Hiromi & Kazunori Kumagai

Virtuoso pianist Hiromi returns to the Miner stage with four exclusive nights with projects ranging from solo to trio. 

She kicks off her residency with remarkable duo evening with Japanese tap dance master Kazunori Kumagai, revisiting their ongoing collaboration that goes back to their showstopping debut performance at the 2011 Tokyo Jazz Festival. 

Moving to New York at age 19 to immerse himself in tap culture, Kumagai is a veteran of Ted Levy and Savion Glover’s “Funk University” — the training ground for the landmark musical Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk — and studied with the late legend Gregory Hines. After moving back to Japan, Kumagai built on his affinity for jazz with the iconic Japanese trumpeter Terumasa Hino and opened his own studio in Japan in 2008. He was selected as one of the “100 Most Influential Japanese People” by Newsweek Japan and appeared as a solo performer at the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He and Hiromi first toured Japan together in 2018.  

Hiromi’s work in a duo setting has always been a hallmark of her career, in which the limitlessly talented pianist can play off their shared energy, taking both artists to new heights of creativity.