Kaito Nakahori
Katsunari Nakahori known by his stage name Kaito Nakahori, is a Chinese Japanese composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City, United States.
Career
Early life and education
Nakahori was born in Chiba, Japan, in 1989. After Tōru Takemitsu's Gagaku Shuteiga inspired him at the age of 14, he began studying composition independently. He later pursued formal studies in composition in Japan and the United States, and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Toho College of Music and a Master of Music degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In 2013, the Japan Cultural Institute in Rome invited him to speak about Japanese contemporary music at a symposium, during which his piano solo piece Hidden Instincts was performed by Aki Takahashi.Early work
After graduating, Nakahori moved to New York City. In 2015, he held a portrait concert at the United Nations headquarters, where he conducted his own work Summit of Mt. Fuji. He was described by the Shenzhen newspaper Chin po as a “Half Chinese, half Japanese, gifted composer”.He has explored the fusion of traditional Japanese and Western instruments in several works. In 2014, his Japanese Footbridge for koto and chamber ensemble was performed, described by Harry Rolnick as having "the misty feeling of Japanese gagaku music, court music so regal, that it seems static, only the colors changing. Mr. Nakahori blended his instruments with such impeccable taste, that the entire blend could have had a lulling, a mesmeric feeling on the listener." In 2017, Hotarubi for hichiriki and string quartet, commissioned by the Goethe-Institut, premiered at the Tongyeong International Music Festival.
At the recommendation of Toshio Hosokawa, Nakahori conducted his chamber work Two Different Paintings at the 150th anniversary concert of Japan–Hungary diplomatic relations in 2019, commissioned by Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.
Theater Opera and contemporary total artwork
In 2020, his first opera, Zero, with a libretto by Oriza Hirata, premiered at the Toyooka Theater Festival. The opera was inspired by Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, and arias for the work had been composed since 2015. Between 2015 and 2016, he served as composer-in-residence with the Khemia Ensemble, touring South America. One of the arias, Zero I, was performed in Argentina and Colombia, and the work received the Brian M. Israel Prize.In 2021, his stage work Countless Wells for soprano, cello, and electronics, commissioned by the Fondation Royaumont in co-production with IRCAM, premiered at the Festival de Royaumont in France. He has since continued to develop compositions incorporating immersive, multichannel sound in his staged works.
In 2025, Nakahori's Theatre Opera The Star Has No Sound – Clockwork Universe collaborated with Oriza Hirata, was produced in co-produced by the Toyooka Theater Festival, the Setouchi Triennale, and the Mito International Music Festival. The work integrates contemporary theater, visual art, music, and spatial sound, exploring a new form of Theatre Opera proposed by Nakahori and Hirata, and creating a new form of total art that connects different festivals and regions.
In the same year, he founded the Mito International Music Festival and assumed the role of artistic director, with a focus on integrating music and cultural tourism.
Musical style
- His compositions explore the integration of nature and the inner world.
- Influenced by both Western contemporary classical music and Japanese traditional music, particularly Gagaku, he developed an approach that emphasizes subtle timbral shifts, a sense of suspended temporality, and a detailed exploration of micro-acoustic textures—an aesthetic he describes as “Timeless Music.”
Awards
- Impronta Ensemble Composition Competition – 1st prize
- Brian M. Israel Prize
Major works
Stage works
- Theater Opera The Star Has No Sound – Clockwork Universe Countless Wells for soprano, cello, and electronics, (2021, commissioned by the Fondation Royaumont in co-production with IRCAM
- Theater Opera Zero (2020, commissioned by the Toyooka Theater Festival, text by Oriza Hirata
Orchestra works
Self Portrait for orchestra Leading to the Paradise for orchestraChamber works
Abyss for string quartet Shroud of the Rain Two Different Pictures Sand Ripples Hotarubi for hichiriki and string quartet Zen in Kyudo – Concentration Zero I Japanese Footbridge for koto and chamber ensemble Setsurei Yaeyama Hirugi for clarinet and string quartet Hyle α – Melancholy for vibraphone and piano Summit of Mt. Fuji for chamber ensembleGagaku works
- ''Starlight and Frost ''