Upcoming Events
Percussion Recital Katherine Fortunato & Kosuke MatsudaSat, Aug 02Sandbox Studio
Biography
Contemporary Music Performer
Kosuke Matsuda has been pursuing artistic ambitions as a music performer, artistic director, and producer. Matsuda is originally from Nagasaki, Japan, where he began his music career as a percussionist. The natural soundscape and landscape in Nagasaki, such as wind patterns on a mountain, waterfalls, and cricket sounds from fields, influenced his humanity, culture, and musicality.
Having received several awards from music competitions in the 2010s, Matsuda moved to Tokyo to earn his bachelor's degree in music. Matsuda started his acting and producing career in Tokyo, where he first performed as an actor in Suntory Hall in Tokyo in 2014. Furthermore, Matsuda started his career as a music producer. He founded Casa-Felice, a music performance group, to provide music entertainment in retirement homes, hospices, and hospitals in the Tokyo area.
In 2015, he moved his base to Aichi prefecture in central Japan to earn his first master's degree at Aichi University of the Fine Arts in Music Performance, where he studied with Kunihiko Komori. He graduated from Aichi University as the Valedictorian in the wind/percussion instrument performance area in 2017.
Matsuda moved to the United States in 2018 to study with Svet Stoyanov and Mattew Strauss at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, where he earned his second master's degree and Artist Diploma in Music Performance.
Matsuda lives in San Diego as a doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego. He has collaborated and performed with renowned artists and groups such as Steven Schick, Roger Reynolds, Rand Steiger, Svet Stoyanov, Kunihiko Komori, Aiyun Huang, Palimpsest Ensemble, Lancaster Symphonic Orchestra, La Jolla Symphony Orchestra, and New World Symphony Orchestra. Matsuda is an active Red Fish Blue Fish member and director of LAMP(Lighting Art Music Projection) Production director.
Born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1992. Graduated with honors in the Master's Program in Wind and Percussion Instruments from the Graduate School of Music at Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts. Completed the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Art and Culture Associates Development Program. Completed ESL at Towson University in Maryland, and completed the Master's Program and Artist Diploma at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami (UM) in Florida. Plans to enter the Doctoral Program at the University of California, San Diego in the fall of 2021. Studied marimba with Yoko Yamagashiro, Kunihiko Komori, and Svet Stoyanov, and percussion with Masahiro Okada, Koji Fukamachi, and Matthew Strauss. Attended master classes with Michael Britt, Jean Geoffroy, Isao Nakamura, Nanae Mimura, and Eriko Omo. Has performed with marimba player Kunihiko Komori, guitar player Norio Sato, composer Wataru Iwamoto, and the New World Symphony (Miami), among others.
Won the gold prize in the wind and percussion category at the 11th Kyushu Music Competition. Won the gold prize for two consecutive years at the 34th and 35th Nagasaki Prefectural High School Music Competitions and was recommended for the All Kyushu Competition, winning the gold prize and grand prize at the 35th All Kyushu Competition (final round).
Won first place and the judges' special award in the percussion category at the 14th Changjiang Cup International Music Competition. Won the Excellence Award at the 43rd Nagasaki Prefecture Newcomer Concert Audition. Appeared in the 10th Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts Graduate School Best Alumni Concert. Appeared at the 39th Chubu Yomiuri Newcomer Concert. Performed the full Japan premiere of Philippe Manoury's "Les Books de Clavier" at the Aichi Prefectural University of the Arts Percussion Research Society Concert.
He also does a lot of outreach performances. While studying at Ueno Gakuen University, he formed the performance group Casa Felice. They perform at welfare facilities and children's facilities in the Tokyo metropolitan area. He was awarded a scholarship (A-course) from the 12th Sony Student Volunteer Fund, and organized the "Heartful Festival," a festival to support the handicapped.
He was a lecturer at the music workshop "Learn and Relax Music", a cultural arts project using universities, sponsored by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, sponsored by Ueno Gakuen University in 2016. He also acted as Hummel and acted as a concert navigator at Suntory Hall's Rainbow 21 production "Dr. Hummel and His Times" (2014).
Musical Friends
Jennifer Stasack (Composer)
Steven Schick and red fish blue fish
Roger Reynolds (Composer)
Music collaborators have greatly influenced Matsuda's musicality and technical development. His music collaborators include, but not limited to, Jennifer Stasack (composer), Roger Reynolds (composer), Steven Schick (percussionist), red fish blue fish (percussion ensemble), Aiyun Huang (percussionist) among others.
