Umi Garrett is a highly accomplished solo, collaborative, and chamber pianist based in New York City. She has performed numerous solo and collaborative recitals in the United States and internationally, most recently through presenters such as the Chopin Foundation of the United States, the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series, the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series, and the Clark Art Institute. Umi has performed and toured with orchestras such as the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Pops, Symphony Boca Raton, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Wuhan Symphony Orchestra, and the New Mexico Philharmonic. Umi is also a passionate performer of new music, collaborating with and performing pieces by acclaimed composers such as Samuel Adler, inti figgis-vizueta, and Gabriela Smith.
Umi was awarded first prize at the Juilliard School's Concerto Competition and was named a finalist at the National Chopin Piano Competition, the Young Concert Artists Competition, and the Canada International Piano Competition. In May of 2024, she collaborated with violinist Kevin Zhu at the Queen Elisabeth Competition for Violin. Umi was awarded the John Newmark Prize for Best Collaborative Pianist for her performances with finalist Nathan Meltzer at the 2023 Montreal International Violin Competition. She has also collaborated with prize-winners at renowned competitions such as the Primrose International Viola Competition and the Sphinx Competition. This past summer, Umi was offered a position as a Staff Collaborative Pianist for the Program for Piano and Strings at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute. In addition to her artistic endeavors, Umi is deeply committed to non-profit organizations and humanitarian causes. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she organized two arts festivals through National Arts Diversity Integration Association (NADIA), a non-profit organization she co-founded, dedicated to coordinating the development of anti-discriminatory practices in the arts. Umi is also a co-founder and board member of the Pacific Academy Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing educational scholarships to high school students. She has also performed in concerts advocating against the use of nuclear weapons in Berlin and has organized a concert tour in areas affected by the 2011 tsunami in Japan, performing at elementary schools and donating instruments to their music programs. Additionally, Umi has given lecture-performances at TEDx conferences and La Ciudad de las Ideas in Mexico.
Umi has released three solo albums and will be releasing her first chamber music album of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for piano and cello, recorded in collaboration with cellist Emily Mantone, through PARMA Recordings in the fall of 2024. Umi has worked closely with artists and instructors such as Midori, Lydia Brown, Jonathan Feldman, Robert Levin, Veda Kaplinsky, Julian Martin, and Joseph Kalichstein, and have performed in masterclasses for Leon Fleischer, Helmut Deutsch, and Aldo Ciccolini. Umi received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen where she was a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. She is currently continuing her education at the Juilliard School through the Artist Diploma program and is working at the Yale School of Music this season as a Collaborative Piano Fellow. Umi is a Young Steinway Artist.
