Satoru Ikeda: Superstring Theory

(Submitted by ISCM – JAPANESE SECTION)

Satoru Ikeda, born in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka prefecture in 1961, studied composition under Hiroshi Otsuki and Shin Sato. Having received a B.A. in Education from Shizuoka University in 1983 and M.M. degree in Composition from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1987, he is currently Musical Director at Shimamura Music Co.,Ltd. He is a member of the Japan Society for Contemporary Music. Satoru Ikeda has won twenty awards and distinctions including First Prize in The Music Competition of Japan in 1988, Japan Symphony Promotion Foundation in 2000, The Orchestral Song Composition Competition in 2001, International Composition Prize Luxembourg 2004, The British Harpsichord Society Tenth Anniversary Composition Competition in 2012, the Alfred Schnittke International Composers’ Competition 2018, Sacrarium International Composers’ Competition 2018 and 1° Prize Ex-Aequo in Musica Prospettiva’s 2019-20 International Call for Scores. His works have additionally been performed in the Sydney International Composers Concert 2017, the 2018 ISCM World New Music Days in Beijing, and the 46th Pan Music Festival in 2018 (ISCM South Korean Section).

Superstring Theory for piano, vibraphone, marimba and string ensemble (2018) is a concertino featuring solo piano that is structured as an inverse symmetrical series of 35 tones arranged around Middle C. According to the composer,
“My style generally emerges from a single cell (tone row) which evolves into two contrasting motifs. These two motifs develop together, and through tension and fusion grow in energy, developing into great waves. One might say this work revives the modern sonata form. Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modeling them as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings.”