Masashi Hamauzu (浜渦正志)

Masashi Hamauzu (浜渦正志; born September 20, 1971 in Munich, Germany) is a Japanese composer, pianist, and lyricist best known for his music for the Final Fantasy and SaGa series. Born into a musical family in Germany and raised in Japan, he became interested in music while in kindergarten and took piano lessons from his parents. In 1991, he entered the vocal music department of Tokyo University of the Arts. He joined Square (now Square Enix) as a trainee in 1996 and, the following year, made his debut as a solo composer with Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon. He worked at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010. During that period, he collaborated on several games with his friend and fellow composer Junya Nakano, and on most titles since SaGa Frontier 2 he worked closely with synthesizer programmer Ryo Yamazaki. After Nobuo Uematsu left Square Enix in 2004, Hamauzu became the leading composer on the company's music team. He was the sole composer for Final Fantasy XIII, whose 2009 soundtrack debuted at number 3 on Oricon. He also arranged a number of albums, including Yasunori Mitsuda's Sailing to the World piano score in 2006, and his music incorporates classical, ambient, and electronic elements. In 2010, Hamauzu left Square Enix to start his own studio, Monomusik. Beyond games, he has composed for anime, including the Fumetsu no Anata e ending themes "Mediator", "ROOTS", and "Recollections".