Nanae Mimura (Marimba)

After graduating from Kunitachi College of Music, Nanae moved to the United States where she earned a master's degree at The Boston Conservatory. While studying there as a graduate student in Boston she also served on the faculty at the highly regarded Berklee College of Music. After receiving master's degree, she had been an official faculty at Berklee until 2004.

Having won many international competitions in her school years Nanae has been praised for her brilliant technique and rich, dynamic sound full of emotion. She is only the 3rd person ever to be awarded the Premio Alosi (Switzerland). She also won the top prize as a solo artist at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York, regarded by young musicians as the gateway to success, becoming the first marimbist to do so.

Thanks to that meteoric rise she was able to have her debut recital at Carnegie Hall in New York, a site that is aspiration of musicians all over the world. She has made her name know around the world as an international Japanese artist. While holding most of her concerts in the U.S. she has also been invited to play in Guatemala (Central America), where the marimba is a national symbol as well as playing with the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra in Costa Rica in the government-sponsored International Festival of Music. In all she has performed in concerts in over 15 countries, using music to promote international goodwill in a positive way.

Domestically she has released the albums "Marimba Spiritual" and "Universe". Her CD with arangements and cover versions of the pop music of such artists as Stevie Wonder and Enya brought new life to the marimba, won her both high praise and attention from different industries. As well as making her solo debut at Kioi Concert Hall she has been able to perform in the "Tokyu Silverter Concert" and "Live Image" and with such artists as Ken Hirai and Ryota Komatsu. Also, she has shown versatility by performing on the closing theme song for a Japanese animation, the image song for House Foods, and more.

Since changing her base of activities to Japan, she released her third (3rd) album in 3 and a half years "Prana" in February, 2006. This album differs greatly from her 2 earlier works with a newly reborn pop sound establishing her as a pioneer in the world of the marimba while bringing to life a distinctly 21st century sound. In addition, she has recorded three works which she composed herself. The marimba was born in Africa and Central America and brought up in the US and Japan. Now, Japanese artist Nanae Mimura is carving a new history on the world stage.