Pianist MIWA GOFUKU was born in California to Japanese parents where she began her music education at the Yamaha School of Music in Los Angeles.  Her formative years were spent studying with Suzanne Wong Abe, Lana Bodnar and John Perry and she made her debut performing Mozart’s Concerto K. 414 with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Heiichiro Ohyama.

During her youth, she won several competitions throughout the state of California, honoring her with multiple performance opportunities including Chopin’s Piano Concerto in E minor with the San Luis Obispo Symphony and Maestro Michael Nowak.  She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the acclaimed Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington under the tutelage of Professor Leonard Hokanson (one of the last pupils of Artur Schnabel and pianist to Hermann Prey) where she won top prize at the University’s Piano Concerto Competition that led to a performance of Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the IU Concert Orchestra conducted by Maestro Imré Pallo.  While a student at Indiana University, she enjoyed being mentored by artists of the highest caliber as a pianist for the studios of Franco Gulli, Miriam Fried, Janos Starker, Virginia Zeani and Kim Walker, among others.

Her advanced studies brought her to the Mozarteum Festival in Salzburg (Austria), Internationale Festival de Musique in Tours (France) and Aspen Music Festival (Colorado, USA) where she had opportunities to learn from legends such as Jacob Lateiner (Juilliard School) and Alexander Slobodyanik (winner of the Van Cliburn Competition).

Beyond Miwa’s musical skills, her curiosity in management and creative projects led to careers as Artistic Manager of the Music Academy of the West, Director of Artistic Planning at the Santa Barbara Symphony in addition to representing concert artists including violinists Gilles Apap and Caroline Campbell, flutist Jasmine Choi and former principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony, Ted Atkatz.

A new life as a mother brought her to Italy in 2011 where different opportunities arose including a five-year stretch as International Business Development Manager of a sports management and marketing agency in Torino where she had the opportunity to work closely with the celebrated football legend David Trezeguet among others in addition to behind-the-scenes projects for Serie A football clubs, Formula 1 and other sports.  She also tasted life as an actress shooting scenes with the renowned Italian actor Claudio Bisio for the film “Se Mi Vuoi Bene” as well as a commercial spot for IVECO.

Since 2020, she has returned to her roots – that of music – combining her vast spectrum of acquired skills to teach and perform special concerts with friends including tenor Will Ferguson, flutist Jasmine Choi, soprano Chiara Taigi, mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham and with the Ruysdael Quartet among others.

In September, 2023, she founded EMPATH and also began a new role as Director of Music for the newly founded private school PHOENIX International School in Chieri.

The greatest joy in her life is her daughter, Chiara.