Born in Mito, Japan, in 1943, Shin-ichirō Ikebe (池辺晋一郎, Ikebe Shin'ichirō) studied composition with Tomojiro Ikenouchi, Akio Yashiro and Akira Miyoshi.
He graduated from Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music with a masters degree in 1971. As one of Japan's busiest composers of our times, he has actively engaged in a wide range of compositional media, including symphonies, operas and theater pieces, as well as music for radio, television and movies.
He won the first prize for composition at the 35th Japan Music Competition in 1966. Since then he has received numerous awards including Salzburg TV Opera Festival Award for Death Goddess(1971), Italian Broadcasting Corporation(RAI) Prize and International Emmy Awards for Carmen(1989). One of his recent works, Les Bois Tristes for Orchestra, was awarded the 1999 Otaka Prize.
Also for film scores, he has received Mainichi Film Music Prize three times and the Japan Academy Music Award six times. His recent works include Dreams(Akira Kurosawa, 1989), Rhapsody in August(Akira Kurosawa, 1991) and The Eel(Shohei Imamura, 1997, Palme d'Or of Festival de Cannes). In addition to these activities, he has published some essays, and also serves as consultant for several concert halls.
He is currently a professor at the Tokyo College of Music. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.