Biography

Noriko Kawakami
Noriko Kawakami
Composer Noriko Kawakami
Noriko Kawakami was born in 1955 in Ehime, Japan. She studied composition with Ryohei Hirose at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo. In 1987, she moved to Germany. 1987/88, she studied composition with Klaus Huber in Freiburg i.B., and 1988/91 with Nicolaus A. Huber at the Folkwang-University of Art in Essen. In 1994, she participated at a composition course with James Dillon and Ole Lützow-Holm in Göteborg, Sweden. In 1995/96, she lived as a freelance composer in Paris, France. In 2004, she was a guest artist at the ZKM (Centre for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany).
She is particularly interested in the inner life of the sound and its processing with modern sound techniques. Recently, she has tried to gain new possibilities of shaping music from the idea of synaesthesia.
Her works have been performed at many international festivals and contemporary music series, such as the Kusatsu International Summer Music Festival (Japan), International Festival of New Music – Manuel Enriquez (Mexico City), Musica Nova for Electroacoustic Music (Prague, Czech Republic), A*DEvangarde-Festival München (Munic, Germany), achtmal alte brüderkirche Kassel (Kassel, Germany), Kölner Musiknacht (Cologne, Germany), ensembl[:E:]uropa (Radio WDR), International Accordion Festival (Vilnius, Lithuania), Chiffren-Festival (Kieler Tage für Neue Musik, Kiel, Germany), Borealis Festival (Bergen, Norway), MusikTriennale Köln (Cologne, Germany), Frau Musica (nova) (Radio Deutschlandfunk), Musik 21 Festival (Hannover, Germany), etc.

Collaboration with ensembles and performers such as Plural Ensemble Madrid, Apartment House London, Ensemble Musica d'insieme Mailand, Thürmchen Ensemble, Leonardo-Quartett Köln, e-mex neue musik ensemble, Ensemble L'art pour L'art, Ensemble reflexion K, Ensemble Horizonte, LandesJugendEnsemble für Neue Musik Schleswig-Holstein, Das Klarinettenduo [Zelinsky|Smeyers], Ensemble Schwerpunkt, Duo Vertige [Mirjam Schröder|Rie Watanabe], Dirk Rothbrust, Catherine Vickers, Michinori Bunya, Carin Levine, Kristi Becker, Makiko Goto, Dorothee Oberlinger, Matthias Kaul, Eva Zöllner, Satoko Inoue, Naoko Kikuchi, Ryoko Aoki, etc.

She received various residence scholarships, among others at the ZKM Karlsruhe (2004), in the Artist’s Houses in Eckernförde (2007), Lukas/Ahrenshoop (2010), Lauenburg/Elbe (2011), AIR-Krems/Austria (2012), Schloss Wiepersdorf (2015). As guest professour sie gave workshops and lecturers, including at the JML-Seminar/Irino Institut, at the Ueno-Gakuen Universität, at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo. She was invited as a guest composer and lecturer to the "Contemporary Music Seminar & Festival Akiyoshidai's Summer (2009)" in Japan. In 2021, her first portrait CD was released on the NEOS label. 

Noriko Kawakami lives and works in Cologne, Germany.