Kotoka Suzuki is a Japanese-born composer and sound artist. Her work frequently investigates the relationship between visual elements and sound, often crossing into theater. Her compositions reflect on life, breath and nature, proposing sound as a physical form manipulated through the sculptural practice of composition. Inspired by the synthesis of technology and music, her work is written for a wide range of mediums, including acoustic instruments, electronics, video, dance, and multimedia, such as spatially interactive audio-visual work for both concert and installation settings. They are at times produced in collaboration with artists and scholars from other disciplines.

Suzuki’s work has been featured internationally by performers such as Arditti Quartet, eighth blackbird, Pacifica Quartet, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra (Germany), and Continuum, at numerous venues and festivals such as Ultraschall, ISCM World Music Days, ZKM Media Museum, Inventionen, The Stone, ICMC and MATA. Among the awards she has received include DAAD Berlin Artists in Residence Program (Germany), Bourges Prize in Multimedia, First Prize in Musica Nova (Czech Republic), Robert Fleming Prize from Canada Council for the Arts, and Howard Foundation Fellowship.

She taught at the University of Chicago and Arizona State University, and currently an Associate Professor in Music & Culture at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) with a graduate appointment at the Faculty of Music.

Interview with Kotoka Suzuki