Born in Osaka, Japan, Pianist Yumi Suehiro began studying piano at age 6, and marimba a year later. In Japan, Ms. Suehiro won numerous national and international competitions, including the top prize at the Kobe International Competition as the youngest winner. She performed Copland’s Piano Variations at Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie) as an AMTL Audition Winner, at Steinway Hall, presented by the Amati Music Festival, and premiered Fifteen Minutes of Fame at Symphony Space presented by Vox Novus. She also was the featured marimba player in Latin percussionist Victor Rendon’s recording of “Fiesta Percussiva”.
An undergraduate scholarship student at Lehman College, she graduated magna cum laude, studying piano with Peter Vinograde, percussion with Morris Lang, and composition with John Corigliano. She was featured there as a soloist on both piano and marimba, playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Rosauro’s Marimba Concerto.
Ms. Suehiro received her Master of Music degree in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music as a student of Zenon Fishbein and Peter Vinograde. While at Manhattan, she won second prize in the school’s 2010 concerto competition (John Harbison’s Piano Concerto), and in 2011 was chosen to perform Richard Wilson’s “Flashback” for Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s master class.
Ms. Suehiro regularly performs with ensemble Mise-En as a core member. She has performed Ligeti’s Piano Concerto with Mise-En in Sarasota, Florida in January 2017 at New College of Florida.
Ms. Suehiro has taught at Lehman College (CUNY), and is a member of the faculty at Lehman College Continuing Education.