SUMIE KANEKO

About Sumie

Sumie (sumi-é) Kaneko is a New York based composer, singer and koto and shamisen artist. She is renowned for her mastery of traditional repertoire and her ability to bring this depth to many different musical projects. She has collaborated with a diverse array of visionary artists: Pulitzer Winner Paula Vogel, Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Project, composer Evan Ziporyn the American Ballet Theatre and many in the taiko world including Kenny Endo, Kaoru Watanabe, On Ensemble, TAIKOPROJECT and Isaku Kageyama.

Sumie also tours overseas as a cultural ambassador through the Embassy of Japan. She has brought her passion for the arts to over 20 countries throughout the world including: Bangladesh, Pakistan, India,  Jamaica, Brazil, Peru and most recently in Hungary, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sumie uses her understanding of traditional repertoire and her experience collaborating and improvising with artists from around the world in her own original compositions. As a solo artist she has released two albums J-Trad & More and Dead of the Night which feature her unique voice and point of view as an artist grounded in tradition but always looking for new ways to expand and collaborate.