Mie Ito

Mie Ito was born in Kobe, raised in Yokohama.

She started her musical journey, playing the piano at the age of three.

She went on to study music at the Tokyo College of Music and completed a bachelor’s degree in vocal and organ performance.

While she was a student, Mie played the organ at Maita Church in Yokohama for 10 years.

In 2011 she moved to London to pursue her interest in Baroque harp and studied under the world renowned Andrew Lawrence-King at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She was awarded grants from the Worshipful Guild of Freemen and the Christopher Kite Memorial Fund and graduated in historical performance in 2014 with a distinction. 

On campus, she regularly played the harp in Dame Emma Kirkby’s master class as an accompanist, as well as at various exams. Mie performed with many ensembles and baroque orchestras while studying at the college.

She loved contributing her wide range of experiences as a leading performer of the Baroque harp to many singers and period instrument ensembles.

 

While in London, she performed as a continuo player with reputable ensembles including “Academy of Ancient Music (AAM), Ex Cathedra, Sounds Baroque, Spiritato”, and played at many music venues such as the Wigmore Hall, the Cobbe Collection, King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, Wallace Collection, St John’s Smith Square, a BBC studio for BBC3 In Tune LIVE, Brandenburg Choral Music Festival, and George Enescu Festival in Romania.

 

In addition, she played many opera pieces such as Moteverdi “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria”(Richard Egarr), “Orfeo” (Ryo Terakado), “Combattimento” (Andrew Lawrence-King), Stradella“San Giovanni Battista” (Julian Perkins), Henry Purcell “Dido and Eneas” (Peter Fender), Daniel Purcell “The Judgement of Paris” (Spiritato), Handel“Coronation Anthem of George II” (Laurence Comings).

There are only few Spanish Baroque harpists in the world and she is one of them.  On tour with the Ensemble Ex Cathedra, she performed Spanish and Latin American programmes.

After coming back to Japan, she has performed in numerous concerts: Handel Festival Japan “ Alexander Feart with Harp Concert (Yoshiki Misawa), Nikikai New Wave Orchestra Handel “Alcina (Hidemi Suzuki), Hokutopia International Music Festival “Il ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria”(Ryo Terakado),  Ensemble Contraponto Monteverdi“Vespro”(Tetsuo Hanai), Continuo Guild (Basso Continuo group),  La Fonte Verde (Midori Suzuki) to name but a few.

 As for theatrical music, she has participated in “Shakespeare in Love” by the Shiki Theatre and in “HANAGO Hanako” by the Cerulean Tower Noh Theatre, directed by Moriyama Kaiji and composed by Yasuhiro Kasamatsu.

In solo, she had many recitals in Bolognam London, Tokyo etc…

She is a member of the trio Dangan (period instruments from medieval to contemporary), Ensemble Dephinus (Kena and period instruments).