Mayumi Kikuchi, pianist

Residing in Northeast Ohio, Mayumi Kikuchi has been active as a soloist and collaborative pianist.  She has worked with many area artists in chamber settings, including Akron Symphony musicians, Cleveland Orchestra members, and the University of Akron School of Music faculty members.  This summer, Mayumi gave a series of concerts, “American & Japanese Crossroads,” in Hamamatsu and Rifu, Japan, with her violinist daughter, Marina Ziegler, and she was invited to continue cultivating local audiences. Dr. Kikuchi has been a faculty member since 2000 in the School of Music at the University of Akron.  She has been serving as the coordinator of the piano area since 2023.

Prior to arriving in Akron, Mayumi taught piano at the University of Illinois, the University of Massachusetts at Boston, Winchester Community Music School, and Assumption College. She holds both master’s and doctoral of musical arts degrees in piano performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied under Ian Hobson.  Other teachers include Fr. John Palmer c.s.v., William Browning, and Noriko Hikita.  Mayumi hails originally from Hamamatsu, Japan, and attended Chuo University in Tokyo.