Meet the Hibiki Duo: Co-Founders of Hibiki
阿部櫻子ジェーン
Sakurako Jayne Abe
she | her
Photo: Sam Gaetz
Born and raised in Hokkaido, Japan, Sakurako Jayne Abe is currently in her fourth year of study at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, pursuing her degree in piano performance in the studio of Dr. Lisa Tahara. She has been playing the piano since the age of four under the tutelage of Michi Ueno and Mikiko Ko. She was a finalist at the Japan Student Music Competition, received numerous prizes at local competitions, and participated in the annual music camp in Hakodate for seven years. Through multiple master classes with professors who represent the Japanese music industry, including Haruko Ueda, Katsumi Ueda, and Atsuko Okada, she solidified her career as a musician and pianist. Also, she has found her passion in creating music with others by performing in a piano trio with Kenta Matsumi (violin) and Rintaro Kaneko (cello).
Both her enthusiasm in collaborative piano and her own cultural heritage led to a private creative project with Chihiro Yasufuku, named Hibiki Project. The Hibiki Project releases performance videos, interviews, and collaboration products with other artists through an online platform, in order to celebrate Japanese art and music culture. She currently works as a pianist for the Harmony School of Music and Dance, a rehearsal pianist for the Toronto Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and has performed multiple times to perform at a formal corporal event and weddings in Toronto, expanding her career path as a collaborative pianist. During her undergraduate years, on top of her numerous recordings and performances related to the Hibiki project, she also participated in and received prizes from the Pacific International Piano Competition, the Ontario Music Festival, Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, the North York Music Festival, and the Pickering Rotary Music Festival.
安福知優
Chihiro Yasufuku
she | her
Photo: Sam Gaetz
Chihiro Yasufuku・安福知優 (she/her) is a promising fresh performer-collaborator, singer and administrator based in Tkarón:to (Toronto, Canada). An emerging artist driven by a love for culture, psychology and curation, she seeks creative inspiration from the raw human emotions that fuel, at times absorb, and interlace our lives.
With a background of nearly 20 years of study as a violinist which eventually expanded its roots to singing, her musical training has spanned from early Baroque to 21st century compositions, including performance of those written by living composers. Chihiro holds a Bachelor of Music with Honors in Classical Voice Performance from the University of Toronto, where she further pursues a MMus Degree in their Opera School.
During this past summer season, Chihiro appeared as Atalanta in Handel’s Serse (Halifax Summer Opera Festival) and speech-giver in Haydn’s ORFEO: The Soul of the Philosopher (UofT, McGill). In earlier years, she has offered moving performances in roles including Ottavia (L'incoronazione di Poppea, Opera NUOVA), expressing “indignation at Nero discarding her for his new lover Poppea with a strong musical outburst” (Opera Canada). Coming up this 2023-24 season with U of T Opera, Chihiro will live in the shoes of Anaide (Il cappello di paglia di Firenze), Phoebe (Lysistrata) and Dorothée (Cendrillon). She is also scheduled to appear in the “Thursdays at Noon: Laureates - Innovators” recital scheduled for January, 2024.
When not on the stage or pursuing her studies as a violinist, Chihiro nurtures her passion for arts administration and management, associate producing Amplified Opera’s recent concert series, AMPLIFY 1.0 (2022), and curating a series of musical interludes for the two-day symposium featuring Teiya Kasahara’s 笠原貞野 (they/them) film, The Butterfly Project: The Ballad of Chō-Chō San (2021).