More about Tomoko Mukaiyama

selected works

2000
Amsterdam ×Tokyo
Piano concerts in four Dutch cities and Tokyo. The venue design in collaboration with the architect group Digital PBX became a hot topic as a myriad of transparent bags, in which goldfish swim one by one from the ceiling, were hung in a matrix of a pure white space.

2005
for you
A piano recital for just one visitor, who won the unique ticket in an auction. The intimacy of this performance made for an intense experience for the listener, who was confronted with the music, the pianist, but most of all, himself. It toured the world after its premiere in the Netherlands.

2006
You and bach
Was an installation that contained of a midi piano, glass, sound and light. It was presented in a distinct concert environment, but she, the pianist, shows everything but herself.
Tar and Feathers
Tomoko improvised around Mozart’s music at a grand piano perching spectacularly on metre-high legs. Against this stunning musical back drop, six dancers performed intriguing, mysterious movement in a surreal black and white world. The collaboration with choreographer Jiri Kirian/Netherlands Dance Theater (premiered in 2006) was well received and she has since performed it with the Norwegian National Ballet, Boston Ballet, and the Paris Opera Ballet.

2007
Show me your second face
The collaboration with Dutch acclaimed Fashion designer Klavers Van Engelen was highly regarded as “a fusion of fashion and music”.
Sommer Reisen
Sommer Reisen is a series of piano recitals inspired by Schubert’s work Impromptu. It was an audience-participatory work that premiered in Japan and then toured Europe and the United States.

2009
wasted
This magnificent project of 12,000 silk dresses, menstrual blood and piano works was attended by 1000 women from all over the world. The work successfully toured five locations all over the world, and led to a documentary film called Water Children (2011) that was shown at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and movie theaters across the Netherlands.

2011
Nocturne
An installation with two pianos damaged by the tsunami. Toured the Setouchi Triennale (2013) and the Dutch Festival (2014).

2012
SHIROKURO
The dance work presented during the Holland Festival in 2013, with choreographer Nicole Beutler and light designer Jean Kalman. Toured Japan, South Korea and Europe.
Tomoko received the VSCD Dance prize in 2014.

2013
EAST SHADOW
Tomoko was director of stage music in this production by choreographer Jiří Kylián at the Aichi Triennale.
FALLING
An installation performance set in an obsolete shopping center, in collaboration with lighting designer Jean Kalman.

2014-2015
My Private Odyssey
Collaborated with Israeli / Dutch dance company Club Guy & Roni and toured 30 places in Germany and the Netherlands.

2016
Woman in the Dunes
A performance in collaboration with Chinese designer Ting Gong, with a grand piano set up in the dunes at the Oerol Festival in Terschelling, the Netherlands.
La Mode
This installation performance had been granted to open the very first National Theater in Taichung city and region, which was also the very first theater in Taiwan to be designed by a Japanese architecture firm – Toyo Ito & Associates. Dancers from Spellbound Contemporary Ballet, based in Rome, Italy, performed and combined on-stage music, dance and installations to show a unique approach to the philosophies of “fashion.”
HOME
Installation & performance. Directed by Tomoko Mukaiyama; a music, video, and performance by former NDT Japanese dancer Ema Yuasa. Performed at the Nodelson Performing Festival in Groningen, the Korzo Theater in The Hague and the Saitama Triennale.
Tomoko received the Japanese Dance Forum prize in 2017.

2018
GAKA
Collaborated with Co.Un Yamada on a dance performance work that combines nature and ritual. Co-produced with the Oerol Festival and the Museum of Art, Kochi.
This was Tomoko’s first film production based on “GAKA”

2019
Pianist
In collaboration with Maison Hermès le Forum, Tomoko has consecutively performed a piano concert in an installation made from a forest of pianos. Approximately 8,000 people visited for a total of 24 consecutive times for 24 days with a time difference of 1 hour each day.

