Bernstein Artist and koto virtuoso Yumi Kurosawa has been awarded a residency at the Brooklyn arts, music, and technology institution Pioneer Works, where she will be afforded the opportunity to utilize their recording studio and network of wide-ranging interdisciplinary artists. Initiated in 2012, the Pioneer Works Studio Residency Program provides a free space where artists working across a variety of disciplines can work in close proximity, sharing energies and ideas.
Find more information about the residency, including current and past participants here: https://pioneerworks.org/residency/
An award-winning Koto star from a young age, Yumi Kurosawa is one of today’s most exciting soloists on Japan’s national instrument. Her solo repertoire includes classical Japanese compositions, as well as her own innovative and enchanting original works. Born in Morioka, Japan, Kurosawa began her Koto studies when she was three, going on to win first prize at the National Japanese Koto Competition for students in 1989 and 1992. Since relocating to the US, she has played on such stages as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Apollo Theater, National Gallery of Art and the Blue Note. Kurosawa has been a principal soloist with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Swan in the UK, and the Houston Grand Opera, and in 2015, she was commissioned to write an original score for collaboration with the Houston Ballet and Asia Society Texas. Her many collaborations have included pairings of Koto with Tabla, with string quartet, and with dance, including a piece with the Beyonce-affiliated dance duo Les Twins. Kurosawa is currently working on a collaborative program with Tabla player Anubrata Chatterjee, son of the world-renowned Tabla master Anindo Chatterjee, Hip Hop dancer Virgil Gadson and many more innovative projects. She has two solo albums out to date: 2015’s Looking up at the Sky, and 2009’s Beginning of a Journey.