Ryuichi Sakamoto

Composer from Japan
1952, January 17th in Nakano, Tokyo, Japan - 2023, March 28th in Tokyo, Japan

Ryuichi Sakamoto (1952-2023) was a Japanese composer, pianist and record producer. Born in Nakano, Tokyo, he entered the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1970, earning a BA in composition in 1974 and an MA in 1976 with a focus on electronic and ethnic music. In 1978 he formed Yellow Magic Orchestra with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, a pioneering electronic pop group, and released his first solo album, Thousand Knives. As a film composer he won a BAFTA for Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), in which he also acted, and an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Grammy for The Last Emperor (1987), shared with David Byrne and Cong Su, becoming the first Japanese composer to win an Oscar. A further Golden Globe followed for The Sheltering Sky (1990). His concert and stage works include the orchestral Discord (1998) and the multimedia opera LIFE (1999), and he composed music for the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. His piece Energy Flow became the first instrumental number-one single on the Japanese Oricon chart in 1999. Diagnosed with cancer in 2014, he returned with the solo albums async (2017) and 12 (2023), and his final film score was for Monster (2023). He died in Tokyo in March 2023, aged 71. Source: Rondo DB

Usual Name Ryuichi Sakamoto
Alternative Spellings 坂本龍一, Sakamoto Ryūichi
On Wikipedia Ryuichi_Sakamoto
Links Official Website ,  Wikipedia

Images

Title Subname Catalogue Key Year Type

Sakamoto: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

2026-10-16

Deutsche Grammophon (DG)