Mika Takehara
The K&K vibe system is a fantastic product! It is very trustable and complete sound rendering, it’s a wonderful contribution to my vibraphone.
For me as a musician it is so important to have a sound system that I can trust 100 percent. It enables me to concentrate and make music without thinking of the technical issues, which is very important when I play concerts in different venues and situations all the time.
My Adams prototype bars have very stable overtones and the K&K vibe system is giving me great results reproducing authentic sound every time. I also find it fascinating to create new artistic sounds by connecting the K&K system with effects and make the vibraphone so much more than just a vibraphone. That inspires my creativity and opens up my eyes, ears, soul and fantasy. The K&K Sound System has built an art bridge from my origin in the classical genre and opened up doors for new genres. It became an important part for me as a player and a composer.
Mika Takehara is a professional percussion/marimba musician who fascinated the audiences with her sound creations and her musicality. Born in Japan and shortly lived in San Francisco at the age of 9, she studied piano and percussion/marimba as a kid both in Japan and in the US. Mika studied marimba with Keiko Abe at Toho Gakuen University of music in Tokyo and then at the age of 23 she moved to Sweden for studies with former member of the Kroumata Percussion Ensemble, Anders Loguin, and received her soloist performance diploma in Stockholm with the highest honours, giving her diploma concert with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and continued to develop her carrier and established herself as a soloist with orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmonic Orchestra, Gothenbourg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Lucern Philharmonic Orchestra and Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Orchestra and Los Angels Philharmonic Orchestra etc.
Mika is also a member of Maestro Seiji Ozawa's the Saito Kinen Orchestra with yearly performances in Matsumoto, Japan and tours in Europe and USA with concerts at the Royal Albert hall, Carnegie Hall etc.
In 2016 the recording of Maurice Ravel´s Opera L'enfant et les sortileges, conducted by Seiji Ozawa and performed by the Saito Kinen Orchestra, won the 58th Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.
Mika Takehara often collaborate with chamber musicians and composers, not only classical music but also EAM, jazz, improvisation, film music productions, such as Sonica Sequence, The Children of Enemy, Burn all my letters, and the dancer Virpi Pahkinen.
Since Mika’s first solo album, Thirteen Drums, released by BIS records, Mika has been appearing on recordings at Phono Suecia, DB, Decca, Sony music, ajabu! records and lately with her solo album Silence, including her own compositions for electronic.
Mika playing Horizon, featuring the K&K vibe system
Photo: José Figueroa
