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Biography

Chatori Shimizu sho_edited.jpg

 Chatori Shimizu (b. 1990) is a Taipei-based composer and sound artist, focusing on site-specific music, kinetically enhanced music, and concert music. He often plays with the themes of liberating time and space, often incorporating choreography, programming, mechanical enhancements, and installation design in his creations.

 Shimizu's award-winning works has been performed and exhibited throughout Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Serbia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States, by acclaimed ensembles such as AuditivVokal, ekmeles, Linea, Multilatérale, mise-en, Mivos, NZTrio, 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 (BE) and Diaphonia Edizioni (IT), and his album "O" released from Elektramusic (FR). 

 As an active shō performer as well as researcher on 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 Conservatoire de Strasbourg, Cornell University, The Graduate Center at CUNY, Manhattan School of Music, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Tamagawa University, among others. Since 2022, he regularly performs with LOD muziektheater (BE), appearing in major festivals and venues such as Festival d’Aix (FR), the Royal Opera House (UK), and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (SP).

 

 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 MM from Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, Dresden, under the tutelage of Mark Andre, Stefan Prins, and Jörn Peter Hiekel. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of Composers' Collective Tesselat and co-founder of SEED Composition Academy.

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