Fumiko Miyachi is a composer, pianist and teacher.
Her compositional output comprises works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal forces as well as electronic music. Fumiko’s music draws inspiration mainly from her multi-cultural background, Japanese and European which are seemingly at odds with each other. Her interests lie in searching for a funky hybrid between the two cultures on levels of aesthetic, deeper musical understanding and meaning, always striving for clarity in her music. The Irish Times described her music as “…ethereal, meditative…and moving.” In 2007 she was awarded the New Millennium Composition Prize for Midalegami, a work for large ensemble, voice and electronics, which was subsequently premiered by Thallein Ensemble at the Adrian Boult Hall in Birmingham.
In 2007, she was commissioned by Fortnum & Mason to write a fanfare to celebrate their 300th Anniversary. The fanfare was premiered by one of the most prominent Jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard in the presence of HRH Prince of Wales and this event was featured in Fortnum & Mason Cornucopia magazine in Spring 2008.
Her music has been performed and commissioned by musicians and performance groups worldwide, including the BBC Singers (Spitalfields Festival 2006), Opera North (National New Composers’ Forum, University of York 2005), MAE (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival 2007), Lontano (La Linea Latin Music Festival, Southbank Centre 2005), Orkest 'de ereprijs' (Gaudeamus Music Week 2004), Concorde (Galway Arts Festival 2005) and decibel (The Cutting Edge Series 2005 & 2007).
Fumiko is an active pianist specialising in contemporary repertoire both as soloist and as part of decibel of which she is a founding member. She has given numerous premieres and performances of works by those including Howard Skempton, Michael Finnissey, Diana Burrell, Andrew Hamilton, Michael Wolters, Joe Cutler, Donnacha Dennehy and Ed Bennett.
Fumiko Miyachi was born in Tokyo in 1979. She began her musical studies at the age of three, playing the piano and after arriving in the country in 1993 she was accepted at the prestigious Royal College of Music before undertaking advanced study in composition at Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she gained her BMus(Hons) and MMus degrees. Having successfully completed an intense study of the Western contemporary classical idiom, she felt compelled to address issues that had been raised of her own cultural heritage and identity and decided to channel this new found creative energy through further research at the University of Sussex, under Martin Butler where she obtained a DPhil in 2006 tackling issues of cross-cultural influence and appreciation.
Her previous composition teachers include Jeremy Dale Roberts (RCM), Malcolm Singer (GSMD), Martijn Padding (Apeldoorn) and Veri Matti Puumela (Sibelius Academy, Helsinki) and piano teachers Peter Norris and Alan Rowlands (RCM).
She is currently a visiting lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire.