bio

This is the blog site for Wynn Kiyama.

Wynn Kiyama is a pianist, composer, percussionist and taiko drummer living in NYC. He began his taiko studies with the San Jose Junior Taiko Group and later trained with Soh Daiko, Kiyonari Tosha of the Nihon Taiko Dojo, Takada Yosuke of the Tokyo Chindon Club, the Tachibana School of Nihon Buyou, and Terada Yoshitaka. He has performed with a wide variety of musicians including Arturo O’Farrill and the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Badal Roy, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jason Kao Hwang, Sang Won Park, and Korn at such venues as the Knitting Factory, Galapagos, Birdland, Vision Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He has performed taiko and percussion for theater and dance productions at the NYC Fringe Festival and the United Nations and has appeared in television commercials and programs for the US Open, Anime Network, Iron Chef, and MTV Unplugged.

Wynn leads the Japanese street music group HAPPYFUNSMILE, the experimental trio KIOKU, and regularly performs with SOH DAIKO, the TACHIBANA DANCE GROUP, and the Japanese gypsy rock group KAGERO. He has taught at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division, Queensborough Community College, New York University, Rutgers University, Columbia University, and Westminster Choir College, and held an artist residency at Colby College in the spring 2010.

Starting in the fall, Wynn will be teaching music history and world music courses at Portland State University in Oregon.