top of page

BIOGRAPHY

Kenji Oh is a Japanese composer based in California. He has collaborated with Giacomo Fiore, ZOFO, Amaranth Quartet, the Esoterics, Synchromy, among others. In addition to concert music, Oh has composed music for various kinds of media such as film, theatre, TV, video games, dance, and also for gymnastics floor exercise, being a gymnast himself. This year, he completed his first opera The Emissary, with librettist Kelley Rourke and Opera Parallèle. He is currently working on his second opera with librettist Dmae Lo Roberts and Portland Opera.

He initiated his career as a media music composer while studying at Kyoto University of Education, where he earned his BLA Degree in Information Music. He pursued his Master of Music Degree in Composition from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied under David Garner. His music vividly illustrates imagery, like a scroll of paint or a sculpture of sound. 

 

Current as of Oct 2023

Honors and Awards

  • National Winner: POLYPHONOS, competition for choral composition (2016) 

  • Finalist: Volti Choral Art Lab (2015)

  • Semifinalist, C4 Commissioning Competition (2014)

  • Selected composer, Contemporary Japanese and American Music (CJAM) (2014)

  • San Francisco-Shanghai International Chamber Music Composition Award (2014)

  • Winner, Ablaze Records Orchestral Masters (2013)

  • Honorable mention from Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute (2012)

  • Selected composer, Los Angeles Composers Project (2012)

  • 2nd place, Jack Stone Award (2012)

  • 1st place, MACCC Composition Competition (2011)

  • 2nd place, MACCC Composition Competition (2010)

  • Selected composer, Kyoto Filmmakers Lab (2009)

Education

  • San Francisco Conservatory of Music, M.M. (2012-2014) 

  • Choral Chameleon Institute (June, 2013, 2014)

  • Atlantic Music Festival (July-August, 2012)

  • Los Angeles City College (2010-2012)

Louise Snyder Johnson Fitzgerald Scholarship (2012), Leslie P. Clausen 

Scholarship (2011), Fred J. Aves Scholarship (2011), Alpert A. Scholarship (2010)

  • Kyoto University of Education, Japan, B.L.A. in Information Music (2000-2005)

bottom of page