Director
Shintaro Hirahara
Shintaro Hirahara was born in 1981 in Hokkaido. He started his career as a professional
classical ballet and hip-hop dancer, and then he works as a contemporary .
He belonged to Noism dance company from 2004 to 2007. He became a
freelancer after leaving the company. He established OrganWorks, his own
dance company, in 2011. At the same time, he works domestically and
internationally with choreographers like Ryohei Kondo, Shintaro Oue, Carmen
Werner, etc. Also, he collaborates with artists in different genre like Reijiro Tsumura (Noh
Player), Ikiume (theater company), Kentaro Kobayashi (comedian),
Kensaku Kobayashi, Akira Shirai, Chiharu Shiota (visual artist), Midori Harima,
etc. Hirahara searches possibilities of physical expressions with his
belief of “creativity resides in quality.”
2011 Best Choreography Award, Korean International Modern Dance Competition
2013-14 A fellowship for young artists from Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japanese government
2015 Cultural Encouragement Award by Otaru city, Hokkaido
2015 Best upcoming choreographer of 2015 in Japanese Dance magazine “On Stage”
2016 Next Generation Choreographer Award and Audience prize at Toyota Choreography Award 2016
2017 Japan Dance Forum Award, JaDaFo Dance Award 2017
2022 “Einstein on the Beach” has been awarded the 2022 35th Music Pen Club Music Award (Contemporary Music Category)
2023 “Einstein on the Beach” has been awarded the 31st Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Music Award
＜Recent major projects＞
2021 Choreographer for the TOKYO 2020 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremony at Japan National Stadium
2022 Create as Total director of [ Einstein on the Beach ] at Kanagawa Kenmin Hall
2023 Work as moving director of [ J.League 30th Anniversary Ceremony ] at Japan National Stadium
Sound Artist / Composer
Masayuki Kagei
Masayuki Kagei was born in Hokkaido, Japan.
His childhood fascination with the beauty of insects sounds inspired him to start composing music.
He believes that music has the power to change the world within the mind and creates musical experiences for people in various situations, aiming to expand the realm of beauty through his compositions.
Some of his musical works and videos of his independent performances, such as “Mushifuruu Yoru” based on the hypothesis that “the universe began with sound,” and”Zanzou Hyakkei” based on the sounds of eight million gods, can be found on his YouTube channel and music distribution platforms.
Since 2014, he has been composing and supervising music for the dance company “OrganWorks” led by choreographer Shintaro Hirahara, as well as creating music for dance works and fashion shows, which have been performed in various countries including Japan, China, Korea, Israel, Spain, Belgium, France, and Serbia.
In 2021, Kagei was in charge of music production for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, from the pledge of athletes to the appearance of a giant globe in the night sky.
In 2022, he led an art project selected for the Ministry of the Environment’s Local Blue Ocean Vision Promotion Project. The project was based on the theme of marine plastic waste, a global social problem. Using trash collected during beach cleanup activities, he created “Marine Plastic Speaker Pure” to deliver the voice of the ocean.
In 2023, Kagei produced music for the opening ceremony of the 5th International Maritime Silk Road Art Festival in China, directed music for a project connecting ASEAN and Japan, and was a speaker at TEDxSapporo2023.
In addition to his music production, his creative work spans diverse genres, fine arts, painting, architecture, ironworking, and spatial design.