Yuki Nakahashi Wins 36th Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award
Suntory Hall has once again placed contemporary Japanese composition at the centre of Tokyo’s classical music scene, with composer Yuki Nakahashi receiving the 36th Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition following a public competition at Suntory Hall on August 30.
Nakahashi was selected for And I sole ear (2025), one of three nominated works presented during the competition. The other finalists were Nozomu Kaneda, for The Play for Skin and Fabric for two orchestras (2024), and Tetsuya Yamamoto, for Tribute to the birds out of doors for chorus and chamber orchestra (2025).
The competition formed part of the Suntory Hall Summer Festival 2026, an annual celebration of contemporary music presented by Suntory Hall since 1987. This year’s festival also formed part of Suntory Hall’s 40th anniversary programming.
A competition that puts the jury on stage
One of the distinctive features of the Akutagawa Suntory Award is that the selection process takes place publicly.
Following performances of the three nominated works, the jury members Malika Kishino, Yu Kuwabara and Somei Sato deliberated on stage, with musicologist Seiji Choki serving as moderator. The format gives audiences an unusual opportunity to hear the discussion surrounding the selection of a major composition prize rather than simply being presented with the result after the fact.
The three nominated works were performed by the New Japan Philharmonic, conducted by Kanako Abe.
From two keyboards to electronics and chorus
The evening opened with the world premiere of Odorant Receptors for 2 Keyboards and Orchestra (2026) by Kento Ishikawa, the 2024 awardee. Commissioned by the Suntory Foundation for the Arts, the work featured pianists Tomoki Akiyama and Yui Amano.
The commission is part of the award’s longer-term structure. Winners receive not only the composition prize but also a commission for a new orchestral work, with the resulting work premiered approximately two years after the award.
Nakahashi’s And I sole ear followed, performed with soprano Yuki Hino and electronics. Suntory Foundation for the Arts described the work as combining individually created electroacoustic sound materials with instrumental music, forming what the jury characterised as a unified sonic world connected with nature.
Kaneda’s The Play for Skin and Fabric brought together two orchestras, while Yamamoto’s Tribute to the birds out of doors expanded the programme into choral territory with the Philharmonic Chorus of Tokyo.
A platform for the next generation of Japanese composers
Established in 1990, the Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition recognises notable orchestral works by Japanese composers premiered during the preceding year. The award was established in honour of composer Yasushi Akutagawa, one of Japan’s prominent post-war composers.
The award also reflects Suntory Foundation for the Arts’ wider commitment to supporting composition and the development of Western-style music in Japan, including commissioning, presenting and publishing works by Japanese composers.
For audiences outside Japan, the significance of the competition extends beyond the individual prize. In an increasingly international contemporary music landscape, the Suntory Hall platform offers a glimpse into the ideas, techniques and musical languages being developed by a new generation of Japanese composers.
And perhaps that is what makes the August 30 concert particularly interesting: the audience was not simply asked to hear the future of Japanese composition. They were invited to listen to the conversation around it.
Music Press Asia will continue to follow contemporary composition and the changing landscape of classical and contemporary music across Asia.
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Presented by Suntory Hall
Suntory Hall 40th Anniversary Programme
Supported by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan through the Japan Arts Council
Supported by Arts Council Tokyo (Grant for Artistic City)
Supported by The Japan Federation of Composers Inc. / Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers / Japan Society for Contemporary Music
Coordinated by Tokyo Concerts, Inc.
