Akira Nakano is the Founder, President, and Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Inception Orchestra, a mentorship program for young composers, a proud partner of ASMAC.

Akira grew up at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in both piano and percussion, soloing with numerous orchestras throughout Southern California as a youngster. He studied with Dr. Heewon Kwon with master classes from Jeffrey Kahane, Leon Fleischer, Ilana Vered, John Perry, and Daniel Pollack. He was the winner of the 1st Annual Herbert Zipper Award in Music Composition amongst other competitions. Akira entered UCLA on a full ride piano performance scholarship, attended the UCLA Extension Film Scoring Certificate program and graduated with a B.A. in Film & Television production.

Akira spent twelve years working as a video editor, writer, producer and live event director at TRW and went on to have 20+ years of video marketing and communications experience. He scored several indie films and many marketing videos along the way. In 2002, he wrote and produced the play, “A Concerto for Claire” which premiered at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School. He was the Music Director and on-stage pianist for Lodestone Theatre Ensemble’s “Closer Than Ever” (L.A. Times Critics’ Choice) in 2009 and resumed classical piano full time the following year.

In September 2013, Akira began to pursue his dream of becoming a concert composer with original works performed by the Dream Orchestra. Since then, he appeared as a performer/composer/lecturer as part of the Great Speaker Series at the Beach Club in Santa Monica benefiting the California State Parks Foundation; soloed with the Southeast Symphony on their “American Legacy” concert; and made a series of appearances at the Huntington Library President’s house for their donor dinners. He has been a panelist at Digital Hollywood in 2019, SXSW EDU and Amplify Music in 2021.

Akira is grateful to the many great musicians, composers, and arrangers from ASMAC and across the music industry who have helped Inception thrive since its beginning in 2017 and is looking forward to helping both organizations expand their reach to the next generation.