Katsunari Nakahori (, born September 14, 1989) known by his stage name Kaito Nakahori ( Nakahori Kaito), is a Chinese Japanese composer of contemporary classical music based in New York City, United States.
Nakahori was born in Chiba, Japan, in 1989. After TÃ Âru Takemitsu's Gagaku Shuteiga (In An Autumn Garden) inspired him at the age of 14, he began studying composition independently. He later pursued formal studies in composition in Japan and the United States, and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Toho College of Music (2012) and a Master of Music degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music (2014). In 2013, the Japan Cultural Institute in Rome invited him to speak about Japanese contemporary music at a symposium, during which his piano solo piece Hidden Instincts was performed by Aki Takahashi.
After graduating, Nakahori moved to New York City. In 2015, he held a portrait concert at the United Nations headquarters, where he conducted his own work Summit of Mt. Fuji. He was described by the Shenzhen newspaper Chin po as a âÂÂHalf Chinese, half Japanese, gifted composerâÂÂ.
He has explored the fusion of traditional Japanese and Western instruments in several works. In 2014, his Japanese Footbridge for koto and chamber ensemble was performed, described by Harry Rolnick as having "the misty feeling of Japanese gagaku music, court music so regal, that it seems static, only the colors changing. Mr. Nakahori blended his instruments with such impeccable taste, that the entire blend could have had a lulling, a mesmeric feeling on the listener." In 2017, Hotarubi for hichiriki and string quartet, commissioned by the Goethe-Institut, premiered at the Tongyeong International Music Festival.
At the recommendation of Toshio Hosokawa, Nakahori conducted his chamber work Two Different Paintings at the 150th anniversary concert of JapanâÂÂHungary diplomatic relations in 2019, commissioned by Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.
In 2020, his first opera, Zero, with a libretto by Oriza Hirata, premiered at the Toyooka Theater Festival. The opera was inspired by Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, and arias for the work had been composed since 2015. Between 2015 and 2016, he served as composer-in-residence with the Khemia Ensemble, touring South America. One of the arias, Zero I, was performed in Argentina and Colombia, and the work received the Brian M. Israel Prize.
In 2021, his stage work Countless Wells for soprano, cello, and electronics (32 speakers + IRCAM Spat), commissioned by the Fondation Royaumont in co-production with IRCAM, premiered at the Festival de Royaumont in France. He has since continued to develop compositions incorporating immersive, multichannel sound in his staged works.
In 2025, Nakahori's Theatre Opera The Star Has No Sound â Clockwork Universe collaborated with Oriza Hirata, was produced in co-produced by the Toyooka Theater Festival, the Setouchi Triennale, and the Mito International Music Festival. The work integrates contemporary theater, visual art, music, and spatial sound (produced in collaboration with Yamaha Corporation), exploring a new form of Theatre Opera proposed by Nakahori and Hirata, and creating a new form of total art that connects different festivals and regions.
In the same year, he founded the Mito International Music Festival and assumed the role of artistic director, with a focus on integrating music and cultural tourism.