Yasushi Akutagawa

Yasushi Akutagawa (1925–1989) was a Japanese composer and conductor. His father was Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. Akutagawa was born and raised in Tokyo, the son of writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. He studied composition with Kunihiko Hashimoto, Kan'ichi Shimofusa and Akira Ifukube at the Tokyo Music School. He was one of the members of Sannin no kai (The Three) along with Ikuma Dan and Toshiro Mayuzumi. In 1954, when Japan did not have diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union yet, he entered the Soviet Union illegally, and made friends with Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian and Dmitri Kabalevsky. Akutagawa was the only Japanese composer whose works were officially published in the Soviet Union at that time. His 1950 Music for Symphony Orchestra reflects his love of the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. His compositions were influenced by Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Akira Ifukube. His film scores include works for directors like Kon Ichikawa, Heinosuke Gosho, Tomu Uchida and Tadashi Imai. He was popular as a master of ceremonies of TV shows as well. As an educator, he devoted himself to training an amateur orchestra, Shin Kokyo Gakudan ("The New Symphony Orchestra"). Almost one year after Akutagawa died, in 1990, the Akutagawa composition award (now called the Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition) was established in his memory. Akutagawa and The New Symphony Orchestra are the recipient of the 1976 Suntory Music Award.