He is a composer and synthesizer player born in Tokyo,
Japan and growing up in China from the age of three until he was eight.He studied art history at Tokyo's
Keio University and privately took tutelage in composition, theory and
orchestration, which he put into practice by composing works for the
orchestras of his area.After leaving
education he began to compose for the entertainment industry on a full-time
basis and aside from writing theme tunes and music for programmes such as
the animated series called Jangaru Taitei, known as Kimba the
White Lion in the US, he would also write "Wind Mills" which became the
song used by all entries in a national choral competition and the commissioned
music for the Japanese gymnastics team for the Olympics in 1956.His works were highly thought of throughout
the television and film industry and his theme for the show White Lion
was used as the basis for a tone poem performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.He became interested in synthesizer
music after listening to classical work performed on a Moog synthesizer and
such was new idea that he built a home studio and started to arrange works
by Claude Debussy.The
resultant album was a huge success and led to many composers' works being
arranged for synthesizer, including Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite, Holst's
The Planets and Stravinsky's Firebird.He remained working in the film and
television industry at the same time and his work can be heard on series
such as Zatoichi and films including The Twilight Samurai and
Catastrophe 1999.Giving many acclaimed concerts, he has appeared in cities such as
New York, Sydney and Linz and has had his music accompanied by fireworks
and several complicated lighting arrays which have even appeared when they
were flown in on a helicopter.Through the years he has appeared with a number of acclaimed artists
and has been seen with Dionne Warwick, Rick Wakeman and Ray Charles among
others and was the first Japanese artist to be nominated for Grammy Awards.Recognised n the field of
recognition of electronic music he was awarded the position of Honorary
President of the Japanese Synthesizer Programmers Association.
Leroy Anderson recordings
The Syncopated Clock
RCA Victor Red Seal 5660-2-RC (CD:
Tomita's Greatest Hits)
