Tomoko Deguchi

Deguchi, a native of Kobe, Japan, teaches and coordinates courses in music theory and aural skills. Her research interests include the music of Toru Takemitsu and other Japanese composers, musical form in the 20th-century music, music narrative, American composers, film music, and intersections between music theory and culture and aesthetics. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Film Music, Indiana Theory Review, Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, Musicology Now, Athens Journal of Humanities and Arts, and she is currently working on a book on Takemitsu's music. She has presented papers at Society for Music Theory, American Musicological Society, Music Theory Society of New York State, Music Theory Southeast, Music Theory Midwest, Music Theory Society of Mid-Atlantic, Rocky Mountain Society for Music Theory, Semiotic Society of America, and national and regional conferences of College Music Society. She was invited as a guest speaker for the symposium in the 2007 conference of International Society of Contemporary Music held in Hong Kong, which she discussed Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu's music and its relationship to the musical canon. She also has been invited as a guest speaker at regional universities. Deguchi is active as a member of professional organizations where she has served as session chair (Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Southeast, Music Theory Society of Mid-Atlantic, Music Theory Society of New York State), on the diversity committee (Society for Music Theory), program committee (Music Theory Society of New York State, chair, Society for Music Theory, Music Theory Southeast, Music Theory Society of Mid-Atlantic, College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Chapter), interest group chair (Society for Music Theory), local arrangement chair (Society for Music Theory, College Music Society Mid-Atlantic Chapter), advisory board (College Music Society: Music Theory), and editorial board (peer-review journals Mosaic and SMT-V). She also has served as the president of College Music Society Mid-Atlantic chapter in 2019-21.

Deguchi remains active as a pianist, specializing in contemporary music. She has been a soloist and featured performer at numerous concerts including the 20th-Century Piano Music series, the Young Artist Concert series, and Kobe Art Conference Competition concert all in Japan, Aspen Music Festival Studio Concert, and the Buffalo Contemporary Ensemble Concert series. She was selected as one of the six finalists in the Crane Festival of New Music, National Student Performers Competition. She was the 1998 Concerto Competition winner at the University of Wyoming. In the same year, she was invited as a guest performer at the Northern Illinois University, where she did a recording for her first solo piano album Syncopated Lady, featuring works of members of the American Composers Forum (1999, Capstone Records). Her recording is also included in the Music of Laurel Firant (2006, Capstone Records), and Reflections on the Firebird (2017, Albany Records). She continues to perform in composer's conferences and contemporary concerts. In 2008, she founded a new music ensemble, Out of Bounds, which she performs with other featured professional performers from the Charlotte region, and was invited as one of the residence ensembles at the Charlotte New Music Festival in 2017. She has performed for Charlotte Sensoria Festival of the Arts including accompanying for the Paul Taylor Dance Company in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring production. She is a regular performer for the Providence United Methodist Church Ensemble Series.