Acclaimed by the Boston Herald as “agile and terrifically talented,” and by the Houston Chronicle as “magnetic… impressive,” Fumito Nunoya won First Prize at the 2005 Ima Hogg Young Artists Competition in Houston, Texas. As a result, he made his U.S. concerto debut with the Houston Symphony that year. Mr. Nunoya has won top prizes at many other national and international competitions including the PAS International Marimba Competition in 2003, the National Young Artist Competition in Texas in 2003, the 3rd World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart, Germany in 2002, and the 10th Japan Classic Music Competition in 2000.

Mr. Nunoya has presented solo recitals at the University of South Florida, Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, The Boston Conservatory, A Palazzo Magnani (Italy), Conservatoire Superieur de Paris (France), and in Yamagata, Akita (Japan). Since 2002, he has performed five showcase recitals with various musicians in his home town of Odate, Akita sponsored by the Odate Culture Center. He recently released his first CD, “Red Dragonfly.” The CD includes major marimba repertoire as well as Asian folk tunes.
An active chamber musician, Mr. Nunoya has collaborated with woodwinds, strings, singers and percussionists. He has performed marimba chamber music at The Boston Conservatory and Goethe Institute in Boston, and in Japan at Okayama Symphony Hall, Izumity Hall in Miyagi, Bunsho-kan in Yamagata, and Harmony Hall in Fukui.
Mr. Nunoya has appeared as soloist with the Houston Symphony, Eastern Connecticut Symphony (USA), Odate Wind Ensemble, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Odate Magewappa Japanese Drumming Group (Japan), and Di Repercussio Ensemble percussioni dell’Istituto Peri (Italy).
He has taught at the University of South Florida, Zeltsman Marimba Festival 2003, 2004 and 2006, and at Berklee College of Music. He has a private teaching studio in Belmont, MA.

Born in 1979 in Akita, Japan, Fumito Nunoya graduated from Yamagata University with a Music Education degree in 2001. He received a Master of Music degree in Marimba Performance from The Boston Conservatory where he studied with Nancy Zeltsman. Mr. Nunoya continued his studies at The Boston Conservatory in its distinguished Artist Diploma program, and graduated in 2006. He is the first marimba (or percussion) major in the school’s history to receive this distinction.

For more information, visit www.FumitoNunoya.com.

Alex Jacobowitz was born in New York in 1960, and studied with Gordon Stout, L.H. Stevens and John Beck. He currently resides in Europe, where he performs marimba solo, primarily works of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.
In recent years, Alex Jacobowitz has played solo on German, Swiss, Israeli and Portuguese and Hungarian television and radio, and sold 50,000 recordings throughout Europe. His newest CD, "The Art of Xylos" (Arte Nova, BMG distribution) is a collection of highest-quality transcriptions, and is to be released worldwide on February 4, 2002. Although in 2001 he has performed the solo part to Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez and Vivaldi's Four Seasons with orchestra, he prefers to play unaccompanied.
His book,"A Classical Klezmer: Travel Stories of a Jewish Musician" (1998) sold out its first edition and is now in preparation for the second edition.
1981 - Won the Drum Corps International Competition for Solo Keyboard in Montreal, then premiered Edith Borroff's Concerto for Marimba and Small Orchestra.
In 1982-3, he played percussion with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, then decided to abandon percussion for solo marimba.
1984 - Two solo concerts at Lincoln Center
1986-91 - Official Street Performer at the South Street Seaport in New York City.
1991- 2001 Street performances & TV, radio broadcasts throughout Europe and Israel.
1998 - Autobiography published in German (A Classical Klezmer), 50,000 recordings sold
2001 - Performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez with orchestra, Record contract with Arte Nova, a classical label within BMG
(Added 1999.2.6, Modified 2002.2.16)

Momoko KAMIYA is a graduate of Juliard Music School and the winner of the 1995 Luxemburg International Percussion Competition, Marimba section.
Since 1990, she is giving the recital series "Kamiya Momoko Marimba Recital - Oto * Sorekara (Sound - and then...)". She has also played with Yomiuri Nihon Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmony Orchestra, etc. Has appeard in such programs like "NHK FM Recital", "Best of Classics (NHK FM)" etc. Her CD includes "Childrens of Dyonisis (Dyonisia)", "Marimba Coctail (Phillips)", "Arabesque (Phillips)". She is currently actively playing mainly as solo marimbist.
Apart from giving performances, she also teaches at Senzoku Gakuen University, Okinawa Kenritsu Geijutsu University, Aichi Kenritsu Geijutsu University. (Last Modified 1998.5.6)

Laurence D. Kaptain is a concert Cimbalom player who is also a marimba player. He has an impressive array of CD appearance. Visit his site to see them.

Kazuko KISHIDA is an internationally well known Solo Marimba & Percussion Player. = Graduated Master course of Tokyo University of Arts. Many successful concerts at New York Carnegie Hall, Vienna = Musikverein Sall, Beijing Concert Hall. (Last Modified 1997.6.20)

Rebecca Kite has been performing as a marimba soloist for twenty years, appearing in concert and in clinics across the United States and in Europe and Japan. Her music may be heard on her two solo marimba recordings, Across Time (1993) and Prism (1996). Kite has received two Master Fellowships as a marimba soloist from the Indiana Arts Commission and was a finalist in the 1986 Pro Musicus Competition.

