He is a composer and synthesizer player born in Tokyo, Japan who grew 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 this 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 appeared in cities such as New York, Sydney and Linz and 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.
He died of heart failure in Tokyo, Japan having had heart disease for a few years. He was 84 years old.
Leroy Anderson recordings
The Syncopated Clock
RCA Victor Red Seal 5660-2-RC (CD: Tomita’s Greatest Hits)
Synthesizer –Isao Tomita
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