Izumi Kimura was born in Yokohama, Japan and studied piano performance and chamber music at Toho Gakuen University of Music with Akikio Teranishi, Akira Miyoshi and Kazuoki Fujii. She moved to Ireland in 1995 and studied with Ray Keary at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and was a multiple prizewinner at the Feis Ceoil in 1996 and 1997.

She has performed extensively throughout Ireland as a solo, orchestral and chamber musician. She has broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm, performed with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

Izumi will perform Ronan Guilfoyle's Artists in Residence with saxophonist Stéphane Payen in the Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris on 15 October 2008, and will also perform the premiere of Guilfoyle's new work, Dance Suite No. 1, on 31 October 2008, in the National Concert Hall, Dublin.

Ronan Guilfoyle and Izumi Kimura were interviewed on video by Bernard Clarke in the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin, on 3 September 2008. For further information on Izumi Kimura please visit her MySpace page, www.myspace.com/kimuraizumi.

The views expressed in this interview are those of the persons concerned and are not necessarily those of the Contemporary Music Centre.