Ejazznews: Japan's Junko Moriya Wins Thelonious Monk International Composers Competition
The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is pleased to announce that Junko Moriya, a composer from Kanagawa, Japan, has won the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition...The $10,000 Composers Award is presented annually to the young, aspiring composer who best demonstrates originality, creativity, and excellence in jazz composition...Junko Moriya began studying classical piano when she was five years old. By age 18, she was studying jazz piano and performing in the Waseda University High Society Orchestra...After receiving her bachelor's degree from Waseda University, Moriya lived in New York, where she studied with Harold Danko... During this time, she performed at numerous jazz clubs in New York and in Europe. Since returning to Japan in 1993, Moriya has performed...throughout Japan. She is known not only as a pianist, but also as a composer and arranger... She directs big bands at junior high and high schools and appears on radio and television programs all across Japan.
