Takehisa Kosugi

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Takehisa Kosugi (小杉 武久, 14 March 1938 – 13 October 2018) was a Japanese composer and violinist associated with the Fluxus movement.

He studied musicology at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He co‐founded Group Ongaku, with Yasunao Tone, Mieko Shiomi and others in 1960, the first collective improvisation group in Tokyo.

In the 1960s, Kosugi’s event pieces were introduced and performed by Fluxus in Europe and USA. He stayed in New York in 1965‐67, creating mixed ‐ media works, and performed with Nam June Paik and other Fluxus members, participated in New York Avant Garde Festivals in 1965, 66 and 67. In 1969, he co‐founded Taj Mahal Travellers, a band for mixed‐media improvisation, participated in Utopia & Visions in Stockholm, concertized in Europe and UK, and performed travelling event from Europe via the Near East to India in 1971/72.

Kosugi joined Merce Cunningham Dance Company in 1977 as a composer/performer, toured with John Cage and David Tudor and was appointed to Music Director in 1995. He worked with the Company until 2011.

Kosugi received grants of the JDR 3rd Fund (1966/77), DAAD, Berlin (1981) and the John Cage Award for Music (1994). His participations in international festivals for music performance include Festival d’Automne (Paris), Almeida International Festival of Contemporary Music (London), Inventionen (Berlin), Biennale d’art contemporain (Lyon), Sound and Nature (Krems), and Lincoln Center Festival (New York).

His sound installations have been presented in various exhibitions, including Fuer Augens und Ohren (Berlin), Ecouter par les Yeux (Paris), New Music America Festival (Washington, DC), Kunst als Grenzbeschreitung: John Cage und die Moderne (Munich), Donaueschenger Musiktage (Donaueschingen), Fact of Life (London), Yokohama Triennale 2008 (Yokohama).

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