Rie Shimizu

Rie Shimizu is a highly active soloist, chamber musician, and master clinician. She has received numerous awards and grants, including the third prize at Kyogaku II (the Contemporary Music Performance Competition by ISCM Japanese Section) and the Forte Music Award in Tokyo. In 2020, she appeared as a major soloist in the concert The History of Japanese Composers in Tokyo, subsidized by the non-profit organization Video Industry Promotion Organization. In 2021, she was awarded funding for her recital from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan.

Shimizu regularly presents solo recitals. She is currently undertaking a project to perform all of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin on flute, having already completed the Unaccompanied Cello Suites. In 2023, she appeared as a Powell Flute Artist in the Powell Flute Showcase at the Japan Flute Convention in Kawasaki, presenting a program that highlighted the expressive depth of the instrument. Since 2024, she has curated an ongoing salon concert series in both Tokyo and Niigata, offering intimate, dialogue-rich performances that explore the nuanced connection between performer and audience.

Internationally, she has been invited to perform, give masterclasses, and lecture at venues such as the Festival de Musiques Nouvelles in Toulouse (France), the Flute Convention in New York (USA), the College of New Jersey, Qiqihar University, and Suihua Music Conservatory in China.

Born in Japan, Shimizu began her flute studies at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo under Ryu Noguchi. Inspired by the unique tone of Doriot A. Dwyer, former principal flutist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, she pursued further studies and earned her Master of Music degree from Boston University. She currently serves as a visiting professor at Qiqihar University and Suihua Music Conservatory in China, and as a lecturer at Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music and Niigata University in Japan.