Yumi Toyama is a classical pianist who has enchanted audiences throughout Holland and across the globe with her innate musicality, superb musicianship and authenticity. She performs extensively as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist, drawing from her international background to act as a mediator to bring together different cultures.
Yumi has recorded with the Polish National Radio, Polish National Television, and her performance was televised on German TV-ARD 1. She won the Chopin Prize in A. Radziwill International Piano Competition in Poland, and was a laureate of the D. Anderson International Piano Competition in the USA. She performed in various cities throughout Holland with promising young artists from the Holland Music Sessions, including a performance at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Most recently, Yumi collaborated with Dutch composers Norbert Wissing and Hans van Eck on the CD “Free game II” released in 2018, featuring van Eck’s work, “Six Haikus for Piano.” She is currently a member of the Hobbema Piano Trio, with Jussi Paananen (violin) and Jeanny Beerkens (cello), where she enjoys exploring her passion for ensemble literature.
Yumi’s interest in chamber music literature began at the Peabody Institute (Johns Hopkins University), where she worked with musical giants such as Leon Fleisher, Berl Senowski, Stephan Kates, American String Quartet, and Samuel Sander. As a postgraduate student in Warsaw, she studied the Polish school of piano playing at the Chopin Academy of Music under the tutelage of legendary pianists Regina Smedzianka and Maria Szraiber. After earning her Master’s degree, she worked at the Chopin Academy as an accompanying assistant, working with prestigious string department professors, such as Andrzej Wróbel (Cello), Krzysztof Jakowicz, Tadeusz, Gadzina (Violin ) and Andrzej Mysinski (Contrabass). Since moving to Amsterdam, Yumi worked with the Holland Music Session from 2001-2006, where she collaborated with an international cast of distinguished artists such as Hermann Krebbers (Violin), George Pauke (Violin) and Dimitri Ferschtman (Cello).
Yumi also teaches privately; some students were winners of the Steinway Piano Concours and Prinses Christina Concours.