Mark Izu

Composer | Musician

EMMY-award winning composer Mark Izu Mark Izu, a third generation Japanese-American, has fused the traditional music of Asia with African-American improvisation. Izu plays acoustic bass as well as several traditional Asian instruments such as the Sheng (Chinese multi- reed instrument) and Sho (Japanese multi-reed instrument).  

Izu is recognized internationally for developing a new musical genre, Asian American Jazz, and has performed with artists such as James Newton, Steve Lacy, Zakir Hussain, Kent Nagano, George Lewis, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Brown, and Jon Jang. Izu served as Artistic Director of the Asian American Jazz Festival for 15 years, and is listed in the Grove Dictionary of Music as a key figure in Asian American Jazz. 

Izu has composed scores for film, live music concerts and theater. In 2009, Izu won an EMMY® for Outstanding Music for his score in Bolinao 52. His film scores include Steven Okazaki’s Academy Award-winning Days of Waiting; Emmy-winning documentary, Return to the Valley; and a new score for the DVD release of Sessue Hayakawa’s 1909 masterpiece, The Dragon Painter (Milestones DVD - 2007). His theater scores have been performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Sundance Festival and he was awarded a Dramalogue Award for Best Original Music & two INDIE Awards for best CD.  His recordings include The Queen’s Garden (INDIE Award 1999), Tales of the Pacific Rim (INDIE Award 1990), Circle of Fire (Top 10 picks of the year, SF Bay Guardian), and recordings with the Grammy nominated Asian American Orchestra. Izu’s CD Threading Time featuring masters Togi Suenobu (Gagaku) and Zakir Hussain (tabla) was released in Tokyo in 2007. 

Izu was recently honored with the Prize of Hope Award in 2024, recognizing artists whose work gives voice to the unsung and inspires hope. Izu’s artistry and leadership has been recognized locally and internationally over the years, including: ASCAP Innovation Music Award, San Francisco Arts Commission, Meet the Composer, Asian Business League Artist Award, Rockefeller MAP, National Endowment for the Arts, and proclamations from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, The Danish Ministry of Culture, and the Japan Bunkacho. Izu was a founding faculty member of Stanford’s Institute of Diversity for the Arts in 2002. In 2007, Aoki & Izu received the US/Japan Creative Arts Fellowship to Japan sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Japan Ministry of Culture. 

Awards

MARK IZU

Prize of Hope Award, International Award to an artist whose work gives voice to the unsung and inspires hope. Dell’Arte & Danish Institute of Popular Theater (2024)

Letter of Commendation, Danish Minister of Culture (2024)

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), YBCA 100 (2023)

Proclamation from Supervisor Dean Preston, SF District 5 for Decades of Ground Breaking Artistry Contributing to the cultural life ofthe City and the world premiere of Songs for J-Town (2022)

Inclusion in Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, as a composer and bass player, for his proficiency in Asian instruments including shō and sheng, as a protégé of Japanese gagaku master Togi Suenobu, and as as an key figure in Asian American Jazz (2013)

Gerbode Composer’s Commission, for MU an interdisciplinary music, dance theater Performance (2011)

30 Years of Story & Music, Presented by Consul General of Japan (2010)

EMMY for Outstanding Musical Composition, Bolinao 52 (2009)

US/Japan Artist Fellowship, NEA & Japan Bunkacho (2007)

ASCAP* Innovative Music Award (*American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) (1998-present)

Wattis Artistin Residence, Yerba Buena Centerforthe Arts (2001)

INDIE Award, The Queen’s Garden (1999)

Dramalogue Award for Best Original Music for The Queen’s Garden (1992)

RockefellerFoundation MAP grants (1992, 1993)

NEA Presenting & Commissioning grants (1994, 1995, 1997, 2000)

Meetthe Composer Award (1991, 1997, 2001)

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Proclamation for contributions to Asian American Jazz (1997).

INDIE Award, Tales of the Pacific Rim (1990)

Artistic Merit Award, Asian Business League (1993)

Commissions & Community Works 

COMMUNITY WORKS +

First Voice, Founder with Brenda Wong Aoki (1997-present) A San Francisco artist-focused arts organization, with a mission to create, present and contribute the stories and music of people living between worlds to the world. Through First Voice, Izu and Aoki support and amplify this “voice”, thus playing a key role in the evolution and the Bay Area’s Asian American arts community and its global impact.

