Nanae Mimura has been hailed as one of the most exciting marimba virtuosos of her time, receiving tremendous praise for both her technical mastery and depth of expression. Winner of the 1999 Concert Artists Guild Competition, she is also the recipient of the prestigious Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Solo Marimba Competition Prize, the Settimane Musicale di Lugano Solo Competition Prize and the Japan Percussion Society Award.
Nanae has performed numerous concerts in over 20 countries (including the United States and Japan) in North America, Central America, South America, Europe and Asia. She has released multiple solo albums on Sony Records in Japan, and her solo album Marimba Crystal –prayer– was released on Octavia Records in 2016.
Nanae finished her master's degree in marimba at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2000.
She previously served as faculty at the highly regarded Berklee College of Music from 2000-2004. As an educator, she has served as a judge at the Latin America Marimba Competition in Mexico, the Universal Marimba Competition & Festival in Belgium (2013) and the 3rd international Italy Percussion Festival & Competition (2016). Also, Nanae was guest faculty at the Percussion Friends Chamber Music Academy held at the Conservatory of Amsterdam in 2013 and 2014 and regularly serves as faculty at the Zeltsman Marimba Festival.
Nanae started to organize her own Yatsugatake Marimba Camp in Kobuchizawa, Japan in 2015. Her signature mallets are available from Encore Mallets, Inc. in the United States.
