Biography
Chatori Shimizu (b. 1990) is a Dresden based composer, shō performer, and sound artist, who constructs his works for a wide range of mediums concerning the time identity in sound. Ranging from orchestral works to sound installations, all of his works "engage in repetitive patterns of sound motifs, which aims for the slightest change in the pattern to act as an accent" (New York Seikatsu), and is described as "a flared infotainment playground" (Mehrlicht Dresden).
As the First Prize Winner of the 2016 Malta International Composition Competition, Shimizu's works have been performed and exhibited throughout Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States, by acclaimed ensembles and musicians such as AuditivVokal, Hidejiro Honjoh, Linea, Multilatérale, Mayumi Miyata, mise-en, Mivos, S.E.M, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Sound Factory Orchestra, among others. Shimizu has been awarded fellowships from the Asian Cultural Council, Columbia University School of the Arts, Institute of Medieval Japanese Studies, the Mitsubishi Foundation, Omi International Arts Center, Soundstreams, Toshiba Foundation, and Yaddo. His music scores are published from United Music & Media Publishing (Belgium), and his album "O" released from Elektramusic (France).
As an active researcher in the compositional approaches of the shō, he has conducted numerous lectures and demonstrations regarding the notation and the extended techniques of Japanese instruments in universities worldwide, such as Baruch College, Cornell University, The Graduate Center at CUNY, Manhattan School of Music, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, Tamagawa University, among others. He is a co-founder of SEED: Virtual Composition Academy, a tuition-free, online-based platform connecting composers with the top musicians of East Asian heritage instruments.
Shimizu was born in Osaka, Japan, and spent his formative years in Singapore. Upon receiving the Professional Diploma in Piano Performance with High Honors at age twelve, he studied computer music and composition with Shintaro Imai and Motoharu Kawashima at Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo, graduating with the Arima Prize - the highest recognition for the graduating class. He received his MFA from Columbia University, New York City, where he studied at the Computer Music Center with Brad Garton and Zosha Di Castri, and at Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber (MM), under the tutelage of Mark Andre, Stefan Prins, and Jörn Peter Hiekel. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of Composers' Collective Tesselat.