Faculty (2019)
Nanae Mimura (Marimba & Vibraphone)
Marimbist Nanae Mimura is acclaimed internationally for her virtuosic, passionate, and charismatic performances of a variety of repertoire ranging from classical music to pop and folk styles. She has performed widely across the U.S., including a New York debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and in over 21 countries in Asia, Europe, Central America and South America. Ms. Mimura has been welcomed four times in Guatemala and was appointed the first honorary member of Guatemala Marimba Society in 2001. Ms. Mimura was the third recipient ever of the Premio Alosi award in Switzerland, and won the Percussive Arts Society Marimba Solo Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York.
Sony Records in Japan has released several of Mimura’s recordings, including "Marimba Spiritual" (2000), "Universe" (2002) and “Prana (2006). Her fourth solo album, “Marimba Crystal –prayer–” was released by Octavia Records in 2016. In 2014, Columbia Records in Japan released a live recording of Takashi Yoshimatsu's marimba concerto “Bird Rhythmics Op.109 performed by Ms. Mimura and the Yamagata Symphony Orchestra. Mimura commissioned and premiered the work in 2010 with the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, and has also performed it with the Tokyo Philharmonic and Tokyo Symphony Orchestras.
In addition to performing, Ms. Mimura is an active educator and has been a faculty member at the Berklee College of Music, as well as a guest faculty member at the Percussion Friends Chamber Music Academy in Amsterdam and at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival. Ms. Mimura served as a jury member at the Latin America Marimba Competition in Mexico, the Universal Marimba Competition & Festival in Belgium, the 3rd Italy International Percussion Festival & Competition, and the Thailand International Percussion Festival. Nanae Mimura is the founder of the Yatsugatake Marimba Camp and is a Yamaha Performing Artist. Her signature mallets are available from Encore Mallets, Inc. Ms. Mimura received her Bachelor of Music degree from Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo and her Master’s degree from the Boston Conservatory with Nancy Zeltsman.
Nancy Zeltsman (Marimba)
Nancy Zeltsman is a leading marimba performer, teacher, festival director, author, and recording artist. She has premiered over 130 solo and chamber marimba works—some of which are cornerstones of the literature. These include pieces by Alejandro Viñao and Paul Lansky (who wrote their first percussion works for her), Gunther Schuller, Louis Andriessen, Steven Mackey, Robert Aldridge, maestro Michael Tilson Thomas, pop legend Paul Simon, and jazz composers/pianists Lyle Mays and Carla Bley. Nancy has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe, and in Mexico, Japan, and China as a soloist and chamber musician.
Zeltsman is a Professor at joint institutions Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and heads the Conservatory percussion department. She has taught marimba at both schools since 1993 in positions that were created for her. In the fall of 2013, she was appointed regular guest professor of marimba at Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Since 2001, she has been Artistic Director of Zeltsman Marimba Festival, Inc. (a mostly-annual, two-week event; www.ZMF.us). The festival commissioned 24 new works published as Intermediate Masterworks for Marimba (by C.F. Peters Corporation), and co-sponsors ZMF On Tour (short festivals around the world) that have occurred in China, Japan, Luxembourg, and Boston since 2014.
Nancy has recorded three solo marimba compact discs, three CDs with her marimba-violin duo Marimolin, and was featured on a CD with Boston Modern Orchestra Project (W.T. McKinley’s marimba concerto), among others. She served four times as a member of the jury for the biennial Tromp Percussion Competition in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2010-2016); and as a jury member for the 2019 International Artist Competition hosted by Southern California Marimba.Zeltsman is a Pearl/Adams Artist who worked with Adams Musical Instruments to design their new “Alpha Z” model marimba. Her line of signature mallets is available from Encore Mallets. Nancy lives in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, including links to videos, please visit: www.nancyzeltsman.com
Teaching Assistant
Kazunori Suzuki (Percussion)
Kazunori Suzuki graduated from Senzoku Gakuen Collage of Music.
He has performed at the International Percussion Festival in Seoul on 2010 and the Taipei International Percussion Convention on 2011.
Member of Okada Tomoyuki Percussion Ensemble, Percussion Performance Player, Taiko Samurai, etc.
Interpreter
Saki Kurata (English, German)
Ming-Chun Hsu (English, Chinese)