Ko Matsushita, Conductor and Composer, born and raised in Tokyo; graduated top of his class from the Kunitachi College of Music, Department of Composition; finished his Chorus Conductor master course at Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary; studied under Yuzuru Shimaoka, Koichi Uzaki, Thomas Meyer-Fiebig, Mohay Miklo’s for composing, the late Reményi János, Erdei Péter for chorus conducting, Masamitsu Takahashi for orchestral conducting, and Somoriai Paula for singing.
Mr Ko Matsushita is taking multifaceted approaches to choral music by conducting, composing and teaching. He composes and arranges choral pieces, which are performed not only in Japan but all around the world. He also acts as resident conductor and artistic director of ten choirs, which perform both in Japan and abroad, achieving excellent reports in the competitions they participate in. Recently, one of his choirs, Vox Gaudiosa Chamber Choir, won the Grand Prix at the international competition “Concorso Polifonico Internazionale Guido d’Arezzo 2011″ in Italy.
He receives many invitations from around the world to act as a guest conductor, judge competitions and teach in choral lectures and workshops. In 2010, he became guest conductor of Beijing University Student Choir. Furthermore, he has won best conductor’s award and prizes for superior composition in various international competitions. In 2005, Mr Matsushita became the first Asian to receive the “Robert Edler Prize for Choral Music”. This award is bestowed on the best conductor, composer, or choir for their extraordinary endeavors throughout that year around the globe. He has dedicated his works to American, Hungarian, Spanish, Norwegian, Latvian, Polish, Dutch, Taiwanese, Singaporean, Chinese and Japanese choirs and ensembles. Mr Matsushita’s works are performed by a large number of choirs from all over the world.
He is a jury Member of the Japan Choral Association, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Association) School Choir competition, JCA (Japan Choral Association) National Choir Competition, Singapore Youth Festival 2007, Hong Kong Youth Choir Competition 2008, Seghizzi International Choral Competition in Italy 2008, Tolosa International Choral Competition in Spain 2009 and 2010 and Florilège Vocale de Tours in France 2011.
He is the author of a Junior High School music textbook published by Kyoiku Publishing. Additionally, he is a vice-president of the Tokyo Choral Association and a member of the Japan Choral Directors Association, The Japanese Society for the Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, Japan Composers and Arrangers Association, The Japan Kodaly Society and the International Kodaly Society. Also, he is a representative of the Workshop for Choral Expression. His works are mainly published by Edition KAWAI (Japan), Ongaku-no-tomo Edition (Japan), Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart (Germany), Sulasol (Finland) Annie Bank Edition (Holland).