Yoshino Nakahara

           Yoshino was raised in Tokyo most of her life. She started piano when she was four years old and studied classical music at the Yamaha Music School until she was thirteen. She performed in concert halls regularly and played in a nationwide piano competition as a chosen delegate. In the meantime, she composed classical/pop tunes and was named as a finalist in the Children’s Composition Competition twice.

           She was very active as an accompanist for choir and school activities, and also was playing trombone and flute during her school years. At seventeen, she started playing piano again and performed in concerts at Suntory Hall, among many other prestigious venues. However, she had to give up piano for several years due to work.

           While she was working for a company, she played keyboard in a couple of Pop/Rock bands. A few years after starting her job, she picked up saxophone and became interested in Jazz. She came back to piano and studied jazz with pianist Masaaki Imaizumi, going to see live Jazz as much as possible.

           She received a scholarship from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 2007. After working for nearly 2 more years, she came to the U.S. and started to fully concentrate on studying Jazz piano at the college in Boston, MA, where she was the recipient of the Professional Music Major Achievement Award in 2011.

           She has been performing her original compositions and Jazz/Fusion/Latin tunes with her band in Boston and New York. Yoshino has studied with Ray Santisi, Ed Tomassi, George Garzone, Hal Crook, Barry Harris, Joanne Brackeen, Dave Santoro, Darren Barrett Steve Hunt, Leonardo Blanco, Jetro da Silva and many others