Award winning jazz composer Asuka Kakitani is fast becoming a notable presence on the international big band scene. Her music has been performed throughout the world, including the Fairbanks Summer Art Festival in Alaska, Merkin Concert Hall in New York, and at the 2006 and 2007 IAJE Conferences. Asuka’s scores have been documented on record by Boston based Jazz Revelation Records and by Japan based Global Jazz Orchestra, and her compositions have been sought after for inclusion in college performance libraries.
Most recently, Asuka was awarded the BMI Foundation’s seventh annual Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize for 2006, adjudicated by jazz luminaries Joe Lovano, Robin Eubanks, and Dan Morgenstern. Along with the award, Asuka received the prestigious Manny Albam Commission to compose a new work for large jazz ensemble, which will be premiered at the 2007 BMI annual summer showcase concert in New York.
Asuka was born in Osaka, Japan, and started to play piano at age five. After she graduated from Kyoto Conservatory, she was awarded a scholarship from Berklee College of Music, where she studied with Greg Hopkins, Ted Pease, Ray Santisi, Frank Carlberg and Ed Tomassi. Asuka currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, where she has lived for two years. She continues to work on her compositions, writing for big band, strings and Japanese pop.
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