Sound Imaginations of Karen Tanaka - 2026 Pamela L. Girard Guest Artist

PCC Music Department presents Karen Tanaka, 2026 Pamela L. Girard Guest Artist, featuring piano works performed by the composer, PCC faculty, PCC students, PCC piano alumni, and students of PCC alumni.

Dreams of stars...

the passage of time...

this beautiful planet Earth...

Sound Imaginations of Japanese composer Karen Tanaka; 2026 Pamela L. Girard Guest Artist

Photo credit: Jeff Gerbec

Karen Tanaka was born in Tokyo where she started piano and composition lessons as a child. After studying composition with Akira Miyoshi and piano with Nobuko Amada at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, she moved to Paris in 1986 with the aid of a French Government Scholarship to study with Tristan Murail and work at IRCAM as an intern. In 1987, she was awarded the Gaudeamus International Composers Award at the International Music Week in Amsterdam. She studied with Luciano Berio in Florence in 1990–91 with funds from the Nadia Boulanger Foundation and a Japanese Government Scholarship. In 1996, she received the Margaret Lee Crofts Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 1998, she was appointed as Co-Artistic Director of the Yatsugatake Kogen Music Festival, previously directed by Toru Takemitsu. In 2005, she was awarded the Bekku Prize. In 2024, Karen Tanaka was appointed Composer-in-Association at Malmö Live Concert Hall & Malmö Symphony Orchestra for the 2025–27 seasons.

In 2012, Tanaka was selected as a fellow of the Sundance Institute’s Composers Lab for Feature Film where she was mentored by Hollywood's leading composers. In 2016, she served as an orchestrator for the BBC's TV series, Planet Earth II. She has scored numerous short films, animations, and documentaries. Sister, one of the animated films she scored, was selected for prestigious film festivals including Sundance, Annecy, Ottawa, and nominated for the 92nd Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film in January 2020.

Her works have been performed by distinguished ensembles and orchestras worldwide, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Brodsky Quartet, BIT20 Ensemble, Gothic Voices, Anúna, among many others. Various dance companies, including the Nederlands Dans Theater, have also featured her music.

Tanaka has received numerous commissions from, most notably, the Royal Academy of Music, the Juilliard School, Radio France, the Canada Council for the Arts for Eve Egoyan, the Arts Council of England for Brodsky Quartet, the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kazushi Ono, the Michael Vyner Trust for the NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jane Dutcher for Joan Jeanrenaud and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano, and the National Endowment for the Arts for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Peter Bay.

Her love of nature and concern for the environment has influenced many of her works, including Questions of Nature, Frozen Horizon, Water and Stone, Dreamscape, Ocean, Silent Ocean, Tales of Trees, Water Dance, Crystalline series, and Children of Light.

Tanaka taught composition at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her music is published by Chester Music in London (Wise Music Group), Schott Music New York (PSNY), ABRSM in the UK and Editions Bim in Switzerland. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches composition at California Institute of the Arts.

Pamela L. Girard Guest Artist & Master Class Series -

Pamela Girard loved the Pasadena City College Music Department. She took courses at PCC from 1987 to 2007 in a variety of subjects. In the Music Department, she was a member of the Concert Choir for more than eleven semesters. She studied Beginning and Intermediate Piano with Betty Oka, Sight-Singing, Fundamentals of Music, and Conducting primarily with Donald Brinegar. In addition, she completed three courses with Kay Lipton: Music Appreciation, Latin American Music, and the History of Opera. Pamela was a dedicated student, earning a GPA of 4.0. She was especially fond of the Opera Program and supported it generously. Pamela quietly and humbly, but substantially, assisted individuals whom she admired and who showed exceptional promise. She delighted in furthering the education and training of others. The Pamela L. Girard Guest Artist/Master Class Series creates a lasting memorial reflecting Mrs. Girard’s love for the students and faculty of the Pasadena City College Music Department, and her generosity in support of deserving and promising students. It energizes both students and faculty and helps raise the stature of the Music Department in the community. The purpose of The Pamela L. Girard Guest Artist/Master Class Series is to host a musician of international stature for a two to four-day visit to provide master classes and a recital each year. A different area of music will be showcased each year, such as voice, piano, strings, percussion, or wind instruments. This annual guest artist/master class series is made possible by a generous donation from Christopher Daniels, Pamela’s son, as a memorial to her love for the arts and for students and learning.

Info: Wednesday, May 6: 7-9pm, Piano Duets "The Herb Garden" in CA 114; Thursday, May 7: 12-1pm, Karen Tanaka's Sound World (MUSC 010), 2:30-4pm, Composition Master Class, 6-8pm, Piano Master Class; Friday, May 8: 7-9pm, Piano Master Class

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