Ikuko Kawai was born in Kagawa Prefecture. She graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts. She also completed a graduate program at the university. She currently serves as a professor at Osaka University of Arts.
She has performed with major orchestras in Japan and abroad, with conductor Myung-whun Chung, tenor José Carreras, and other internationally renowned musicians. Her work transcends any single genre, and she has also performed with ballet dancers Farukh Ruzimatov and Tetsuya Kumakawa as well as figure skater Shizuka Arakawa. 　
She’s an active and dynamic performer both at home and overseas, performing at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2008, at the Palais Garnier in 2015, at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., in March 2019, and at the Freer Gallery of Art, where she gave a solo performance.
She received the 36th Japan Academy Film Prize Best Musician Award.
Ikuko Kawai website
http://www.ikukokawai.com