Moments, Producer (2017-present) A salon series to support artists in creating new work, presented in the First Voice studio and venues around town. Life is made up of moments that turn into memories that turn into Story that becomes history. At any given moment, there are an infinite number of choices and each choice changes everything. Intended to be transmissions between culture bearers and the next generation (and vice versa), Moments are a singular moment in time - with music, dance and story - in the hopes that this moment inspires endless possibilities - a bridge between past, present, and future; for artists to create new work that contributes to the cultural continuum of Japanese Asian and people of color.  

Story Circle, Producer / Performer (2020-present) An annual gathering of artists, culture bearers, healers and spiritual leaders with people of Japanese descent who were forced to scatter during the incarceration, in order to heal, comfort and grow through the power of personal story, and embrace our ever expanding and diverse mixed race and multicultural community. Conceived in  a time of crisis and chaos, in conjunction with the  Stop Asian Hate Campaign, Story Circle was created as a safe haven.  Over 100 people from all of the U.S. and abroad join to listen to Story and participate in profoundly impactful (private) small group storytelling sharing and connection. The ripple effect of the Story Circle is beyond measure and time. 

J-Town OGs Tellin’ it Before We Die: Personal Stories from Social Justice Warriors, Producer (2023) A listening event featuring  Brenda Wong Aoki,  Steve Nakajo and Eddie Wong, artists, activists, and community organizers who, since the 1970’s, have fought to protect and sustain Asian American and BIPOC communities in San Francisco, Los Angeles and beyond.

Earth Dance Offerings,Producer (2020) A series of artist videos, for the 50th Earth Day Anniversary, made during quarantine, when loss of income and isolation hit hard. Through our organization First Voice, we  provided a platform for performing artists to make a short video about themselves with links to their work so they could get on-line work during Covid. We paid each artist enough for two weeks of groceries and sent their videos out to our mailing list of 4,000 people.  The Earth Dance offerings were our way to support the artist community during this trying time.

J-Town Culture Bearers, Producer (2019) A series of 4 generations (Issei, Nissei, Sansei and Yonsei)  of Japanese American performing artists (Mas Koga, Akira Tana & Otonowa, Mark Izu, and SF BATCO) during Sakuramatsuri,  held in venues throughout Japantown, in partnership with the J-Town Task Force.

J-Town Culture Districts, Founding Member/Consulting Artist  (2018) As the only artist on staff, Izu  was instrumental in writing the language for the original proposal to the city and deeply engaged in the community town halls on cultural legacy. The first of eight SF Cultural Districts, the JCD remains the oldest and largest of the three remaining Japantowns in the U.S. 

Suite J-Town, Creator/Co-Producer  (2015) A long-range, large-scale year and a half project with 8 mentees, 22 community organizations, and nearly 9000 direct participants. Celebrating the 110-year history of SF Japantown. Participants returned multiple times to the exhibits, including the Mandala of self portraits, ““It’s beautiful, we can see ourselves all together in community – it’s us, J-town!” Mentees underwent  a process of Immersion, Transmission and Art-making, spending time with community members ages 2-111 years old -  artists, historians, community activists, and spiritual leaders - to learn and tell the story of J-Town.  Many are working artists now, continuing to create for themselves and in the community. 

Stanford Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA), Founding Faculty (2002-2016)

Kearny Street Workshop, Executive Director (1989-94)

Asian American Jazz Festival (AAJF), Artistic Director (1986-2000)

Annual jazz festival in San Francisco “that fully incorporates Asian Pacific American voices informed by our cultural values, historical roots, and contemporary issues” (Kearny Street Workshop). Produced and curated AAJF  in partnership with the Asian Art Museum & the Oakland Asian Cultural Center for 15 years . It created a professional debut for artists such as McCarthur Award Winner, Vijay Ayers, local musicians Francis Wong and Jon Jang.

Togi Suenobo, Institute of Buddhist Studies & SF Gagaku Society, Student (1978-1996)

A student of Japanese Imperial Court Master Gagaku musician Sensei Togi Suenobu, Izu honors Japanese classical music infusing it in his work and transmitting it to future generations.

Lecturer: Meet the Composer Foundation, New York’s Asia Society, Stanford University, University of Utah, University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley, Elon College, Painted Bride, California State Summer School for the Arts

Benefit Performances for: the Kimochi Senior Center, Chinatown Neighborhood Art, Glide Memorial Church, Japantown Art & Media, Nihonmachi Little Friends, Day of Remembrance

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