With support from The Jerome Foundation and The ​NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts. 

Inquiries    -    Matt Merewitz; publicist (Fully Altered Media) matt@fullyaltered.com

Japanese immigrant composer, Migiwa Miyajima, highlights stories of Japan’s 2011 earthquake survivors and her own journey through her music and a quote book.

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"Have you ever thought about what "resilience" looks like in your life?" - Migiwa Miyajima

Have you ever thought about what "resilience" looks like in your life? 

This question has pushed me forward, and now I am finally here, sharing with you stories of "resilience" through beautiful words and original music based on the stories of real people.  People who have demonstrated Unbreakable Hope and Resilience. 

I am composer Migiwa Miyajima.  I am also one of the survivors of the Great East Japan earthquake in 2011. It was an unbelievable tragedy where many lives were lost and many are still missing to this day.  I moved to New York in 2012 and as part of my healing process, I started interviewing survivors and volunteers who also experienced this event first hand. Over time, I collected 15 individual life stories. 

Every interview knocked me out … because everyone shared encouraging and empowering words about life despite having lived through the challenging experiences. It was the most powerful life lesson I have ever had. Even after witnessing unspeakable tragedy, their words spoke of peace and happiness as they moved forward and are now walking their life paths again. 

I now want to share these stories with the world focusing on the beauty and resilience of the human spirit in the face of tragedy. 

I realized that the best way to express these stories and feelings was through a combination of words (quotes from the survivors themselves) and of course, through music. I truly hope these two components of this project give you some inspiration about life. Join me to make the impact even stronger!

Migiwa Miyajima Composer, Producer, Interviewer of this project

Migiwa Miyajima

Composer, Producer, interviewer

Migiwa “Miggy” Miyajima left behind a life as an IT engineer and editor-in-chief of a Japanese travel magazine to devote herself to music full-time in 2004, at age 30. The self-taught Miyajima led her own Japanese big band, miggy+, until 2010, and along the way became the Japanese representative of the famed Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (successor to the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra), producing the band’s Japanese tours and serving as associate producer on the Grammy-nominated albums Forever Lasting: Live in Tokyo and Over Time: Music of Bob Brookmeyer. Upon moving to the U.S. she came under the wing of such life-changing mentors as Jim McNeely and Mike Holober. She has been named one of 60 inaugural recipients of the Jerome Foundation’s Jerome Hill Artist Fellowships as well as a 2015 finalist for the BMI Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize. In 2020 she was among 94 grant recipients from the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre. 

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