Masahiro Takahashi 髙橋 政宏
composer, musician, producer
contact: [email protected]
Toronto-based Japanese composer-musician Masahiro Takahashi (髙橋 政宏) has been crafting gently spellbinding pieces that simultaneously embrace electronic abstraction and a palpable, even brittle, humanity. His delicate and evocative landscapes always seem to be illuminated in vibrant magic hour tones as golden synth lines emanate from between soft flickers of acoustic instrumentation. He has released music on an array of labels, such as Telephone Explosion Records, Not Not Fun , Jj Funhouse, and Slow Editions. He also composes for films and installations.Born in Sendai, Japan. Lived in Tokyo.
Currently based in Toronto, Canada
Upcoming shows
| Dates | Event | Venue | Place | co-bills | collaborators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 9/26 | POP Montreal | Le Ministère | Montreal | Lucrecia Dalt | Marc-Antoine Barbier |
| 2026 9/18 | Masahiro Takahashi Presents Chanoyu | Tranzac Club | Toronto | Matt Nish-Lapidus | Germaine Liu |
| 2026 9/16 | Green-House Tour | The Baby G | Toronto | Green-House | Brodie West |
| 2026 9/13 | Green-House Tour | Mills Hardware | Hamilton | Green-House |
Discography
| Year | Title | Medium | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| ~~~ | Album ~~~ | ||
| 2026 | In Another | LP | Telephone Explosion |
| 2023 | Humid Sun | LP | Telephone Explosion |
| 2022 | Flowering Tree, Distant Moon | LP | Telephone Explosion |
| 2022 | Flowering Tree, Distant Moon | CS | Not Not Fun |
| 2018 | Omnipresent Windows | CS | Jj funhouse |
| 2018 | Metron mixtape 57 | Digi | Metron |
| 2017 | Music of inside the snail's shell | CS | Slow Editions |
| 2014 | Retreat | CD | Jeunesse Cosmique |
| ~~~ | EP ~~~ | ||
| 2014 | Before Gender, Language, and Definitions | 7" | Kingfisher Bluez |
| ~~~ | Compilation ~~~ | ||
| 2026 | Sounds Of The Blue Greens | LP | Blue Green |
| 2026 | Touchtheplants Presents: Love Letters | Digi | touchtheplants |
| 2025 | Emerald | CD&CS | Moon Glyph |
| 2024 | Music for Resorts | LP | Kankyo Record |
| 2024 | Impressions | CS | Age Of Leisure |
| 2022 | Calliope | Digi | Hotham Sound |
| 2021 | The Same River Twice | Digi | Hotham Sound |
| 2021 | Time Capsule 2 | CS | Everyday Ago |
| 2020 | To Bloom, To Glow | Digi | `hdmr |
| 2020 | Spring Is Here | Digi | Seasonal Signals |
| 2020 | Elevate | Digi | Dig That Treasure |
| 2018 | Christmas Compilation Vol. 3 'Icicle' | CS | Jj funhouse |
| ~~~ | Curation ~~~ | ||
| 2021 | Botanical Sunset by Miroque (reissue) | CS | Slow Editions |
| 2018 | Sound Journal: Do-Nothing | CS | Slow Editions |
Commissioned Works
| Year | Title | Medium | Director/Artist/Client | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | The waters reglitterized | Installation | Eunice Luk | Susan Hobbs Gallery |
| 2026 | Festival Soundtrack | Installation | Toronto Japanese Film Festival | Japanese Canadian Culture Center, Toronto |
| 2026 | Milan Design Week | Installation | Poliform | Milan, Italy |
| 2026 | Significant Others | Film | Milena Salazar | |
| 2026 | Qu'est-ce qui pousse ici ? | Installation | Phyllis Ma | Switzerland |
| 2026 | Linear Agent Demos | Movie | Linear Orbit, Inc. | |
| 2026 | caught in the stream | Film | Adela Kwok | |
| 2025 | Aruku | Film | Shiho Kataoka | |
| 2024 | The Chef & The Daruma (2024 VIFF audience award) | Film | Mads K. Baekkevold | |
| 2022 | There, There | Film | Jeremy Gumener | |
| 2020 | Big Crush | Film | Sophia Bennett Holmes | |
| 2018 | On Some Faraway Beach at Vancouver Art Book Fair | Installation | Alicia Nauta & Eunice Luk | Emily Carr University, Vancouver |
| 2016 | Inside the snail's shell | Installation | Eunice Luk | Vacant, Tokyo |
Selected Performances
