Biography

Composer Ikumi Yamauchi was born in Japan in 1996. From an early age, she received a broad musical education, including violin lessons from the age of five and piano lessons from the age of seven.
Her works are regularly performed by renowned Ensembles and Orchestras such as the SWR-Symphonieorchester, the Ensemble Multilatérale, the oenm (Österreichische Ensmble für Neue Musik), the NAMES (New Art and Music Ensemble Salzburg) and the Ensemble Garage, among others.

¤ Recently, Ikumi Yamauchi was commissioned to write a new piece by the Ensemble Multilatérale and the Fondation Francis et Mica Salabert, which will be performed by the Ensemble and Léo Warinsky (conductor) in Marseille (July 8th, 2025 - Opening concert of the ARCO-Academy) and Paris (September 19th, 2025 - Festival Ensemble(s)). Ikumi Yamauchi is very thankful to the Fondation Francis et Mica Salabert for the financial and artistic support.

Ikumi Yamauchi is also active as an artist in the non-musical field, combining her compositions with her own tapes, video installations and drawings. In 2012 she received a first prize in a national painting competition in Kawasaki (Japan) for her work. 

In 2013, she began studying composition with the Japanese composer Minako Tokuyama. Two years later, she started her Bachelor's studies at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, first in the class of German composer Reinhard Febel and then of Austrian composer Johannes Maria Staud until her graduation of the Master's degree in June 2022. Finally, Ikumi completed her studies in the PGL (Postgraduate) programme at the Mozarteum University in the class of German composer Sarah Nemtsov.

¤ In summer 2023, as the winner of the composition competition of the Sinfonieorchester Münster, she received individual coaching from the composer Sara Glojnarić and a commission for a new work (Infusé for String quartet) premiered by the string quartet of the orchestra in September 2024.
¤ On the 30th of September 2023, Ikumi Yamauchi's work Madonna Nera was premiered by the Academy Piedmont Ensemble in Oropa (Italy). This work commissioned by the Sacro Monte Organisation was also awarded a scholarship by the Accademia della Voce del Piemonte and an article about the concert was published in the Italian national newspaper La Stampa.
¤ Her orchestral piece Valse inégale et absurde (2023) was selected for the SWR-Symphonieorchester's masterclass in orchestral composition and was premiered by the orchestra under the direction of Manuel Nawri on the 22nd of March 2024.
¤ She was nominated as a scholarship holder for the ARCO academy (Art, Research and Creation Opus) in Salzburg in July 2024, where she attended a ten-day masterclass with renowned musicians (Francesco Filidei, Henry Fourès, Johannes Staud, Sarah Nemtsov, Eva Reiter, Yann Robin) and where her composition Les Sortilèges de Pinpin was premiered by the Ensemble Multilatérale and Les Métaboles.