Biography

Takuma Itoh’s music has been described as “brashly youthful and fresh” (New York Times), and has been featured amongst one of “100 Composers Under 40” on WQXR. Recently, Itoh has been instrumental in creating two innovative education programs, Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds (2018) and the Symphony of the Hawai‘i Forests (2023), which has since brought over 14,000 young students to hear new orchestral compositions alongside original animations to raise awareness of Hawai‘i’s many endangered bird species and forests, respectively. Other recent highlights include a work for Invoke (string quartet with ‘ukulele doubling) American Postcards: Picture Brides (Hawaii 1908-1924) that used photographs collected by historian Barbara Kawakami to tell the story of the first Japanese women immigrants who came to Hawai‘i; Wavelengths for Hub New Music, Faded Aura for Hub New Music and shakuhachi player Kojiro Umezaki, which was performed around Japan on a tour with the Asia American New Music Institute; a collaboration with the American Wild Ensemble for their tour of Hawai‘i, including a performance at the Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park; and a harp concertino Koholā Sings for harpist Yolanda Kondonassis. In 2025, a new orchestra arrangement of Faded Aura will be performed with Kojiro Umezaki and the South Bend Orchestra.
Itoh has been the recipient of two Barlow Endowment general commission, Music Alive: New Partnerships grant, the Chamber Music America Classical Commission, the ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize, six ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Leo Kaplan Award, and is the Kaulunani Artist in Residence for 2014
Itoh’s music has been performed by the Albany Symphony, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony, Symphony in C, the Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland), the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra, the Neave Trio, the Shanghai Quartet, the Del Sol Quartet, the St. Lawrence Quartet, the Cassatt Quartet, the Momenta Quartet, American Wild Ensemble, Ensemble Échappé, Ossia New Music, Brightworks New Music, Sara Davis Buechner, Joseph Lin, Syzygy Ensemble (Australia), H2 Quartet, Miolina Duo, Duo Yumeno, Post-Haste Reed Duo, Kyo-Shin-An Arts, the Music from Copland House, the Varied Trio, Pro Musica Nipponia, Yolanda Kondonassis, Patrick Yim, and Linda Chatterton.  In addition, his works can be heard on Albany, Azica, and Blue Griffin Records, and is published by Theodore Presser, Resolute Music, and Murphy Music Press. 

Itoh has taught at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa since 2012 where he is Professor of Music. He holds degrees from Cornell University, University of Michigan, and Rice University.