Michiko Shimanuki

Michiko Shimanuki studied piano with the late Dame Fanny Waterman, the late Kendall Taylor CBE, Aquiles Delle-Vigne and other prominent pianists in Europe and Japan. She went on to study composition in her late twenties, and was awarded a full scholarship to study with Betsy Jolas at the Academie Musicale de Villecroze master class in 2003. Michiko completed her Ph.D. in Composition at King’s College London in 2011.

Since 2004, Michiko has produced a substantial body of works for performers including the London New Wind Ensemble, David Sutton-Anderson, Ian Mitchell, Ellie Blackshaw, Caroline Balding, Catriona Scott, Sasha Valeri Millwood, Orpheus Leander Papafilippou, and other professional soloists and ensembles. Her music has been performed in London, Hertfordshire, Sussex and Bristol, and has been broadcast on radio stations specialising in women composers and contemporary music in the UK, USA and the Netherlands.

Michiko has enjoyed a particularly fruitful relationship with the London New Wind Ensemble since 2006 and most of her compositions have been premiered by them. The Dreams and the Pendulum for woodwind and piano (2011) was recorded by them in 2012 and was released by Ablaze Records USA in 2015 in their Millennial Masters, volume 5.

Michiko resumed her performing activity in 2011 and her recital programmes almost always include contemporary music; piano music by living composers as well as her own. In 2018, Michiko gave a recital of contemporary music at Borough New Music in London, including the premiere of a piece specially composed for her by Barry Mills as well as works by composers such as Diana Burrell, Edwin Roxburgh and Poul Ruders. In 2019, she celebrated Barry Mills and John Hawkins’ 70^th birthdays performing their music in London, Hertfordshire and Sussex.

Michiko has recorded Barry Mills’ piano pieces Winter Images and Three Pieces for Michiko, which were specially composed for her, and the album, which is also called WINTER IMAGES, was released in August 2023. [Barry Mills: Winter Images, Vol.9. Claudio CC6052-2]

Photo © Leo Cinicolo.