Maki Ishii (May 28th, 1936, Tokyo, Japan - April 8, 2003) was a composer and a conductor who studied composition and conducting 1952-1958 in Tokyo and in Berlin where under Boris Blacher and Josef Rufer.

He has conducted several leading orchestras such as Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Beijing Radio Symphony Orchestra or Hong-Kong Symphony Orchestra.

Maki Ishii was at first influenced by western avantgardes before attempting to merge european compositional tactics with japanese music elements.