Michiko Toyama

Michiko Francoise[1] Toyama Muto (February 14, 1908 – October 23, 2000)[2] was a Japanese American composer.[3] She was one of the first women invited[4] to study at the  Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center (today known as the Computer Music Center).[5]

Toyama was born in California to Japanese parents Noryuki Toyama and Fuku Nakahara. Her family visited Japan several times, and she attended college in the United States and Japan. In 1936, she studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris.[6] In 1937, Jacques Ibert recommended that Toyama submit her composition Voice of Yamato to the 15th Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM),[7] where it won a prize.[8] The same year, she married Hideo Muto;[2] they had one child, Lucile.[9]

Toyama was interned at the Rohwer War Relocation Center in the United States during World War II following the signing of Executive Order 9066.[10] She was described there as a musician and semiskilled in the manufacture of knit goods.[2]

In 1952, Toyama studied with Darius Milhaud, Olivier Messiaen, and Noel Gallon at the Paris Conservatory. In 1955, she received a scholarship to study at Tanglewood with Roger Sessions. She studied conducting at the Pierre Monteux School and Columbia University.[6] From 1956 to 1959 she was one of the first women to study at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center with Dr. Otto Luening and Dr. Vladimir Ussachevsky.[11] At the Center, Toyama and Edgard Varese shared an enthusiasm for Japanese gagaku court music.[12] In 1960, Toyama's compositions were released on Folkways Records Album No. FW 8881.[13]

Toyama said, "composing music is my joy and I do it for myself. I hope my compositions will be performed, but I do not dare to organize performance opportunities for my compositions by myself."[8]

Works

Toyama published her music under the name Michiko Toyama. Her compositions include:

Electronic
  • Aoi No Ue (tape and narrator)[6]
  • Waka (tape and narrator; text by Hyaku-nin Shu)[6]

Orchestra
  • Japanese Suite[6]

Vocal
  • Voice of Yamato (soprano, flute, clarinet, bassoon and cello)[6]
  • "Two Old Folk Songs" (voice and koto)[6]


References
  1. The Musical Woman. Greenwood Press. 1983. ISBN 978-0-313-23587-0.
  2. Muto, Michiko Toyama. "ancestry.com". Retrieved 14 Jun 2021.
  3. Hixon, Donald L. (1993). Women in music : an encyclopedic biobibliography. Don A. Hennessee (2nd ed.). Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-2769-7. OCLC 28889156.
  4. Perera, Ronald; Luening, Otto (1975). The Development and Practice of Electronic Music. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-207605-0.
  5. "Michiko Toyama at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center". University of Rochester Calendar. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  6. Cohen, Aaron I. (1987). International encyclopedia of women composers (Second edition, revised and enlarged ed.). New York. ISBN 0-9617485-2-4. OCLC 16714846.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. Matthei, Renate (1991). Komponistinnen in Japan und Deutschland: eine Dokumentation (in German). Furore-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-927327-09-2.
  8. Nishikawa, Teruka (2000). Four Recitals and an Essay: Women and Western Music in Japan: 1868 to the Present (PDF) (dissertation). Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta.
  9. "Michiko Toyama Muto". www.myheritage.com. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  10. "Japanese American Internee Data File: Michiko Muto". National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  11. "Early Synthesizers and Experimenters" (PDF). Retrieved 14 Jun 2021.
  12. Toop, David (2018-08-02). Ocean of Sound: Ambient sound and radical listening in the age of communication. Serpent's Tail. ISBN 978-1-78816-104-6.
  13. "Waka and Other Compositions: Contemporary Music of Japan". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
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