TAKAMI, Toyoko

Toyoko Braun Takami (born January 1, 1945) is a Japanese composer and music educator who has lived and worked in Germany since 1971. Born in Shimane Prefecture, Japan, she studied composition at Tokyo University of the Arts, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in composition before continuing her studies with Harald Genzmer at the University of Munich. Alongside a long career as a music educator in Germany, Takami has composed works for chamber ensembles, orchestra, and voice. Her catalogue includes the Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet (1969), So-Mon for flute, bassoon, and organ, a Wind Quintet, a Sextet for four saxophones, marimba, and vibraphone, orchestral works including Symphonic Movement and Two Symphonic Movements, and numerous vocal compositions. Her music frequently reflects a dialogue between Japanese and European musical traditions, incorporating elements of Japanese culture within contemporary Western classical forms. In 2007, she composed a song cycle setting poems by Joseph von Eichendorff for the exhibition Sehnsucht Rhein, and her chamber work So-Mon received an Honorable Mention in the Sixth International Women Composers' Competition.