An award-winning Koto star from a young age, Yumi Kurosawa is one of today's most exciting soloists on Japan's national instrument. Born and raised in Japan, she started studying the Koto when she was three under her parents Kazuo & Chikako Kurosawa. She started studying 20 strings Koto under Nanae Yoshimura when she was 15 years old. Ms. Kurosawa received first prize at the National Japanese Koto Competition in 1989 and 1992, and a scholarship from The Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan in 1998. She toured the U.S., Canada, Malaysia and Russia. She was already touring extensively in Japan as a teenager to prestigious venues including appearances at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and on NHK Broadcast TV programs.
Ms. Kurosawa has been based in New York since 2002. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2006. In 2011 she was principal soloist in the premiere of Daron Hagen's Koto concerto Genji with Orchestra of the Swan in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK. The concerto went on to be performed with conductor Naoto Otomo and the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra among others. In 2013 Ms. Kurosawa was principal soloist for the premier of The Memory Stone at the Houston Grand Opera. In 2015 she premiered the Ballet Tsuru for which she was commissioned by Houston Ballet and Asia Society Texas both as a soloist and composer. That same year she collaborated with Beyonce dancers Les Twins for a performance at the world heritage site Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto. She performed at the World Economic Forum in Dalian, China, and was a soloist for the Koto & Shakuhachi concerto FUGAKU by Takashi Yoshimatsu with conductor Sachio Fujioka and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra at Suntory Hall’s opening gala. Ms. Kurosawa was guest artist for the reopening of the Terrace Theatre at the Kennedy Center in 2017. The Terrace Theatre had been a gift from Japan.
She continues to perform in New York City at such venues as Symphony Space, Joe’s Pub, the Highline Ballroom, the Blue Note, Apollo Theater, Japan Society, Asia Society, Carnegie Hall and other concert halls. She was awarded a music residency at Pioneer Works. Ms. Kurosawa also performed at the National Gallery of Art, the Freer Sackler Gallery at Smithsonian Museum and the Metropolitan Museum.
In 2019, Ms. Kurosawa was invited for the 120 year anniversary celebration for Japanese immigrants in Peru. “Yumi Kurosawa Concert” was presented by the Japan Embassy and Japan Foundation. In 2020, she was invited to the 30th anniversary of the Australian Chamber Music Festival as the first Japanese traditional instrument player to perform there. She continues creating music for her original projects with tabla, violin, dance and so on. Ms. Kurosawa has released three records: Four Seasons (Vivaldi/Kurosawa, 2017), Looking Up At The Sky (2015), and of a Journey (2009).
Ms. Kurosawa holds a Bachelor Degree in International Relations from Keio University Tokyo, Japan and is a Certified Master from the SEIHA school. Currently Ms. Kurosawa is teaching at the Music Performing Program at Columbia University.
Ms. Kurosawa has been lauded by the NY Times for her graceful musicianship,“drawing on a timbral palette that ranges from warm and rounded to bright and metallic.” She also has received praise in the Washington Post and other prestigious publications.
"The koto's notes flow like the water of a stream in a zen garden, building melodic paths in a logic that resembles European medieval and Renaissance music."
All About Jazz
Photo by @gail_hadani, hi-res download available here.
“Her desire to bring the koto beyond its traditional stance is stunningly realized on Metamorphosis (Zoho Music, 2023).”
World Music Central
Photo by Gail Hadani. Hi-res version available here.
Photo by Gail Hadani. Hi-res version available here.
Photo by @gail_hadani Designed by mamicosha inc.
Photo by Laura Poletti. Hi-res download available here
"Vivid and appealing... Kurosawa followed the concerto with two solo pieces — “Disorder,” by the 17th-century composer Kengyo Yatsuhashi, and "GreenPt" written by herself — that showcased the instrument’s somewhat timeless voice."
Anne Midgette, The Washington Post
"Yumi Kurosawa was mesmerizing on the 20-string koto."
Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times
"An inventive, seemingly cosmopolitan composer... Ms. Kurosawa presents her themes gracefully and then undertakes intricate, sometimes adventurous variations, drawing on a timbral palette that ranged from warm and rounded to bright and metallic... chromatic, harplike swirls, fluid chordal figures and alluring bent notes."
Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
Yumi Kurosawa performs her composition "Rapture - Movement III" at Japan Society, May 2018:
Audio: Yumi Kurosawa - "Inner Space"
Audio: Yumi Kurosawa - "GreenPt"
Photo by Gail Hadani. Hi-res version available here.