Masayo Ishigure

Japanese Traditional Music, Koto and Shamisen
Takasaki Junior Arts College

Kotoist, Masayo Ishigure is a true cultural ambassador having ushered in a new chapter of Japanese music.  As a recipient of the distinguished U.S. artist award reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability, Ms. Ishigure has been expanding Japanese music by combining modern elements with traditional Japanese customs.  She has been featured in multiple television broadcasts some of which included music for CBS Masterworks used during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.  In 2005, Masayo Ishigure was a recording artist alongside Yitzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and others on the Grammy Award-Winning soundtrack from the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha” by John Williams.  She has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Asia Society, Japan Society, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Kennedy Center and with the San Diego Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Symphony Orchestra.  Masayo Ishigure has taught koto and shamisen at Columbia University since 2010.