Toru Takemitsu

Composer

1930 — 1996
Tōru Takemitsu (武満 徹, Takemitsu Tōru) was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental philosophy and for fusing sound with silence and tradition with innovation.