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Mika Stoltzman

Mika Stoltzman has been described by The Los Angeles Times as a “high-wire jazz marimbist... an amazing, energetic performer ready for major exposure,” and a “Japanese Marimba Maestro,” by Time Out New York. All About Jazz raves, “Mika Stoltzman is beyond category, to use Duke Ellington's signature compliment.”

Mika has toured to 19 countries and 65 cities around the world. She has performed nine times at Carnegie Hall (Zankel and Weill Hall), as well as at PASIC 2005 and 2007, the Blue Note in New York, the Tokyo and Cairo Jazz Festivals, and the Rockport Jazz Festival. She regularly performs around the world in a duo with her husband, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, at major venues in New York, Boston, Austin, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Hong Kong, Japan, Germany and many more.

Mika has performed as soloist with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Kumamoto Symphony Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, Kracow Philharmonic, and Szombathey Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, she gave the world premiere of Chick Corea’s Piano Concerto No. 1 on marimba with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra in Mexico, and performed the work again with Orchestra Machiavelli in Italy in 2018.

Mika released her first album Mitsue in 1998, followed by Marimba Phase in 2003. In 2010, she released a live DVD, Marimba Madness, on Big Round Records, and new CD, Mikarimba, on Video Art Music (Japan). In 2013, she released If You Believe with Steve Gadd on TeeGa Music (Japan). In 2017, Mika and Richard Stoltzman recorded a duo album titled Duo Cantando with producer Stephen Epstein, guest artist Chick Corea, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), released on the DENON label (Nippon Colombia, Japan and Savoy record, US). In addition, Mika’s arrangement and performance of Tokyo/Vermont Counterpoint appears on Steve Reich's album Triple Quartet (Nonesuch). She has also appeared on Richard Stoltzman's album Goldberg Variations (BMG Japan) and Jo Hisaishi's Asian X.T.C. (Universal Japan). Her next album, Palimpsest, will be released worldwide on AVIE Records in June 2019.

Mika Stoltzman is from Amakusa, a small island in the Kumamoto prefecture in southern Japan. Her grandparents played traditional Japanese instruments, while her aunt taught piano and her father was a Kendo master. She began studying piano at age three, and in junior high became fascinated by the drums. At eighteen, she found the marimba, a perfect combination of piano and percussion. She studied marimba at Toronto University with members of NEXUS, and later moved to New York in 2008.

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Take Five With...

Take Five with Mika Stoltzman

Read "Take Five with Mika Stoltzman" reviewed by Mika Stoltzman


About Mika Stoltzman Mika Stoltzman has been described as a “Japanese Marimba Maestro," by Time Out New York. All About Jazz raves, “Mika Stoltzman is beyond category, to use Duke Ellington's signature compliment." Mika has toured to 19 countries and 65 cities around the world. She has performed nine times at Carnegie Hall (Zankel and Weill Hall), as well as at PASIC 2005 and 2007, the Blue Note in New York, the jny: Tokyo and Cairo Jazz Festivals, ...

6
Album Review

Mika Stoltzman: If You Believe

Read "If You Believe" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


In jazz, the marimba tends to be dwarfed by its sustain-friendly metallic cousin, the vibraphone. Many fine vibes players, like Bobby Hutcherson and Stefon Harris to name just two, double on marimba, but that instrument always comes second for them--and for most jazz mallet players--and it almost never dominates a program; almost is the key word, as there are exceptions to that statement. A select few are willing to put the marimba first and Mika Stoltzman is one such individual. ...

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Performance / Tour

Premier Marimbist Mika Stoltzman Premieres Works By Geoffrey Keezer, Joel Ross, And John Zorn At Carnegie Hall May 2nd

Premier Marimbist Mika Stoltzman Premieres Works By Geoffrey Keezer, Joel Ross, And John Zorn At Carnegie Hall May 2nd

Source: AMT Public Relations

Premier Marimbist Mika Stoltzman Returns to Carnegie Hall for the Eleventh Time in One-Night Only Concert May 2, 2023 Including world premiere by Geoffrey Keezer, U.S. premiere by Joel Ross, and New York premiere by John Zorn Featuring special guest clarinetist Richard Stoltzman “high-wire jazz marimbist…an amazing, energetic performer” –The Los Angeles Times “Mika brings a joyful enthusiasm to the marimba that is captivating.” –Chick Corea “She’s a brilliantly borderless artist…one-of-a-kind musician.” –All About Jazz Hailed as a “Japanese marimba ...

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