2020
ONE
A series of piano concerts with moving images, where the music and visual stories are weaved together. The visual designer, Reinier van Brummelen created complete synchronized images based on filming of the pianist’s hands, arms, body and keyboard; it was projected on the façade of a cathedral in Mérida,Mexico.
A Live
A Live streamed series; Together with cinematographer Reinier van Brummelen, Tomoko presented a new way to experience live performance at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ and Van Gogh Museum, sharing space and time with current technology.
End and Beginning
Performing a light installation concert “End and Beginning” with filmmaker Renie Van Blumren, and which toured the Netherlands. For “End and Beginning” the world-renowned composer Alexander Raskatov wrote a new composition ‘Bells’ (2019), using the same unusual instrumentation, as Ustvolskaya ‘s“Dies Irae” (1973) and played by an exceptional gathering of musicians.

2021
TWO – in transit Hara Museum
Tomoko collaborated with cinematographer Reinier van Brummelen and Japanese most sought after dancer and actor Mirai Moriyama. The music cinema was produced, filmed, edited and streamed to coincide with the closing of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
KUMANO
In the KUMANO, Tomoko unravels her childhood memories of awe at the nature she saw and heard; the relationship between gender and religion in the region; and life, death and rebirth, in collaboration with renowned Dutch film director cinematographer Reinier van Brummelen. Tomoko expresses the real and the imaginary from an ultra-personal perspective by combining video footage taken in Kumano by herself, photos from her childhood, and piano music.

2022
Love Song
Tomoko continues to expand her range of expression across the fields of music, dance, food, fashion, and video; continuing to create and present works that express values, multiculturalism, diversity, and the spirit of inclusiveness – making the most of the perspective of women. At Love Song, female artists, craftsmen, and creators active in each of their local regions; collaborate in planning, venue design, and composition that make the most of the charm and products of their locality. This totally unique project, led by young ambitious and visionary people, in collaboration with local governments/NPOs, attempts to develop human resources, improve the region, and reach out to new audiences. By accepting the place, and restrictions, we try to expand the possibility of new expressions, and continue to implement it in various parts to become a model for local communication.

2023
Delirium
Delirium is the chapter IV of the lifetime cycle S I M I L A R by Ukrainian-Dutch compose Maxim Shalygin. Delirium is a musical labyrinth with the refraction of space and time. As interpretating the unheard-of nuances of sound and emotion, four top pianists have brought the world premiere of Delirium on 16 April 2023 at Muziekegebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam during minimal music festival.
EAT
EAT is not an ordinary breakfast experience. A pianist, a composer, a ceramist, and a natural dyer, collaborated on a multi-sensory ritual sharpening all our senses. Undergo how space and natural light influence the perception of piano music and our taste palate. For EAT, Tomoko experiments with new variations of morning routines and explores the impact of our direct surroundings on breakfast culture. The ”EAT” began at the 2022 Oerol Festival. With the theme of ’fermentation’, we held a workshop on making fermented juice using fruits harvested in Terschelling, a lecture on soy sauce, and a workshop on making miso, etc. The miso was carefully preserved in Terschelling’s home for a year and was tasted with the audience at the breakfast of the EAT performance in 2023.
figurante
figurante was the main program of TENNOZ ART WEEK consists of a new installation performance. It invited the audience into a space in which it’s unclear where the stage starts and ends and where the boundary between the audience and the performer gradually breaks down over time. The floor and walls of the austere concrete warehouse were covered with plants and natural materials, revitalizing it as a space that grapples with the vivid cycles of life.
SADO
SADO fuses PUPPETRY with digital technology and combines the depth of human emotions with the imaginative power of literary FICTION. Joruri is a traditional form of Japanese puppet theatre that seamlessly blends reality and fantasy, incorporating Buddhist philosophy with comical storylines which reminisce soap operas. In SADO, puppet master Hachirobe Nishihashi brings to life a curious mix of ancient stagecraft, electronic MUSIC, and 3D ANIME. Together, Mukaiyama and Hachirobe tell a story of unrequited love through the techniques of diverse creators, fearlessly copy and paste contemporary expressions into deep-rooted traditions.

Currently working on a speakers installation + exhibition project “WE ARE THE HOUSE” for Osaka Expo 2025, and solo exhibition including new video-installations at Arts Maebashi Japan.

Download: biography + selected works Tomoko Mukaiyama ENG