Following the success of his piano trio The Mocking Maze (2004) during Ung Nordisk Musik Festival in Helsinki 2005, Munakata received several composition commissions including Silver Arrow into the Snow (2009) for Curious Chamber Players Stockholm by Kulturrådet Sweden, Triplicity (2009) for Trio Trivium by Rikskonserter Sweden, and Garpenbergs gruva (2009) by Nuovo Virtuoso Japan.

Shiomidai Dream (2005) became one of the favourite pieces of Curious Chamber Players, and the group has programmed the work more than 16 times in Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Århus, Oslo, and Paris. Flutist Richard Craig interpreted solo work Cascading Lotus (2008) for his recitals in Seattle, Berlin, Bamberg, and Stockholm. At home in theatre, Munakata's duo piece Ukagami II (2007/2009) was performed by Karin Hellqvist and Adina Sabin in the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.

Ensemble Gageego! Göteborg showed special interest to his ensemble work Night Brewing Windmill (2007) and performed the work several times in Göteborgs Konserthus. Moreover, they recommended the work to take part in project RE:NEW MUSIC, a network supporting Europe's best contemporary music ensembles and circulation of high quality ensemble repertoire. Oslo Sinfonietta also performed this work during Ung Nordisk Musik Festival in Oslo 2008.

In 2010 Munakata received second prize award from Via Nova International Composition Competition for Pouring Etiquette (2009) scored for flute, cello, and piano, and was performed by Ensemble Marges during reknown festival XI. Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik in Weimar Germany.

After Munakata made his debut in his native country Japan with Garpenbergs gruva (2009) in Sumida Triphony Hall Tokyo in 2009, he was commissioned to create new works by Naoyuki Manabe for sho (Japanese mouth organ) and by Kaori Nakajima for piano solo. Performances of these works are scheduled in October 2010 and January 2011 in Tokyo Opera City Hall.

Rei Munakata was born in Yokohama Japan, and currently resides in Stockholm Sweden. Rei studied with Ole Lüztow Holm at Musikhögskolan vid Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden.