John Chow Seymour

Biography

John Chow Seymour, originally from Michigan and now residing there again, received a B.Mus. from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, an M.Mus. from the University of North Texas College of Music, and a Ph.D. from the University of Hawai’i, all in music composition.  He composes for Japanese (as well as Korean and Chinese) instruments, sometimes also in combination with Western instruments.

His quartet Namima (“On the Waves”), for Shakuhachi, two 13-string koto, and one 17-string bass koto, was selected as the runner-up in the 9th Annual Makino Yutaka Composition Concourse (the highest award given that year) and was performed at the concourse finals in 2017.  His Doctoral thesis work, “Concerto for Nohkan and Orchestra”, as yet unperformed, is the first-ever concerto for nohkan and western symphony orchestra.