Profiles

Yumi Hara Cawkwell studied medicine in Japan and practised as a
psychiatrist for eight years before moving to the UK in 1993. In 1999,
she graduated in music from City University in London with a
first-class honours degree, and has completed her PhD in composition at
City University under Rhian Samuel in 2005.

She has received a number of awards including a prize in the Continuum
Ensemble Improvisation Competition, Sculpted Sound competition and the
British Medical Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology Fanfare
Competition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the
molecular structure of DNA. She has been nominated as a finalist for
the British Composer Awards 2006 in solo and duo category. She was a SPNM shortlist composer during 2003/2004 AND 2004/2005 seasons (the last composer to be shortlisted on two consecutive seasons before the rule was changed).

Her music has been performed by, among others, PianoCircus, Ensemble Bash, OKEANOS, Jane Chapman, Kate Ryder, Michael Bonaventure and Trio Japan
in concerts and festivals in the UK and Japan. She has led voice
improvisation workshops for the Yokohama Boys and Girls Chorus at the ISCM World Music Days in 2001.

She regularly gives improvised performances as a solo vocalist/keyboard player, and duo with Geoff Leigh (ex-Henry Cow, flute/sax). She is Lecturer in Music at University of East London.