Karen Tanaka

Karen Tanaka (born April 7, 1961) is a Japanese composer.

Karen Tanaka was born in Tokyo, Japan where she started piano and composition lessons as a child. After studying composition with Akira Miyoshi and piano with Nobuko Amada at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, she moved to Paris in 1986 with the aid of a French Government Scholarship to study with Tristan Murail and work at IRCAM as an intern. In 1987, she was awarded the Gaudeamus International Composers Award at the International Music Week in Amsterdam. She studied with Luciano Berio in Florence in 1990–91 with funds from the Nadia Boulanger Foundation and a Japanese Government Scholarship. In 1996, she received the Margaret Lee Crofts Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 1998 she was appointed as Co-Artistic Director of the Yatsugatake Kogen Music Festival, previously directed by Toru Takemitsu. In 2005 she was awarded the Bekku Prize.

Her works have been performed by distinguished ensembles and orchestras worldwide, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Various dance companies, including the Nederlands Dans Theater, have also featured her music. In 2012, she was selected as a fellow of the Sundance Institute’s Composers Lab for feature film.

Tanaka's love of nature and concern for the environment has influenced many of her works, including Questions of Nature, Frozen Horizon, Water and Stone, Dreamscape, Ocean, Silent Ocean, Tales of Trees, Water Dance, Crystalline series, and Children of Light.

She taught composition at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her music is published by Chester Music in London (Music Sales), Schott Music New York (PSNY), and Editions BIM in Switzerland. Karen Tanaka currently lives in Los Angeles and teaches composition at California Institute of the Arts.

Orchestral

• Anamorphose (1986), for piano & orchestra
• Departure (1999–2000)
• Echo Canyon (1995)
• Guardian Angel (2000), for clarinet, harp, percussion & string orchestra
• Hommage en cristal (1991), for piano & string orchestra
• Initium (1992–93), for orchestra & electronics
• Lost Sanctuary (2002)
• Prismes (1984)
• *Rose Absolute (2002)
• Urban Prayer (2003–04), for cello & orchestra
• Water of Life (2012–13)
• Wave Mechanics (1994)

Chamber

• Always in my heart (1999), for clarinet & piano
• At the grave of Beethoven (1999), for string quartet
• Dreamscape (2001), for 7 instruments
• Enchanted Forest (2013), for horn & piano
• Frozen Horizon (1998), for 7 instruments
• Holland Park Avenue Study (2002), for 5 instruments
• Invisible Curve (1996), for 5 instruments
• Metal Strings (1996), for string quartet
• Ocean (2003), for violin & piano
• Polarization (1994), for 2 percussionists
• Shibuya Tokyo (2009), for 2 violins
• Silent Ocean (2005), for trumpet & piano
• Water and Stone (1999), for 8 instruments

Piano/Harpsichord

• Blue Crystal (2014), for piano
• Children of Light (1998–99), for piano
• Crystalline (1988), for piano
• Crystalline II (1995–96), for piano
• Crystalline III (2000), for piano
• Herb Garden (2005), for piano four hands
• Jardin des herbes (1989, rev. 1995), for harpsichord
• Lavender (1989), for harpsichord
• Lavender Field (2000), for piano
• Masquerade (2013), for piano
• Northern Light (2002), for piano
• Our Planet Earth (2010–11), for piano
• Techno Etudes (2000), for piano
• Water Dance (2008), for piano
• Who Stole the Tarts? (2016), for piano
• The Zoo in the Sky (1994–95), for piano

Solo instrumental

• Lilas (1988), for cello
• Metallic Crystal (1994–95), for metallic percussion & electronics
• Night Bird (1996), for alto saxophone & electronics
• The Song of Songs (1996), for cello & electronics
• Tales of Trees (2003), for marimba
• Wave Mechanics II (1994), for violin & electronics

Electroacoustic

• Celestial Harmonics (1997)
• Inuit Voices (1997)
• Questions of Nature (1998)

Choral

• God is Love as Love is God (2009)
• God Loves Us All (2009)
• Rise Up Hallelu (2009)
• Sleep My Child (2012)
• Wait for the Lord (2009)

Sound design

• Opening Bell for Daiichi Seimei Hall (2000)
• Viva Suntory! for Suntory Hall (2010)

• At the grave of Beethoven (Vanguard Classics - 992120), Brodsky Quartet
• Children of Light (BMG - BVCC 37200), Ikuyo Nakamichi, piano
• Crystalline (EVE0104), Eve Egoyan, piano
• Crystalline (2L - 074 SACD), Signe Bakke, piano
• Crystalline II (CRI - CD855), Xak Bjerken, piano
• Crystalline II (2L - 074 SACD), Signe Bakke, piano
• Frozen Horizon (New World Records - 80683), Azure Ensemble
• Initium (Camerata - 32CM319), Tokyo Symphony Orchestra; Kazuyoshi Akiyama, conductor
• Invisible Curve (New World Records - 80683), Azure Ensemble
• Lavender Field (MET - CD 1053), Thalia Myers, piano
• Metallic Crystal (Mode 189-192), Roland Auzet, percussion
• Night Bird (BIS - CD890), Claude Delangle, alto saxophone
• Night Bird (First Hand Records - FHR13), Gerard McChrystal, alto saxophone
• Northern Light (USK - 1227 CDD), Thalia Myers, piano
• Our Planet Earth (Sony - SICC 1575), Ikuyo Nakamichi, piano
• Prismes (BIS - CD490), Malmö Symphony Orchestra; Junichi Hirokami, conductor
• Silent Ocean (CRYSTON OVCC-00040), Osamu Kumashiro, trumpet; Kazumasa Watanabe, piano
• The Song of Songs (New Albion Records - NA 120), Joan Jeanrenaud, cello
• The Song of Songs (Albany Records - TROY726), Medeleine Shapiro, cello
• Techno Etudes (BVHAAST - 1000), Tomoko Mukaiyama, piano
• Techno Etudes (2L - 074 SACD), Signe Bakke, piano
• Water and Stone (New World Records - 80683), Azure Ensemble
• Water Dance (2L - 074 SACD), Signe Bakke, piano
• Water Dance (Nami Records - WWCC 7708), Kayako Matsunaga, piano
• Wave Mechanics (Deutsche Grammophon - POCG 1860), Ensemble Kanazawa
• Wave Mechanics II (Albany Records - TROY1305), Airi Yoshioka, violin
• The Zoo in the Sky (BMG - BVCC 1094), Ikuyo Nakamichi, piano