Minami NAGAI
composer and pianist
Minami Nagai (b. 1993, Osaka) is a Japanese composer and pianist active in the field of contemporary music.
After majoring in piano at Osaka Prefectural Yuhigaoka High School of Music, she studied composition at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Since 2022 she has been based in Germany, pursuing her Master’s degree in Composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, where she studies composition with Moritz Eggert and Lied accompaniment with Rudi Spring.
She currently divides her activities between Munich and Tokyo, working as a composer, arranger, and pianist.
She is a prizewinner of the 8th Tokyo International Competition for Song Composition.
In 2025 she was selected by Opera Company Novanta Quattro to compose the opera The Ship Eventually Fell Asleep (libretto by Sakiko Kawano), premiered at Seijo Hall, Tokyo. The same year saw the premiere of her ballet umschlungen at Reaktorhalle, Munich, performed by the Munich Ballet Academy together with Ensemble Oktopus, as well as the debut of her duo piece work out for accordion and violin at the Sibelius Academy Accordion Festival in Helsinki.
In 2024 her orchestral work Peacock Spreading its Feathers was premiered by the New Japan Philharmonic under Yukari Saito in Tokyo, and her piano trio with electric guitar Lovely Lonely Christmas was commissioned and premiered by Neues Kollektiv München.
Earlier opera projects include THE PALE PLACE (libretto by Naoyuki Sumi, 2023, Tokyo) and Himeazami (as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Opera Creation Program, 2019–20).
Her works are published by Muse Press, One-Hand Piano Music, and MIRAI RECORDS.
Recent commissions include the song cycles SACRED ANIMALS and Kono Michi, the saxophone collection There is a Chicken, and numerous chamber and vocal works.
As a pianist, Nagai frequently collaborates with singers in Lied performance in Munich and Tokyo and has premiered numerous contemporary works with ensembles such as Ensemble Oktopus and Neues Kollektiv München. She has also served as rehearsal pianist for the renowned choir of St. Markus Church in Munich.
Minami Nagai
composer, pianist
Minami Nagai (b. 1993, Osaka) is a Japanese composer and pianist active in the field of contemporary music. After majoring in piano at Osaka Prefectural Yuhigaoka High School of Music, she studied composition at Tokyo University of the Arts.
Since 2022 she has been based in Germany, pursuing her Master’s degree in Composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, where she studies composition with Moritz Eggert and Lied accompaniment with Rudi Spring.
She currently divides her activities between Munich and Tokyo, working as a composer, arranger, and pianist.
She is a prizewinner of the 8th Tokyo International Competition for Song Composition.
In 2025 she was selected by Opera Company Novanta Quattro to compose the opera The Ship Eventually Fell Asleep (libretto by Sakiko Kawano), premiered at Seijo Hall, Tokyo. The same year saw the premiere of her ballet umschlungen at Reaktorhalle, Munich, performed by the Munich Ballet Academy together with Ensemble Oktopus, as well as the debut of her duo piece work out for accordion and violin at the Sibelius Academy Accordion Festival in Helsinki.
In 2024 her orchestral work Peacock Spreading its Feathers was premiered by the New Japan Philharmonic under Yukari Saito in Tokyo, and her piano trio with electric guitar Lovely Lonely Christmas was commissioned and premiered by Neues Kollektiv München.
Earlier opera projects include THE PALE PLACE (libretto by Naoyuki Sumi, 2023, Tokyo) and Himeazami (as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ Opera Creation Program, 2019–20).
Her works are published by Muse Press, One-Hand Piano Music, and MIRAI RECORDS.
Recent commissions include the song cycles SACRED ANIMALS and Kono Michi, the saxophone collection There is a Chicken, and numerous chamber and vocal works.
As a pianist, Nagai frequently collaborates with singers in Lied performance in Munich and Tokyo and has premiered numerous contemporary works with ensembles such as Ensemble Oktopus and Neues Kollektiv München. She has also served as rehearsal pianist for the renowned choir of St. Markus Church in Munich.