Toshio Hosokawa (born 1955) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music, who studied in Germany and later returned to Japan. He composed the choral work "Ave Maria", based on the Latin liturgy, in 1991. The SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, which performs the present recording, was founded in 1946 and is one of the leading international ensembles specialized in the vocal music of the 20th and 21st centuries.