Mayumi Miyata is a Japanese player of the sh?, a traditional Japanese mouth organ. She is the most widely recorded and best internationally known soloist on this instrument. She is a graduate of the Kunitachi College of Music, where she majored in piano. While in school, she began studying gagaku music from Ono Tadamaro of the Imperial Household Agency. Although the sh? is generally associated with Japan's ancient gagaku court music, Miyata was among the first players of the instrument to specialize in contemporary classical music. She plays a specially constructed instrument with extra pipes, allowing for the use of more chromaticism. The American composer John Cage created a number of works for Miyata just before his death, after having met her during the 1990 Darmstadt summer course. She has also premiered works by T?ru Takemitsu, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Maki Ishii, Joji Yuasa, Klaus Huber, and Toshio Hosokawa. In 2005, she performed in three songs by the Icelandic musician Bj�rk, for the soundtrack album to Drawing Restraint 9, a film by Bj�rk's contemporary media artist boyfriend Matthew Barney, about Japanese culture and whaling. 

Tokyo Prefecture