A Japanese composer born January 31, 1969 in Tokyo (Japan).
After a master’s degree in composition at the Tokyo National University for the Fine Arts and Music in 1992, Misato Mochizuki settled in France and studied at the Paris Conservatory, notably in the classes of Paul Méfano and Emmanuel Nunes. She subsequently followed the composition and computer music course of Ircam (1996-1997) and enriched her way of listening to music, notably in contact with Tristan Murail.
While investigating unusual colours and tone-colours, Mochizuki composes on the confluences of the western modernity and of her own Japanese culture. Creation and the quest for knowledge are for her intimately linked, which leads her to an interest in domains as varied as photography (La chambre claire for instrumental ensemble, commissioned by the Musik-Biennale Berlin, 1998), genetics (Homeobox for violin, piano and orchestra, commissioned by the Musik-Biennale Berlin, 2001), traditional music, astronomy (Météorites for orchestra, commissioned by the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, 2002) as well as cooking. Misato Mochizuki composes chamber music (Brains for string quartet, commissioned by Radio France for the festival Présences, 2017), orchestral music (Musubi, commissioned by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, 2010), vocal music (Écoute for five voices and light, commissioned by the SWR for the Festival of Donaueschingen, 2002), as well as film music (Pantopos for a film by Eni Brandner, commissioned by Klangforum Wien, 2019).
A guest teacher for the summer courses of contemporary music in Darmstadt, Voix Nouvelles in Royaumont, the International Music Festival of Takefu as well as the Amsterdam Conservatory, Misato Mochizuki also teaches at the Meiji Gakuin University of Tokyo; she has also written articles on music for some Japanese dailies.
