Biography - 略歴
石坂 眞 Makoto Ishizaka | ベーシスト・作編曲家・バンドリーダー
🇯🇵 1993年長崎生まれ、鹿児島育ちの音楽家。
米カリフォルニア州モントレーでのセッションを機にプロの音楽家を志す。
帰国後、甲陽音楽学院に音楽推薦で入学し、首席で卒業。
2018年、米ボストン・バークリー音楽大学に特別奨学生として入学。
ジャズベースをLinda Oh、Whit Brownに、
作編曲をグラミー受賞者のBilly Childs、Greg Hopkinsに師事。
2020年、同校ジャズ作曲科を卒業。同時に多国籍17人編成のビッグバンドを率いて、初作品『Volcanic Eruption 櫻島』を発表。DownBeat主催Student Music Awards（ビッグバンド部門）受賞、International Songwriting Competitionセミファイナリストに選出。
2022年以降、豪華客船での専属演奏家として活動。地中海・カリブ海・アジア・オセアニア・北欧・アラスカ、および太平洋／大西洋横断航路において、約2年間で延べ40カ国に及ぶ地域を巡り、多国籍の音楽家と生活を共にしながら演奏・共演を重ねる。英国Cunard LineのQueen Elizabethオーケストラでは専属ベーシストを務め、Joe Stilgoe、Lucy Henshallらと共演。さらに南太平洋航路ではOpera Australiaとの共演により『South Pacific』のコントラバスを担当。
これらの経験を基に、ビッグバンドを軸に異文化共創と越境的な音楽制作を行うプロジェクト／団体「Third Plads」を発足。同団体の活動の一環として、異なる文化背景を持つ人々が対話と共創を通じて関係を築くイベント「A LOVE WOVEN」を企画・開催。2025年冬にコペンハーゲンで開催した公演は満席で実施された。
現在はジャズを基盤に、ベーシスト・作編曲家としてジャンルを横断しながら、日本のみならず国際的に活動を展開している。
🇬🇧 Born in 1993 in Nagasaki and raised in Kagoshima, Makoto Ishizaka is a bassist, composer, and bandleader working across jazz and cross-cultural collaboration.
After early session experiences in Monterey, California, he decided to pursue a professional music career. He later graduated top of his class from Koyo Conservatory of Music in Japan.
In 2018, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, where he studied jazz bass with Linda Oh and Whit Brown, and composition with Grammy Award-winning pianist/composer Billy Childs and Greg Hopkins.
Upon graduating in 2020, he released his debut big band work, Volcanic Eruption Sakurajima, leading a multinational 17-piece ensemble. The project received recognition from DownBeat Student Music Awards (Asynchronous Large Jazz Ensemble Category) and was selected as a semifinalist in the International Songwriting Competition.
From 2022 onward, he has worked as a resident musician on international cruise lines, performing across the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Asia, Oceania, Northern Europe, and Alaska, as well as transatlantic and transpacific routes. Over the course of two years, he traveled to more than 40 countries, living and performing alongside musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds.
He later joined the orchestra of Cunard Line’s Queen Elizabeth as a featured bassist, collaborating with artists such as Joe Stilgoe and Lucy Henshall. During a South Pacific run, he also performed with Opera Australia in South Pacific.
Drawing from these experiences, he founded “Third Plads,” a platform centered on big band practice, cross-cultural collaboration, and music-making across borders. As part of its activities, he curates “A LOVE WOVEN,” a live event series that brings together people from different backgrounds through collaborative performance. The Copenhagen edition in winter 2025 was presented to a sold-out audience.
He is currently active internationally as a bassist and composer, developing projects that move between genres while using music as a space for dialogue across cultures.