Mari Kimura
Mari Kimura (born 1962) is a Japanese violinist and composer best known for her use of subharmonics, which, achieved through special bowing techniques, allow pitches below the instrument's normal range. She is credited with "introducing" the use of violin subharmonics, which allow a violinist to play a full octave below the low G on the violin without adjusting the tuning of the instrument. She studied violin with Joseph Fuchs, Roman Totenberg, Toshiya Eto, and Armand Weisbord.
Mari Kimura
- Name
- Mari Kimura
- Birthplace
- Japan
- Born
- 1962
- Occupation
- Violinist
- Nationality
- Japan · United States
- Fields
- electronic music
- Education
- Toho Gakuen School of Music
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship · Great Immigrants Award
- Languages
- Japanese
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Documentary summary
Mari Kimura (born 1962) is a Japanese violinist and composer best known for her use of subharmonics, which, achieved through special bowing techniques, allow pitches below the instrument's normal range. She is credited with "introducing" the use of violin subharmonics, which allow a violinist to play a full octave below the low G on the violin without adjusting the tuning of the instrument. She studied violin with Joseph Fuchs, Roman Totenberg, Toshiya Eto, and Armand Weisbord.
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wikidata · Q6760913 · wikipedia · Mari Kimura
In this article
Biography
Biography
She also studied composition with Mario Davidovsky at Columbia University, and computer music at Stanford University. Kimura holds a doctorate in performance from The Juilliard School. Since September 1998, she has been teaching a graduate class in Interactive Computer Music Performance at The Juilliard School. The daughter of a renowned Japanese environmental architect, Ken-ichi Kimura. She grew up in a solar house designed by her father in Japan.
Mari Kimura studied at Toho Gakuen School of Music. The recorded working language is Japanese. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are electronic music. Employment is recorded with Juilliard School. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship and Great Immigrants Award.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Mari Kimura • Birth Name — Mari Kimura • Birthplace — Japan • Born — 1962 • Origin — Japanese • Instrument — Violin • Genre — Classical • Occupation — Violinist • Website — http: www.marikimura.com
Performances
Performances
Kimura has been invited as an artist in residence at Banff Center for the Arts, Headland Center for the Arts, Harvestworks, among others. A winner of 2006 Artist Fellowship from New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), her works have been supported by grants including Jerome Foundation, Arts International, Meet The Composer, Japan Foundation, Argosy Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). Her international appearances include the Agora Festival at IRCAM in Paris; Spring in Budapest, Hungary; ISCM World Music Days in Hong Kong; Internacíonal Festival Cervantino in Mexico; International Bartók Festival in Hungary; St. Christopher festival in Lithuania, Asian Contemporary Music Festival in Korea. Her radio and TV appearances include CNN's Headline News, NY1 News, NHK radio in Japan, Radio France, WNYC-FM's “Around New York”, among others.
Compositions
Kimura has been composing for violin solo and violin with various media since 1991. Her works for solo violin (without computer) showcase subharmonics: ALT (three movements), 1992, Gemini, 1993, Six Caprices for Subharmonics, 1997, Subharmonic Partita, 2004. Kimura's compositions for violin and interactive computer make use of the Max/MSP software. Recently, she has been developing with and took part in introducing "Max for Live", which integrates Max patches with Ableton Live, at the AES (Audio Engineering Society) Meeting on October 9, 2009. She has premiered works by composers Jean-Claude Risset, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Frances White, Tania León, Robert Rowe, and Yoshihiro Kanno. She has performed with a range of avant-garde performers such as Robert Dick, Elliott Sharp, and Henry Kaiser.
Discography
• Year — Album • 1993 — Acoustics • 1996 — Irrefragable Dreams • 1999 — Leyendas • 2005 — The World Below G (self-release, withdrawn for 2010 compilation) • 2007 — Polytopia • 2010 — The World Below G and Beyond
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Mari Kimura”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q6760913: Mari Kimura
General reference · Wikidata
Awards
In Japan, Kimura was awarded the Kenzo Nakajima Music Prize in 1995. Her commissions include PluckLand for Shamisen and Violin with interactive computer (for Music From Japan Festival 2009), InterAct Sweet for orchestra (for Chautauqua Regional Youth Symphony 2008), GuitarBotana commissioned by Harvestworks, Violin Concerto for violin and interactive computer system with orchestra (for Orqesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato, Mexico), Kivika for dance (for AmDAT dance), Arboleda for viola and electronics (for violist Liuh Wen Ting), Bucknerian for voice and electronics (for baritone Thomas Buckner) and Descarga Interactive for violin and electronics (2000 ICMC Commission Award). She was selected as a 2010 Composer in Residence in musical research at IRCAM in Paris, as one of the two winners among 117 applicants. She worked on her ongoing collaboration with the Real Time Musical Interactions Team at IRCAM on bowing gesture follower, the "Augmented Violin System". Kimura was awarded the 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition. Her composition "I-Quadrifoglio" for the Cassatt String Quartet, from a 2010 Commission Award from the Fromm Foundation, was premiered at Symphony Space in NYC on October 13, 2011.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1."Mari Kimura ", ArkivMusic.com.
- 2.Polytopia: Music for Violin & Electronicsreview] by Uncle Dave Lewis, AllMusic.
- 3.marikimura.com. subharmonics.
- 4."Mari Kimura on Subharmonics", StringsMagazine.com.
- 5.Edward Rothstein. A Violinist Tests Limits In Music Of Her Time. New York Times. April 21, 1994.
- 6.Mari Kimura, faculty page. The Juilliard School.
- 7.Compositions by Mari Kimura.
- 8.Audio Engineering Society. W2 - Max for Live. October 9, 2009.
- 9.Mari Kimurabiography] by Joslyn Layne, AllMusic.
- 10."Mari Kimura", Juilliard.edu.
- 11.Masters of Tradition: Mojibei Tokiwazu V and his shamisen quartet. 2009.
- 12.New York Foundation for the Arts: Current & Past Panelists.
- 13.Mari , GuitarBotana, sponsored by HarvestWorks.
- 14.Amdat.org. New York AMDaT - dance art technology visual motion construction.
- 15.ICMA dead link. IMCA Commissions (in What's New?). January 2018.
- 16.WWWIRCAM 2010 Selection Committee.
- 17.Guggenheim Fellow: Mari Kimura.
- 18.Cassatt Quartet Schedule: October 13, 2011 Dead link. September 2025.
- 19.marikimura.com. Mari Kimura CDs.
- 20.Random Acoustics. Irrefregable Dreams.
- 21.Answers.com. Leyendas: Information from.
- 22.Jay Batzner. Mari Kimura: Polytopia. October 30, 2007.
- 23.Mutable Music.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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