Hanako Nakamura

Hanako Nakamura is a celebrated Japanese shō player—specialist of the traditional Japanese mouth organ used in gagaku court music—who combines deep mastery of classical repertoire with adventurous contemporary and collaborative projects. She graduated from the National University of Music (Kunitachi College of Music), where she studied shō with Mayumi Miyata and Tadaaki Ōno and also trained in gakubiwa and gagaku ensemble performance, and since 2001 has been a member of the ensemble Reigakusha.

Nakamura-san performs widely in Japan and abroad, participates in innovative ensembles such as the shō trio “Shogirls,” organizes and produces her own concerts that bridge classical and modern works, and regularly collaborates with composers and artists across genres to expand the expressive possibilities of the shō.