Believing in music's transformative power, Migiwa "Miggy" Miyajima, a 6-time Grammy-nominated producer, composer, and pianist, returns to Birdland with her 17-piece Miggy Augmented Orchestra. In this live performance, a part of the suite titled The War Destroyed My Dream But Not My Voice, which was initiated during her MacDowell Residency, will be presented. The suite is based on the lives of Miyajima's mother, who gave up her dream of becoming a singer due to the impact of World War II, and Miyajima herself.
Miyajima's compositions, characterized by contemporary jazz languages and nuances of her Japanese heritage, embody her signature style across diverse genres including classical music, pop, and soul. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the 2019 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, the 2020 NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre, and the 2023 MacDowell Fellowship. She served as the associate producer for the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the successor to the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, and worked on two of their Grammy-nominated albums, Forever Lasting-Live in Tokyo and Over Time: Music of Bob Brookmeyer. Additionally, she was the associate producer and conductor for NEA Jazz Master Slide Hampton’s big band.
