Education

B.M.E. in Music Education with Piano Performance Emphasis – Miyagi National University of Education, Sendai, Japan (1987) 
M.M.E. in Music Education with Piano Performance Emphasis – Miyagi National University of Education, Sendai, Japan (1989) 

Biography

Rumi Smith, from Hirosaki, Japan, began piano studies at the age of four with her father. Early on, she won awards and recognition as a young pianist, and studied at the Musashino College of Music in Tokyo with Makoto Takahashi. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano performance and music education from the Miyagi National University in Sendai, Japan, where she was staff accompanist for faculty music recitals. She has performed extensively across Japan. In the summer of 2011, Rumi gave concerts with her husband in six cities in China and also a master class at the Chongqing School for the Arts. Recently, the duo traveled to Utah for a two-piano concert at BYU in Provo.

As adjunct faculty at UAA and also private studio instructor, her students have won many awards and recognition in competitions including the MTNA competition (state, division, and national), the Marguerite Downey competition, and the Alaska Piano Competition. One student won first prize in competition at the American Piano Forum at West Chester University, Pennsylvania. Her students have performed at Steinway Hall and on WQXR-FM in New York City. Rumi has been invited several times to adjudicate for the MTAC adjudications in the San Francisco Bay area. This year has been very successful for students in her studio; two of them have won local concerto competitions and will perform solo concerti with local orchestras in Anchorage (including the Anchorage Civic Orchestra and the Anchorage Youth Symphony).