OGAWA Takashi

Takashi Ogawa was born in Japan in 1960. At 17 he won first place in a guitar contest and was invited to perform with the Yokohama Orchestra. Fascinated by Western culture since his childhood, Takashi Ogawa was to see one of his dreams come true when he went to live in Europe. There he took courses with Hector Quine and also studied musical analysis and interpretation with Joan Kemp-Potter at the Guildhall School of Music in London. Having worked with Segovia in Grenada, then with Rafael Andia and François Martin at the École normale de Musique in Paris, he studied analysis, music history, and chamber music at the feet of the renowned Alberto Ponce. Takashi Ogawa has won awards in any number of musical competitions: the Carpentras and René Bartoli Concours Internationaux; first place in Alberto Ponce's class at the d'Aubervilliers - La Courneuve Conservatoire National; the Concours International Chanterelles and the Concours International of Île de France; and first place in the UFAM Concours International in Paris. Takashi Ogawa went on to study harmony and counterpoint with Gérard Castagnet, Jean-Michel Bardez, and Pierrette Mari. When the time was ripe for Ogawa to undertake his first musical compositions, his works were immediately admired and performed in Paris, Japan, Brazil, the United States, the Near East, and Taiwan. In 1995, he would receive Japan's Takei Award for his Élégie pour la stèle d'un inconnu that Productions d'OZ now has the privilege of publishing. Takashi Ogawa's curiosity and musical inventiveness lead him to compose pieces in a wide variety of styles, ranging from the classical to the more contemporary. He is often commissioned to compose large works. And though many of his compositions are written for guitar, he writes for all sorts of instrumental combinations as well as for orchestra. He is equally enthusiastic whether composing practice pieces or chamber music with guitar or works for virtuoso performance.