Haruna Miyake Explained

Haruna Miyake
Native Name:	三宅榛名
Native Name Lang:	Japanese
Alias:	Shibata Haruna
Birth Date:	1942
Birth Place:	Tokyo
Occupation:	pianist, composer
Instrument:	piano
Associated Acts:	Yuji Takahashi

is a Japanese pianist and composer, who also uses the name Haruna Shibata. She was born in Tokyo and studied music there, making her debut as a pianist at age 14 playing Mozart with the Tokyo Symphony orchestra. She continued her studies at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, and afterward worked as a pianist and composer, touring in the United States. She often collaborates with pianist and composer Yuji Takahashi.^[1] Her composition Poem for String Orchestra received the Edward Benjamin Award.^[2]

Works

Miyake combines Japanese and Western idiom, and often uses traditional Japanese instruments in her compositions. Selected works include:

• Why Not, My Baby? for soprano, piano and trumpet
• Shiyoku
• Piano Concerto
• Fantasy for Milky Way Railroad
• Phantom of a Flower^[3]

Notes and References

1. Book: A Guide to Piano Music by Women Composers: Women born after 1900. Dees, Pamela Youngdahl. 2004.
2. Web site: Cristin Wildbolz. 11 January 2011. 3 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174418/http://www.cristinwildbolz.nl/K9%20one. dead.
3. Book: Sadie. Julie Anne. Samuel. Rhian. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. 1994. W.W. Norton. 978-0-393-03487-5. 328.