Biography
Yumiko Morioka is a Japanese pianist and composer noted for her 1987 album Resonance, in the kankyō ongaku style of environmental ambient music.
Morioka studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1974-78, attending classes held by John Adams, then head of the composition department. Other attendees included Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley. Morioka says she decided to write her own music there and then. As well as Adams' piano works, she has cited Brian Eno's Music for Airports and Erik Satie as influences.
She has also written for other artists, such as Toshihiko Tahara's 1980 debut single "哀愁でいと (New York City Nights)" and the idol pop group King & Prince in 2018.
Morioka moved to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1994 to raise a family with her American partner, before moving to Marin County. Her house was burned in the 2017 California wildfires, and she moved back to Tokyo, where she is now a chocolatier, running the truffle shop Setagaya Truffle.
Resonance was reissued in 2020 by Métron Records, winning her a whole new fanbase.
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