Japanese classical composers Category:21st-century Japanese classical composers Category:Academic staff of Toho Gakuen School of Music Category:Concert band composers Category:Conservatoire de Paris alumni Category:Composers for the classical guitar Category:Japanese classical guitarists Category:Japanese opera composers Category:Japanese male opera composers Category:People from Suginami Category:Musicians from Tokyo Category:University of Tokyo alumni Category:20th-century Japanese male composers Category:21st-century Japanese male composers