The GRAMMY Museum wasthrilled to host a special screening of Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus and a panel discussion about the legacy of Sakamoto with award-winning musician Flying Lotus and award-winning director Barry Jenkins.
In late 2022, the Japanese composer, producer, and artist Ryuichi Sakamoto sat down at the piano for a final performance. Too ill to complete an entire set at once, this concert film, Opus, is garnered from multiple sessions shot in Tokyo’s legendary NHK 509 Studio. Carefully curated by Sakamoto, selections include iconic film scores and YMO classics alongside pieces reflective of his eclectic career—“Andata” to “Aqua,” “Trioon” to entirely new compositions like “for Jóhann”—to tell the story of not only a prolific musician, but a tirelessly curious artist. As light shifts between each song, evincing the passage of a day, it catches the composer’s face and all the intimacy of the moment as memories flood an uncertain future. Directed by Neo Sora, Sakamoto’s own son, and captured in lush black and white, this is a rare and tender portrait of the artist.
ABOUT RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
Ryuichi Sakamoto was a composer, producer, artist, and environmental activist born in Tokyo. 
Making his debut in 1978 with the album Thousand Knives, Sakamoto's diverse résumé includes pioneering electronic works in the legendary techno group Yellow Magic Orchestra, producing globally-inspired pop albums and numerous classical compositions, two operas, and nearly 40 original film scores for directors, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodóvar, Brian De Palma, and more recently Alejandro González Iñárritu for whom he composed the music of 'The Revenant'. His film soundtracks have won prestigious awards, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and many more. Sakamoto's activism has spread wide to include various environmental conservation efforts and promoting denuclearization and world peace. After 3/11 in Japan, he became a strong voice of support for the victims of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown in Fukushima.
Sakamoto made considerable contributions to the art world with both solo and collaborative installations and multi-piece exhibitions presented in galleries and museums worldwide. Most recently, MWOODS (Beijing) presented the largest and most comprehensive collection spanning 30 years devoted to Sakamoto's artworks in various media, centering around 8 large-scale sound installations.
In 2017, the documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA (Stephen Nomura Schible) was released coinciding with the release of his renowned 14th solo album async. Additionally, Sakamoto presented unique performances at the Park Avenue Armory (NYC), later released worldwide as the film Ryuichi Sakamoto: async Live at the Park Avenue Armory. In 2021, with longtime collaborator Shiro Takatani, Sakamoto presented a new theater piece, TIME, which premiered at the Holland Festival.
Ryuichi Sakamoto died in early 2023.