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Kaito Nakahori

COMPOSER | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

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BIOGRAPHY
 

Born in Chiba, Japan in 1989, Kaito Nakahori began composing at the age of 14. Drawing deeply from both Japanese Gagaku music and Western avant-garde music, he has developed a distinctive musical language that focuses on the nature and inner life of each tone, transcending the constraints of time and space, and advocates the concept of “Spacetime-less Music.” He currently resides and works in both New York and Tokyo and serves as the general director of Mito International Music Festival. In 2015, he held a portrait concert at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, where he conducted his own works including Summit of Mt. Fuji. Since then, he has received international recognition through major commissions such as Hotarubi (Goethe-Institut commission, 2017), Samon (Kyoto Art Center commission, 2018), Two Different Paintings (Tokyo Bunka Kaikan commission for the 150th Anniversary of Japan–Hungary Relations, 2019), the Theater Opera Zero (Toyooka Theater Festival commission, 2020), the 3D-audio opera Countless Wells (Fondation Royaumont commission with co-production IRCAM, 2021), Abyss (Takefu International Music Festival commission and dedicated to the Arditti Quartet, 2022), the Gagaku suite Seisō (Starlight and Frost) (Naoyuki MANABE GAGAKU Ensemble commission, 2023–2025), and the Breath of the Forest (The Shakuhachi 5 commission, 2026). In 2025, There Is No Sound on That Star – A Clockwork Universe, a Theater Opera co-produced by the Toyooka Theater Festival, Setouchi Art Triennale, and Mito International Music Festival (script by Oriza Hirata; music by Kaito Nakahori; 3D-audio co-production with YAMAHA Corporation). The production proposed a new form of interdisciplinary total art, while connecting different festivals through a single art project. As artistic director, he also expanded his activities through the Director’s Program of Mito International Music Festival, including the site-specific outdoor performance Starlight Passage and Soundscape Garden presented across the entire Kairakuen garden, one of Japan’s Three Great Gardens. Nakahori is a recipient of the Brian M. Israel Prize and First Prize at the Impronta Ensemble Composition Competition. He has given lectures at the Japan Cultural Institute in Rome, the National University of Colombia, Tokyo College of Music, Hiroshima City University, and other institutions, while continuing to pursue interdisciplinary creation across diverse fields. In 2016, his music for Yin-Yu Huang’s film After Spring, the Tamaki Family… was nominated for the Taipei Film Awards and screened at festivals worldwide. In 2017, he released the electronic music album Mythologies on the French label IKKI.​


EVENTS
 

Oct 24 2026

Kasama Inari Shrine Outdoor Concert – From Prayer to Song (Kasama Inari Shrine, Ibaraki, Japan)

"Bubbles and Shadows”

(Shakuhachi:Akihisa Kominato; Recorder:Toshiya Suzuki)

 

Oct 23 - 24 2026

Kodokan Outdoor Concert – Between Resonances: Five Breaths (Kodokan, Ibaraki, Japan)

“Breath of the Forest” [World Premiere]

(Shakuhachi Quintet:The Shakuhachi 5)

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Oct 20 - 21 2026

Oarai Isosaki Shrine Outdoor Concert – Drifting -Toward the Sea, Toward the Voice (Oarai Isosaki Shrine, Ibaraki, Japan)

“Contemplation” [Ibaraki Premiere] (Solo Violin)

“Time Is a Silent Traveler” [World Premiere] (Poetry)

(Violin:Miranda Cuckson; Narration:Miki Fujitani)

 

Oct 18​ 2026

Piano Recital Spaces of Sound and Memory (Sagawa Bunko, Ibaraki, Japan)

“Londonderry Air (arranged by Kaito Nakahori)” [World Premiere]

(Piano:Aki Takahashi)

 

Oct 17 - 18 2026

Kairakuen Outdoor Concert – Starlight Passage and Soundscape Garden" (Kairakuen Garden, Ibaraki, Japan)

“Interlight” [World Premiere] (Oboe and Sho)

“Seiso” [Ibaraki Premiere] (Gagaku)

(Oboe:Kanami Araki, Gagaku:Naoyuki MANABE GAGAKU Ensemble)

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Sep 26​ 2026

Mito International Music Festival Preview Performance × Oarai Fireworks Festival (Oarai Sun Beach, Ibaraki, Japan)

“Three Spirits of the Sea / Pulse of Fire” [World Premiere]

(Sho:Fumiya Otonashi, Yusuke Sato, Remi Miura, Taiko:Kodo – Seita Saegusa, Kazuma Hirosaki, and Hirotsugu Harada)

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WORKS
 

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There Is No Sound on That Star – A Clockwork Universe

2025|Theater Opera, YAMAHA AFC+NHK 22.2ch

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Zero

2020|Theater Opera

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Abyss

2022|string quartet

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Bubbles and Shadows

2025|b.recorder, b. shakuhachi

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Kaguya

2025|Noh Opera

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Seisō (Starlight and Frost)

2023-2025|Gagaku

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Hotarubi

2017|hichiriki, string quartet

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Countless Wells

2021|soprano, vc, IRCAM SPAT+36 speakers

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Yaeyama Hirugi

2014, 2019|clarinet, string quartet

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ALBUM

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New record album "Mythologies" part of IIKKI's series was released on Nov 21st on Bandcamp. It is an electronic ambient music work composed by Kaito Nakahori and Masaya Ozaki. Art work is by Erwan Morère. 

Khemia Ensemble's debut album "Voyage" was released on May 14th on Bandcamp. It is a collection of the works that were commissioned and/or performed during the inaugural tour of South America. Nakahori's piece "Zero Ⅰ" is collected to the album.

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