| Year | Event | Venue | Place | Co-bills | Collaborators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 Apr - Sep | Monthly residency, Cha-no-yu | Tranzac Southern Cross | Toronto | Trustfall, Masayuki Tomita, Matthew Bailey, Lee Paradise | Nick Storring, Brandon Valdivia, Karen Ng, Ted Crosby, New Chance, Isla Craig |
| 2026 | Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival | La Sotterenea | Montreal | Li Alin | Naomi McCarroll-Butler |
| 2026 | Instore Live | Pianola Record | Tokyo | - | Kenji |
| 2026 | Masahiro Takahashi Trio 演奏会 | Fall | Tokyo | - | mangneng, 松村拓海 |
| 2026 | TONE Festival | Standard Time | Toronto | Rafael Toral, Eric Chenaux with Ryan Driver | Brodie West |
| 2026 | Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore tour | The Great Hall | Toronto | Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore | Brodie West, Thom Gill, Blake Howard |
| 2024 | Joëlle Léandre & Rémy Bélanger de Beauport tour | Allan Gardens | Toronto | Joëlle Léandre & Rémy Bélanger de Beauport | Joseph Shabason, Bram Gielen |
| 2024 | Ambient ETC | The Deli | Vancouver | Souns and more | Gal Gracen, Andromeda Monk |
| 2024 May - Sep | Monthly residency, Cha-no-yu | Tranzac Southern Cross | Toronto | C.R Gillespie, New Chance, Emissive, Slow Attack Ensemble, Khora | Nick Storring, Brodie West, Blake Howard, Karen Ng, Sandro Perri, Ryan Driver, Grace Scheele, Joseph Shabason, Thom Gill, Bram Gielen, Michael Davidson, Dorothea Paas |
| 2024 | Pique Festival | Arts Court | Ottawa | Douglas Ewart and many more | Brodie West |
| 2024 | Tranzac Fundraiser | Tranzac Main Hall | Toronto | Sandro Perri, Anne Bourne | Ryan Driver, Kurt Newman, Michael Davidson |
| 2023 | Mary Lattimore tour | Longboat Hall | Toronto | Mary Lattimore, Stefana Fratila | |
| 2023 | Humid Sun Release show | Tranzac Main Hall | Toronto | Omar Bong, Tender Buttons | Joseph Shabason, Brodie West, Bram Gielen, Ryan Driver, Michael Davidson, Blake Horward |
| 2023 | LA Art Book Fair | The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA | Los Angeles | Diatomi Deli, M.Sage and more | |
| 2023 | TONE Festival | Nineteen Seventy Eight | Toronto | Badge Époque Ensemble, Ben LaMar Gay’s | |
| 2023 | Peter Zummo tour | Tranzac Main Hall | Toronto | Peter Zummo Octet, Dun-Dun Trio | |
| 2023 | CMC Presents | Canadian Music Centre | Toronto | Pursuit Grooves | Matthew Bailey, Carl Schilde |
| 2022 | Atoris Release Party | Ochiai Soup | Tokyo | Atoris, Adam Oko and more | mangneng |
| 2022 | Zine Dream 13 Launch Event | Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada | Toronto | Man Made Hill, Phèdre | Matthew Bailey |
| 2020 | Corpi Sonori; Lithuanian Music Festival | Online | Online | ||
| 2019 | Work Holiday + De Achtergrond | Extrapool | Netherlands | ||
| 2019 | Day of Radiance | Temple | Tokyo | Laraaji | Takao |
Education and Grants
| Year | Institution | Title | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Toronto Arts Council | Music Creation & Audio Recording | Toronto |
| 2024 | Toronto Arts Council | Newcomer and Refugee Artist Mentorship (mentored with Nick Storring) | Toronto |
| 2009 ~ 2010 | Bigakko 美学校 | Music Theory studied with Naruyoshi Kikuchi (音楽美学講座：菊地成孔) | Tokyo |
| 2005 | Waseda University早稲田大学 | B.A. in Education, major in Social Sciences. Thesis: "City and Noise. 教育学部社会科学専修、卒論『都市とノイズ』 | Tokyo |
DJ Mixes
| Year | Pogram | Feature |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | KEXP Midnight In A Perfect World | Inspirations of In Another |
| 2024 | fst.live Neighbouring Sounds | Collaboration between J Shea-Carter, Masahiro Takahashi, and Eunice Luk |
| 2024 | NTS Sendspace | With Slow Editions |
| 2023 | NTS Oto Nova | Inspirations of Humid Sun |
| 2023 | The Word Radio JJ Funhouse & Friends | For Jj funhouse |
| 2021 | Slow sounds | For Printed Matter's Virtual Art Book Fair |
Interests
Selected Press