Migiwa Miyajima

Migiwa "Miggy" Miyajima's mission is to bring hope in a world filled with challenges through her music. A survivor of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, she witnessed firsthand how music can help people heal and rebuild their lives. This experience became the foundation of her work as a composer, pianist, and six-time Grammy-nominated producer based in New York.

Her music blends jazz, classical, pop, and soul with her Japanese heritage, uniting audiences through powerful compositions. She leads the 17-piece Miggy Augmented Orchestra and the four-piece acoustic band KYMN. As a composer and producer, she has worked with artists such as NEA Jazz Master Slide Hampton and The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

Miyajima has received awards and grants such as the 2021 NYC Women’s Fund and the 2024 MacDowell Fellowship.

This year is particularly significant for Miyajima as she revisits “The Unbreakable Hope and Resilience Suite”, originally created in 2021 for the earthquake’s 10th anniversary. Based on three years of interviews, the suite captures personal journeys from despair to hope. In March 2025, she will re-stage and live-record the suite for a global audience, with plans to release the album in 2026 to mark the disaster’s 15th anniversary, further amplifying its message of resilience.