Hikaru Tamaki and Yoko Reikano Kimura are a happy couple. Not just in marriage but also as Duo Yumeno, a contemporary classical music duo that aims to tap the potential of combining Western and Japanese instruments. Tamaki is a cellist, while Kimura is a koto and shamisen performer, as well as a classical Japanese singer. They are based in New York, but hold concerts across the U.S., in Japan and in Europe.
Primarily, the two perform contemporary classical compositions commissioned from composers worldwide specifically for their unique instrumentation. Often such compositions center around Japanese sources. Recent performances have included a piece by Elizabeth Brown based around waka poetry written by survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and a set of four Daron Hagen compositions that focus on the female characters of the historical text "The Tale of Heike."
Born in Kyoto to a Japanese-American mother and a Japanese music teacher father, Tamaki decided to leave the country after high school to study music at Eastman School of Music as well as Rice and Northwestern universities, before eventually performing in several orchestras across the U.S.