The Many Musical Worlds of Joe Hisaishi

By Tristan McKay

When Joe Hisaishi composed the music for 1984’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind — the sophomore film by legendary Studio Ghibli filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki — a powerful and lasting collaborative team was born. In the 40 years since, the duo has worked together on iconic Studio Ghibli films such as Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001) and most recently, The Boy and the Heron (2023). These films have touched the hearts of millions worldwide with their enchanting worlds and emotionally nuanced storytelling. But Hisaishi’s work for Studio Ghibli is only one part of his wide-ranging oeuvre, which spans more than four decades and includes chamber pieces and large orchestral works for the concert stage.   

In January 2024, Hisaishi returns to Seattle for a weeklong residency with the Seattle Symphony that features vibrant orchestral arrangements of his Ghibli scores alongside works written solely for the concert hall stage. Joe Hisaishi Returns (January 12–14, 2024) includes the Princess Mononoke Suite, I Want to Talk to You and Symphony No. 2. In addition, a special Music Future chamber concert (January 10, 2024) showcases Hisaishi’s visionary programming, with works by Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt, Wojciech Kilar and the composer himself. 

Born in Nagano, Japan, in 1950 as Mamoru Fujisawa, he later adopted the alias Joe Hisaishi after American music icon Quincy Jones. (In Japanese, “Quincy” is pronounced “Kuinshī” and can be written using the same characters as “Hisaishi”; “Joe” comes from “Jones”.) As a child, Hisaishi was captivated by music. He started learning the violin at age 4 and the piano at 11, and had a voracious appetite for listening to records that carried him through adolescence. In particular, he was fascinated by all styles of jazz as well as works by contemporary classical composers such as Shostakovich, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and Boulez. But one recording had a distinctly profound impact on the direction of his music: Terry Riley’s A Rainbow in Curved Air (1969). “Its innovation shocked me,” Hisaishi said in an interview with Adam Wescott of Crunchyroll News earlier this year. Riley’s composition, with its decadent synthesizer timbres and imaginative rhythmic play, inspired Hisaishi to seek out other composers of minimalist music. While attending Kunitachi College of Music as a music composition major in 1969, Hisaishi even collaborated with minimalist composers as a music engraver. 

As a young composer, Hisaishi drew inspiration from a wealth of different sources, including jazz, electronic music (especially that of Japanese electronic band Yellow Magic Orchestra), new age and Japanese pop. He teamed up with pioneering composer and percussionist Midori Takada and her MKWAJU Ensemble to release his 1981 debut album, MKWAJU, which channels elements of African drumming and Indonesian gamelan music on its hypnotic, flowing tracks. Hisaishi employed a special blend of synthesizers and mallet percussion instruments such as marimba and vibraphone to achieve the album’s unique sound. 

The following year, Hisaishi released Information under the moniker Wonder City Orchestra. Replete with rock beats, minimalist vocal elements, funky bass lines and eclectic synth textures, Information was an exciting departure from MKWAJU. It left a strong impression on its publisher, Tokuma Shoten, which recommended Hisaishi for Miyazaki’s upcoming animated film at the time, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.  

Nausicaä became an instant classic in Japan. Its anti-war themes and critique of environmental destruction served as the backdrop for the eponymous heroine’s journey to restore peace between the natural world and its human aggressors. Hisaishi’s score is a provocative blend of electronic synths and acoustic instruments, bringing Miyazaki’s film to life with the emotional complexity and distinction its themes demanded. Following Nausicaä’s success, Hisaishi composed for dozens of anime films and series throughout the 1980s and ’90s, and his signature style became synonymous with anime of that period.  

One of Hisaishi’s most enduring compositions is “Summer,” the title track to Takeshi Kitano’s 1999 live-action road drama, Kikujiro. “Summer” features many elements of Hisaishi’s signature sound: nostalgia-drenched piano solos, buoyant, joyously grooving strings and an adventurous emotional arc. Some of his best-known compositions for Ghibli films directed by Miyazaki come from the early 2000s. Among them are the enigmatic “One Summer’s Day” from Spirited Away (2001), which held the title of Japan’s highest-grossing film for 19 years, and the rollicking waltz “Merry Go Round of Life” from Howl’s Moving Castle (2004). 

During his rise to fame as a film composer, Hisaishi never lost sight of his passion for composing concert music and original albums. Curved Music (1986) is an experimental pop album chock full of vocal hooks, minimalist grooves and bass riffs soaked in decadent reverb. His series of Piano Stories albums juxtapose piano arrangements of his film scores with original concert compositions. And after scoring a series of films from neighboring Asian countries, Hisaishi released Asian X.T.C. (2006), an album that explores and celebrates diverse Eastern musical styles. 

As an accomplished conductor, pianist and music director, Hisaishi’s resume extends well beyond his compositions. In the summer of 2004, Hisaishi teamed up with New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra to launch the World Dream Orchestra, which toured across Japan and internationally. In 2014, he created Joe Hisaishi Presents Music Future, an enormously popular concert series aimed at introducing the Japanese public to contemporary classical music. This fall’s Music Future Vol. 10 featured music steeped in minimalist aesthetics such as Hisaishi’s own MKWAJU alongside works by Terry Riley as performed by Riley himself. Hisaishi’s passion for conducting classical symphonic works inspired him to form Future Orchestra Classics. In 2019, the first installment of this series featured Beethoven’s Fifth and Seventh symphonies, with more recent installments programming symphonies by Brahms. And this past October, he was appointed Music Director by the Japan Century Symphony Orchestra. 

At 73, Hisaishi shows no signs of slowing down. This year sees him bringing his music to cities in Japan, France and Germany while continuing work on all his various projects. First, however, he will kick off 2024 with his residency here: “I am excited to return to Seattle and share more of my music with you. Our performances in 2022 were wonderful, and I’m looking forward to being in that great city again and seeing all of you!” 

Joe Hisaishi’s performances are generously underwritten by Yuka Shimizu, along with Jeanne Berwick and James Degel.