Sunday, March 20, 2016
Born in Hakodate, Japan in 2000, Mayuki Miyashita spent her early childhood in Hamamatsu, Japan where she studied music at Yamaha Music Hamamatsu. In 2011, she moved to the U.S. due to her father’s business. Since moving to the United States, Mayuki has continued her piano studies with Dr. David Northington at the University of Tennessee School of Music.
In 2011 and 2012, Mayuki won the 1st prize in Music Teachers National Association’s Tennessee state competition as well as being one of the national finalists in 2014. In 2012, she won the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.12 with the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra. The same week she won the Maryville Orchestra Concerto Competition, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Maryville College Orchestra. Mayuki has garnered major prizes in several national and international competitions, including the Second Prize in the Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition in New York City, First Prize in the Midwest International Piano Competition in Iowa, Grand Prize and the Audience Favorite Award in the MostArts Youth Piano Competition in Alfred, NY and Second Prize in the Blount Slawson Young Artists Competition in Montgomery, Alabama.
While studying at Yamaha Music in Japan, Mayuki composed her own compositions each year to perform in a Yamaha Junior Original Concert. Recently, she has arranged some of her compositions for her school orchestra to perform in a concert. Mayuki still enjoys composing as one of her hobbies.
In 2013, at age 13, Mayuki performed her first solo recital at the American Piano Gallery in Knoxville. After she was invited to perform on National Public Radio’s ‘From the Top’ series in January of 2014, she was invited as the only pianist to perform in the annual NPR Gala Concert in Boston. In the summer of 2015, she performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the MostArts Festival Orchestra in Alfred, New York as well as performing in the International Chopin Festival in Busko-Zdroj, Poland. She has also been invited to perform in several prestigious concerts/festivals. Mayuki has performed in master classes for Krystian Tkaczewski, Stephen Moeller and Byron Janis.
