Hara, Kazuko (1935—)
Hara, Kazuko (1935—)
Japanese composer, librettist, singer, and professor. Born in Tokyo, Japan, on February 10, 1935; married Hiroshi Hara, the composer.
Awarded the second prize of the NHK and Mainichi Music Contest (1955); received the Takei Prize (1967) and the Ataka Prize; wrote orchestral pieces and operas, including The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes and The Merry Night.
Kazuko Hara, born in Tokyo in 1935, was thoroughly grounded in the composition of European music. She studied composition under Professor Romijiro Ikenouchi at the Tokyo Teijutsu Daigaku Faculty of Music, graduating in 1957. She then went to Paris in 1962 where she studied at the École Normale with Henri Dutilleux before attending the L'Academie International d'Été in Nice the following year to study with Alexander Tcherepnin. She also studied in Venice and then returned to Japan to explore Gregorian chant under Father R.F.J. Mereau. In 1968, Hara, whose work was in the Western style, became a professor at the Faculty of Music. She composed numerous works including three operas.
John Haag , Athens, Georgia