Artist Profile
Ryoka HagiwaraRyoka Hagiwara is an award-winning composer, songwriter, pianist, and keyboardist based in Edinburgh, UK. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, she grew up in London, playing piano and composing from the age of 2. Her music references her cultural identity and heritage through the exploration of music and space, often incorporating swirling and delicate piano melodies.
Ryoka's composition work ranges from classical to jazz, pop, ambient, and more. In September 2024, she released her first solo piano single, Improvisational Variations, which can be found on all major music streaming sites, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Bandcamp. She will release her debut solo piano album, "ICHI", in February 2026. The first lead single from the album, "In A Haze", was released in December 2025, and was played on BBC Radio 3 Unwind. The second single of the album, "Oil On Canvas, 2000", was released in January 2026.
Aside from her personal projects, Ryoka also enjoys collaborating with other artists, including filmmakers and musicians. Most recently, she composed the score for an animated short fantasy film entitled "Aster", which was presented at the Anchorage International Film Festival. In 2024, she also scored the live-action short thriller film, Special Violent Interests, shown at the Raindance Film Festival.
With an undergraduate degree in piano performance and creative music practice from the Showa University of Music and a Master's (with Distinction) in composition from the University of Edinburgh, she is currently working towards a PhD in musicology and transcultural studies at Heidelberg University in Germany. In her Master's final project and dissertation, she explored cultural identity through the lens of cross-cultural composition.
She has also won multiple accolades as a classical pianist, such as Silver Prize in the Sonata Concours in Japan, runner-up in the Mozart Concours, also based in Japan, and was a finalist in the Chopin Piano Competition in Asia.