Harp Music in the Air, Heart Fragrance
Mio's passion for music began at the early age of 3 performing the piano on stage. She has trained in classical music at Yamaha Music Accademy in Shirotori, a picturesque town in the Japanese Alps. Later at the age of twenty she left her home and country to study Liberal and Performing Arts in New York where she received the Dean’s Honor List, Phi Sigma Omicron Honor in recognition of outstanding academic achievement. She then moved to London to continue her studies at the Central St Martin's College of Arts & Designs.
Mio first encounted the harp in Ireland where she heard the wind dancing through the strings. Mio now performs with the pedal harp, the electro acoustic clarsach and the lap harp. As a member of the clarsach society in Edinburgh, Harps of Gold, she performed under the guidance of Isobel Mieras, even getting into The Guinness Book of Records as part of the largest ever harp orchestra. She then studied under acclaimed harpists Iain Hood, Park Stickney, Savourna Steavenson, Ailie Robertson and Alina Bzhezhinska. She performs regularly at The Waldorf Astoria in Edinburgh Scotland for the afternoon tea as well as on The Royal Yacht Britannia for the Britannia Experience in the evening receptions and dinners.
Mio has recorded CD entitled "Harp Music In The Air, Heart Fragrance". It has 11 tracks, most of which are her own compositions. She also recorded her arrangements of her favorite composers for her second CD "Calling the Muse" in 2012.
Her creative talents also encompass the worlds of Japanese Tea Ceremony and storytelling for which she received a Scottish Arts Council grants in 2016 and 2002. She later was awarded a Millenium Award to bring music and storytelling to schools in Scotland in 2003. The Japanese Consulate of Japan honored Mio with the award "Consulate General's Commendation" in May 2012, celebrating her contribution to Japanese culture and her outstanding musical talents. Mio enrolled into Emerson College, Forest Row, England to study The Art of Storytelling which she performs with the accompaniment of her harp and Kamishibai storyboard as exchange projects between Schools in Scotland and Japan. Mio has since performed in Canada, France and Japan and works regularly through The Scottish Storytelling Centre.
Mio first encounted the harp in Ireland where she heard the wind dancing through the strings. Mio now performs with the pedal harp, the electro acoustic clarsach and the lap harp. As a member of the clarsach society in Edinburgh, Harps of Gold, she performed under the guidance of Isobel Mieras, even getting into The Guinness Book of Records as part of the largest ever harp orchestra. She then studied under acclaimed harpists Iain Hood, Park Stickney, Savourna Steavenson, Ailie Robertson and Alina Bzhezhinska. She performs regularly at The Waldorf Astoria in Edinburgh Scotland for the afternoon tea as well as on The Royal Yacht Britannia for the Britannia Experience in the evening receptions and dinners.
Mio has recorded CD entitled "Harp Music In The Air, Heart Fragrance". It has 11 tracks, most of which are her own compositions. She also recorded her arrangements of her favorite composers for her second CD "Calling the Muse" in 2012.
Her creative talents also encompass the worlds of Japanese Tea Ceremony and storytelling for which she received a Scottish Arts Council grants in 2016 and 2002. She later was awarded a Millenium Award to bring music and storytelling to schools in Scotland in 2003. The Japanese Consulate of Japan honored Mio with the award "Consulate General's Commendation" in May 2012, celebrating her contribution to Japanese culture and her outstanding musical talents. Mio enrolled into Emerson College, Forest Row, England to study The Art of Storytelling which she performs with the accompaniment of her harp and Kamishibai storyboard as exchange projects between Schools in Scotland and Japan. Mio has since performed in Canada, France and Japan and works regularly through The Scottish Storytelling Centre.
