Masashi Hamauzu

Masashi Hamauzu is a Japanese video game composer who was employed at Square Enix from 1996 to 2010. He is best known for his work on the Final Fantasy and SaGa series. Born into a musical family in Germany Hamauzu was raised in Japan. He became interested in music while in kindergarten and got piano lessons from his parents. Hamauzu was hired by Square now Square Enix as a trainee and his debut as a solo composer came the following year when he scored Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon. He has collaborated with his friend and fellow composer Junya Nakano on several games and has worked closely with synthesizer programmer Ryo Yamazaki on most titles since SaGa Frontier 2. After Nobuo Uematsu left Square Enix in 2004 Hamauzu took over as the leading composer of the companys music team. He was the sole composer for Final Fantasy XIII. He has also become a renowned piano arranger and has arranged a number of albums including Yasunori Mitsudas Sailing to the World piano score in 2006. His music incorporates various styles although he mostly uses classical and ambient music in his pieces. In 2010 Hamauzu left Square Enix to start his own studio Monomusik.