21 Facts About Isao Tomita

Isao Tomita, often known simply as Tomita, was a Japanese composer, regarded as one of the pioneers of electronic music and space music, and as one of the most famous producers of analog synthesizer arrangements.

Isao Tomita made effective use of analog music sequencers and the Mellotron, and featured futuristic science-fiction themes, while laying the foundations for synth-pop music and trance-like rhythms.

Isao Tomita received four Grammy Award nominations for his 1974 album based on music by Claude Debussy, Snowflakes Are Dancing.

Isao Tomita was born in Tokyo and spent his early childhood with his father in China.

Isao Tomita graduated in 1955 and became a full-time composer for television, film and theatre.

Isao Tomita composed the theme music for the Japanese Olympic gymnastics team for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.

In 1965, Isao Tomita wrote music for Osamu Tezuka's Kimba the White Lion, but the American-English version had a different theme by Bernie Baum, Bill Giant and Florence Kaye.

Isao Tomita acquired a Moog III synthesizer and began building his home studio.

Isao Tomita eventually realized that synthesizers could be used to create entirely new sounds in addition to mimicking other instruments.

Isao Tomita then started arranging Claude Debussy's impressionist pieces for synthesizer and, in 1974, released the album Snowflakes Are Dancing; it became a worldwide success and was responsible for popularizing several aspects of synthesizer programming.

Isao Tomita created the album's polyphony as Carlos had done before him, with the use of multitrack recording, recording each voice of a piece one at a time, on a separate tape track, and then mixing the result to stereo or quad.

In 1984, Isao Tomita released Canon of the Three Stars, which featured classical pieces renamed for astronomical objects.

Isao Tomita credits himself with "The Plasma Symphony Orchestra", which was a computer synthesizer process using the wave forms of electromagnetic emanations from various stars and constellations for the sonic textures of this album.

Isao Tomita performed a number of outdoor "SoundCloud" concerts, with speakers surrounding the audience in a "cloud of sound".

Isao Tomita gave a big concert in 1984 at the annual contemporary music Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria called Mind of the Universe, mixing tracks live in a glass pyramid suspended over an audience of 80,000 people.

Isao Tomita performed another two special concerts in 1986 to celebrate the Statue of Liberty centennial as well another one in Sydney on 1 January 1988 produced to celebrate Australia's bicentenary as unifield country.

In 2001, Isao Tomita collaborated with The Walt Disney Company to compose the background atmosphere music for the AquaSphere entrance at the Tokyo DisneySea theme park outside Tokyo.

Isao Tomita followed this with a synthesizer score featuring acoustic soloists for the 2002 film The Twilight Samurai, which won the 2003 Japanese Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music.

Isao Tomita performed a version of Claude Debussy's "Clair de lune" for the soundtrack of Ocean's 13 in 2007.

Isao Tomita is considered to be a pioneer in electronic music, but his influence spread beyond the genre both in Japan and overseas.

Isao Tomita's music was featured during the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.