Hikari Nakamura is from Japan and started learning the piano at the age of 6. She pursued her education at the Interlochen Arts Academy with Dr. Thomas Lymenstull and with Dr. Roberta Rust at Lynn University Conservatory of Music with a full scholarship. In 2019, Hikari graduated with a masters degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan Music Theatre, and Dance where she studied with Professor Christopher Harding. Additional piano and chamber music studies have been with Tomoko Mack, Kazimierz Brzozowski, Joela Jones the principal keyboardist of The Cleveland Orchestra, Peter Otto the First Associate Concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra, Richard Weiss the First Assistant Principal of The Cleveland Orchestra and David Halen the concertmaster of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Hikari gave her solo debut performance when she was 12 performing piano concerto in Poland and she was featured as a soloist performing with Detroit Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the Leonard Slatkin piano award,. Her award winning prices include Steinway Piano Junior Artist, MMTA Concerto Competition and Ithaca College Piano Competition.

A passionate collaborative pianist, Hikari has been an active collaborator/ chamber musician since the young age. In the past two seasons, Hikari was invited to perform chamber music at Kent Blossom Music Festival which cooperated with The Cleveland Orchestra. In recent years, Hikari has been involved in projects with ensemble groups focusing and premiering Contemporary and New Music, featured performance including Tehillim by Steve Reich at Toledo Museum of Art, The Pieces that fall to Earth by Christopher Cerrone and Sure Baby, mañana by Sarah Gibson.

As a dance musician, Hikari was a former dance accompanist at the University of Michigan Dance Department under the guidance of Professor Matijas Mecca where she played ballet, modern and improvisation classes. In 2018, she was involved in Dance Legacy Project where she served as a musical repetiteur and rehearsal musician for a concert staging of dances by Doris Humphery. With her growing passion in the art of dance with live music, she is continuously creating and premiering new works with dancers, recently she appeared on the stage Collage XLII at Hill Auditorium in Michigan with her collaborated work Bloodroot.