Marina Iwao  

Japanese born pianist, Marina Iwao has appeared on concert stages throughout Japan and the United States. Marina has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Merkin Concert Hall, Lincoln Center in New York, and ACROS Fukuoka Symphony Hall and Airefu Hall in her hometown, Fukuoka.

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As an avid chamber musician, She frequently appears in recitals of the contemporary music chamber groups, including Tokyo to New York and Random Access Music (RAM), and enjoys premiering new works by living composers. Her performance with cellist Mina Kim was featured in WQXR's McGraw Hill Young Artists Showcase. In 2016, she collaborated with Quatuor Debussy and performed the Schumann Piano Quintet.

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Marina was named a collaborative piano fellow at Bowdoin International Music Festival and Music Academy of the West, and currently serves as a staff pianist at major conservatories, such as the Juilliard School and Mannes School of Music. In the 2022-2023 season, she was appointed as a Collaborative Piano Fellow at the Yale School of Music. In addition to performing, she enjoys teaching and sharing her passion for chamber music at The School for Strings in New York, where she is a chamber music faculty.

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Her principal teachers include Maira Liliestedt, Wayman Chin, Victor Rosenbaum, and Miyuki Hirakawa. Marina holds a Master's Degree in Collaborative Piano from the Juilliard School and studied with Jonathan Feldman and Dr. Lydia Brown. She also holds a Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes School of Music and an Undergraduate Diploma from the Longy School of Music.