Jo Kondo

Jō Kondō (近藤譲; surname Kondō; born 28 October 1947 in Tokyo) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.

Jō Kondō
Born(1947-10-28)28 October 1947
 Japan Tokyo
Other names近藤 譲
Occupationcomposer

Kondo studied composition from 1968 to 1972 with Yoshio Hasegawa and Hiroaki Minami at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.[1] He won the third prize and made his debut in Japan-Germany Contemporary Music Festival in 1969. He serves as Professor of Music at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo and also teaches at Tokyo University of Arts and Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima.

His interests include hocket, the music of Ancient Greece, and strong differences in instrumental timbre, all of which are reflected in his compositions. The chamber version of his 1975 composition Sight Rhythmics reflects the latter in its unusual instrumentation of violin, banjo, steel drum, electric piano, and tuba, for example. His opera Hagoromo, based on a Noh play and premiered in Florence in 1994, is the unique case in which his music blends western techniques with oriental traditions. In 1978 he spent a year in New York City with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. While there, he became personally acquainted with a number of avant-garde American composers, including John Cage and especially Morton Feldman.[2]

Kondo's music has been performed by the London Sinfonietta, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Arditti Quartet, NEXUS, the Balanescu Quartet, Aki Takahashi and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

Kondo's works have been recorded on the Hat Art, ALM, Fontec, and Deutsche Grammophon labels. His scores are published by the University of York Music Press and Edition Peters.

His notable students include Linda Catlin Smith and Paul Newland. Kondo was associated with John Cage in the 1970s.[3]

References
  1. Shono 2001.
  2. Liberatore, John. "Mutual Relationship: An Aesthetic Analysis of Jo Kondo's "High Window"". Sibley Music Library. University of Rochester.
  3. Anthony Tommasini, "MUSIC REVIEW; A Contemporary Chamber Group, and That's Exactly What It Means". New York Times (August 27, 2001).
  • Shono, Susumu. 2001. "Kondo, Jo". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

Further reading
  • Benítez, Joaquim M. 1998. "L'oreille orientale et la musique de l'Ouest: Entretien de Joaquim M. Benitez avec Jo Kondo". Études 389, no. 4 (no. 3914; October): 369–77.
  • Charles, Daniel. 1990. "Jô Kondô, ou le passage de la ligne". Revue d’ésthetique 18:225–31.
  • Charles, Daniel. 1991. "Jō Kondō e John Cage", translated by Giovanni Morelli. Rivista italiana di musicologia 26, no. 1:95–115.
  • Cole, John. 2006. "An Introduction to Jo Kondo's Sen no ongaku Music of 1973 to 1980". Ex tempore 13, no. 1 (Spring-Summer): 70–143.
  • Hinz, Klaus-Michael. 1995. "Musik als unendliche Veränderung: der japanische Komponist Jô Kondô". MusikTexte, no. 59:34–38.
  • Hinz, Klaus-Michael. 2004. "Stillstehender Sturmlauf: Jô Kondôs Orchesterwerk mit dem Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra und Morton Feldmans Beckett-Oper 'Neither'"
  • Liberatore, John. 2014. "Mutual Relationship: An Aesthetic Analysis of Jo Kondo's 'High Window.'" University of Rochester.
  • "Stuttgart". MusikTexte, no. 103:79–80.
  • Wilson, Peter Niklas. 2000. "Jo Kondo". In Komponisten der Gegenwart: Loseblatt-Lexikon Nachlieferung 19, edited by Hanns-Werner Heister and Walter-Wolfgang Sparrer. Munich: Edition text+kritik.
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