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YUKO OKAMOTO
Member Since: 2010 | Location: New York City | Page Views: 1,893About Me
Jazz,Smooth,R&B,Funk Pianist/Composer/Arranger
Yuko was born in Miyagi,Japan 1984. She started playing piano at age 5 but changed to Electone(a synth organ) at age 7. She has enjoyed playing Pop,Funk,R&B,Jazz etc… When she was in junior high school,she won Miyagi prefecture first prize of ‘YAMAHA JUNIOR ELECTONE FESTIVAL’. In 2002 and 2004 she was chosen semifinalist of ‘INTERNATIONAL YAMAHA ELECTONE COMPETITION’ at Akasaka Britz(2002) and Shibuya AX(2004). She played for a large audience of about 2000 people. Then in 2003 she won first prize of ‘YAMAHA ELECTONE COMPETION EXPERT DIVISION’ and she earned a high evaluation on her performance and charm. At age 18, she started studying Jazz piano and composition under Kiminori Atsuta and Masa Matsuda. She also played in various jazz clubs,restaurants and bars with great bands and popular artists. In 2006 she entered Berklee College Of Music in Boston. She studied composition,arranging,performance as much thing as possible, under George Russell Jr,Walter Besely,John Arcaro,Bill Eliott etc.. She has many original tune (Pop,R&B,Jazz,Funk,Classical music, Orchestra tune,Jingles). In 2008 she played her original music at Carnegie Hall in NewYork and performed at Boston City Hall with different bands. The performance was a great draw for a lot of people. She co-stared with One Voice Children’s Choir lead by Masa Fukuda. She also played at a nursing home,preschool,high school and so on. She composed for film music,short image video music and so on. She composed the music for the film, ’Nozomi no bouken’ (Adventure of Nozomi) which was released at the movie theater in Tokyo and Osaka. She composed the music for ‘Aozora Pinchi’ using the DVD which was released in all of Japan. She offered her music for the short video ’Natsu Urara’ and got a prize in NHK MINI VIDEO GRAND PRIX(by Nippon Broadcasting). Now she moved to New York City and is in full activity as a composer,arranger,and player.
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This page was last updated on 2010-02-04.
