Meet Erika Ito | Composer & Orchestrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erika Ito and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erika, why did you pursue a creative career?
First, I love creative activities, such as making music, writing stories, taking pictures, painting, cooking, knitting, etc. It excites me and calms me down at the same time. Second, I come from a creative family, so choosing a creative career was the most natural option. My mother is a doll maker, my father a lyricist, my sister a designer, my grandmother a writer, and my aunt a kimono maker. Lastly, because of the meaning of my name. My parents hoped for me to become an artist, and they used the Japanese kanji characters “絵,” which means paintings, and “歌,” which means song. Whenever I write my name, I feel it’s my fate to make music.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I played piano and composed music as a child but didn’t have any official music education. After high school, I got my first paid gig to compose songs for a local theater company in Tokyo. It was my dream job, so I was super excited initially, but it wasn’t all easy and fun. I had the image of what I wanted to accomplish, but I didn’t have sufficient skill to achieve it within a tight deadline. This experience motivated me to train and become a better composer.

I moved to the US and learned composition and orchestration at Berklee College of Music. After graduating, I started working as a keyboardist for musical shows in New York City. One day, I got an offer to orchestrate a new musical set in feudal Japan. The show was successful and brought me more orchestration gigs, allowing me to work with a laptop from anywhere in the world. This let me to relocate to the Netherlands and attend a master’s program at Amsterdam Conservatory. I studied European film scoring and collaborated with Dutch filmmakers.

After watching the Italian film” The Legend of 1900″, playing the piano on a cruise ship was on my bucket list. That’s why after finishing my master’s program in Amsterdam, I joined a cruise ship called Peace Boat and traveled around the world. I played piano, organized music events, directed the choir, and interpreted lectures. Through the voyage, I met many incredible people who made social contributions using their skills. While sailing near Palestine, there was an on-board auction to collect donations for refugee camps. I offered my composition skill and made an original song for the auction winner. This experience taught me the joy of making music for someone else.

Finally, I returned to Japan to focus on building my composition career. It wasn’t easy to start since I didn’t know anyone in the industry, but I just did what I could do, which was to send resumes and demos to companies. Fortunately, one major TV company hired me, and I composed music for their TV shows for a while. Then I became an in-house composer/sound designer at a video game company and developed new tiles for Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch games. I composed interactive music, created sound effects, recorded and edited dialogues, placed them in the game using Unreal Engine and Wwise, set reverb and attenuations, etc. Controlling all those different elements of sound was definitely new to me, and I learned so much.

I became a freelance composer/orchestrator this year. I compose music for video games, TV, films, commercials, etc. My recent musical theater work, “Mother Russia” (Book by J.A. Moad II, lyrics by Katherine Glover, music by Erika Ito), premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in LA in the summer. It reminded me of my eternal love for musical theater. The world is starting to open up again after the pandemic, and I’m excited to work on the upcoming borderless projects.

If you had a friend visiting you in Tokyo or NY, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In Tokyo, I would take them to Tsukiji in the morning, eat fresh sushi, and walk around the large fish market. Then we would head to Asakusa to visit the famous Sensoji Temple, check out the souvenir shops, have some snacks from the street vendors, and finally go to my favorite sake-tasting bar. After getting a bit tipsy, we would go to the observation decks at Tokyo Skytree to look down the Tokyo view. From there, we could go either Tsukishima to try Tokyo’s local food Monjayaki, or to the Sumida River to ride a Yakatabune Boat and have dinner while cruising around Tokyo at night.

In NY, we would start the day with a nice breakfast at the Muffins Cafe on Upper West Side. Then we would walk to Central Park and relax. We would go to East Village for lunch and try the best borscht in the city at Veselka, my favorite Ukrainian Restaurant. Then we would head to Times Square and check the TKTS tickets stand that offers same-day discounted tickets to Broadway shows. While waiting for the show to start, we can go to the Drama Book Shop to check out their amazing theater books collection. After grabbing a slice of pizza at Joe’s Pizza for a quick dinner, we would go see a Broadway show.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am the result of all the fantastic people who helped me to continue on the path. It’s impossible to list them all, but here are some of my mentors. Berklee Professor Alla Elana Cohen believed in my talent and encouraged me to keep composing. Composer Gary Pozner taught me the importance of the mentality of a professional composer. His bible, the “Artist’s Way,” written by Julia Cameron, has been my favorite book ever since. Prospect Theater company gave me an opportunity to start my music career in New York City. Producer A-Len Yue involved me in numerous innovative music projects and expanded my musical vocabulary. Peace Boat showed me the world and broadened my perspective on music and life. Composer Akira Yamaoka, director Hideyuki Shin, producer Shuji Ishikawa, and Grasshopper Manufacture for their mentorship in the video game industry. Writer Jiro Ishii for involving me in the exciting musical projects. New Musical Inc and Elise Dewsberry for musical theater writing training and introducing me to wonderful collaborators, including J.A. Moad II & Katherine Glover. And I’ll give a big shoutout to my family. Whatever I do, wherever I go, whoever I become, they always believe in me and love me for who I am.

Website: http://www.erikaito.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericamusica

Twitter: https://twitter.com/erikamusica

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erikamusic

Image Credits
Christina Felschen/Peace Boat, Adrian Godinez Hernandez, Phil Smith, Jakko Saari