Jo Kondo

Who is Jo Kondo?

Jō Kondō is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.

Kondo studied composition from 1968 to 1972 with Yoshio Hasegawa and Hiroaki Minami at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He won the third prize and made his debut in Japan-Germany Contemporary Music Festival in 1969. He serves as Professor of Music at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo and also teaches at Tokyo University of Arts and Elisabeth University of Music in Hiroshima.

His interests include hocket, the music of Ancient Greece, and strong differences in instrumental timbre, all of which are reflected in his compositions. The chamber version of his 1975 composition Sight Rhythmics reflects the latter in its unusual instrumentation of violin, banjo, steel drum, electric piano, and tuba, for example, but after a year in New York City, however, the influence of John Cage and Morton Feldman became more apparent in Kondo's style. His opera Hagoromo, based on a Noh play and premiered in Florence in 1994, is the unique case where his music blends western techniques with oriental traditions.

Kondo's music has been performed by the London Sinfonietta, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Arditti Quartet, NEXUS, the Balanescu Quartet, and Aki Takahashi.