Recent premieres of solo marimba works include Recurrences by Bruce Hamilton (1999), Jazz Suite for Marimba by Joan Griffith (1998) her own composition For Alice (1998) and Ilijash, by Nebjosha Zivcovic (1996). She has performed in such venues as Suntory Hall in Tokyo, The Kennedy Center, Vredenberg Hall in The Netherlands, and Sundin Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota as well as numerous colleges, high schools, art museums and Indiana state parks!

Kite is the author of "Reading Mallet Percussion Music", a method book for teaching music reading to young adult drummers. Other publications include "Which Mallets Should I Use", Percussive Notes, April 2000, "Keiko Abe: Her Quest for Marimba Sound" Percussive Notes, April 1998, "Tuning Your Marimba Resonators", Percussive Notes, December 1992, and "Using Calf Timpani Heads", Percussive Notes, December 1992.

Kite has been Artist in Residence at the Cultural Foundation for the Arts in Rio Negro Patagonia, Argentina (September 2000), The University of Miami School of Music (Fall semester 1999) and at SUNY Fredonia. She has appeared as both a marimba and timpani clinician and guest artist at numerous high schools and colleges in the United States and Japan, including Toho Conservatory, Interlochen, Indiana University School of Music, Ball State University, The University of Missouri at Kansas City, The University of Chicago and Kansas University.

Kite recently moved to the DC area of Northern Virginia from St. Paul, Minnesota where she lived for nine years and taught at the University of St. Thomas and Hamline University. In addition to her activities as a marimba soloist and teacher, she performed as a free-lance timpanist and percussionist with the Minnesota Opera, the Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, and other Twin Cities musical organizations.

Kite attended the University of Missouri at Kansas City where she received the BM degree in percussion performance. Her graduate work was done at the Indiana University School of Music where she studied with George Gaber and received the MM degree. She did advanced study in timpani with Cloyd Duff and in marimba with Keiko Abe.

Rebecca Kite served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Percussive Arts Society from 1994 through 1997. She is chair of the Marimba Committee and was co-leader of the WPN/PAS Web site Project for which she was awarded the 1999 PAS Outstanding Service Award. Kite is a member of the Educational Advisory Board of Pro-Mark Corporation and is a Yamaha Performing Artist. (Added 2001.11.22)

A most promising newcomer, Jasmin Kolberg has rapidly established herself as a marimbist in the international concert scene. Her musical sensitivity, expressive phrasing and technical brilliance make each concert a lasting experience.

Born into a musical family in 1974 in Stuttgart (Germany), she began at the age of seven to play piano, violin and percussion. As a percussionist she earned first prizes in "Young Musicians" competitions from early on.

In 1994 she began her percussion studies with Prof. Klaus Tresselt at the "Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst" in Stuttgart, and was accepted into the soloist class in the year 2000. From 1999 to 2001 she studied at the "Conservatoire Superieur de Paris" in the marimba-solo-classes of Professors Eric Sammut and Frederic Macarez.

Since 1996, she has been working with the marimba virtuoso Leigh Howard Stevens in New York, and with the famous solo percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky in Berlin. She also participated in numerous master-classes with Gordon Stout and Michael Burritt (USA) and Keiko Abe (Japan).

Jasmin Kolberg was awarded the 3rd prize in the "2nd World Marimba Competition" in Okaya, Japan in 1999. She was the winner of the "Yamaha Competition 2001" and was granted a scholarship from the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe. Interested in expanding the repertoire for the marimba, she composes music for her instrument. In addition to her teaching activities, she performs regulary in diverse chamber music constellations, including her own ensemble, and the Percussion Ensemble Stuttgart. She has recorded often for the german radio. (Last Modified 2001.5.6)

Mr. Komori is active in promoting new music written for the marimba, captivating the audience with his dazzling performance skills. He has given numerous world premiere performances of composers in the United States and Japan. He is currently commissioning a series of new works from award-winning composers Kohei Mukai, Shafer Mahoney, and Tonika Ichinose.

Mr. Komori has received the Individual Artist Award in Instrumental Performance from the Maryland State Arts Council in 1998, was selected as a recitalist of the 1998-1999 Fairfax county recital series in Virgina State, and has performed extensively in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Mr. Komori received his Bachelor's degree as well as the prestigious Performer's Certificate at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with John Beck. He continued his studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he earned his Master's degree, with William Moersch, a marimba virtuoso. He is currently a full-schalorship student of the Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabdy Conservatory of Music with internationally well-known marimbist, Robert Van Sice. (Added 1997.6.13, updated 1999.02.28)

Frank Kumor currently teaches at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and appears throughout the eastern United States. Before his position at Kutztown University, Mr. Kumor held the position of Resident Marimba Artist for Kori Percussion USA. At the present time, he is a performing artist for Yamaha Percussion, USA. (Added 2004.07.04)

Tomoko KUSAKARI is actively playing all around Japan. Famous for the commissioned works like "Divertiment" by Seiji Yokoyama. Several CDs as well. Miyoshi's Etudes Concertante was premiered by her duo (Fujii/Kikuchi Duo : Kikuchi = Kusakari) (updated 1997.11.18)