Kako Takashi is a Japanese pianist and composer, who works in both jazz and art-music idioms.
Kako began playing piano at eight years old and learned to play jazz while in his teens.
He has won numerous music awards and is one of Japan's leading composers, and as a pianist, he is also described as a "piano painter" because of the beauty of his tone. After graduating from the Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Composition Laboratory in 1971, moved to France as a French government-sponsored international student. He studied under Olivier Messiaen at the Paris National Conservatory, made his debut as an improvisational pianist in 1973, and graduated from the Conservatory with the 1976 Composition Award (Prix de Composition). After returning to Japan in 1980, he established a unique musical style that included elements of classical, contemporary music, and jazz in composition and performance, including commissioned works such as movies, stages, and orchestras.
In addition to his performance career, Kako has worked extensively as a composer. He has written scores for traditional ensembles, as weel as for many films and television dramas. Edit Biography