Bio

Kyoko Kitamura is a Brooklyn-based vocal improviser, bandleader, composer and educator currently co-leading Geometry (with Taylor Ho Bynum, Joe Morris, Tomeka Reid) and Siren Xypher (with violist Melanie Dyer and pianist Mara Rosenbloom). For over a decade, from 2009 to 2021, Kitamura worked closely with legendary composer Anthony Braxton and is featured on many of his releases including GTM (Syntax) 2017, the 12-hour recording of his vocal works performed by the Tri-Centric Vocal Ensemble which she directed and co-produced, as well as his operas Trillium E and Trillium J. Kitamura is the creator of Introduction to Syntactical Ghost Trance Music, the acclaimed 2023 mini-documentary on Anthony Braxton which DownBeat Magazine calls “an invaluable resource for Braxton-philes.”

Also active in the area of interdisciplinary performances, Kitamura provided vocals for, and appeared in, artist Matthew Barney’s 2023 five-channel installation Secondary. At Bennington College, she directed the music for Control the Bor(D)ers, a project by multidisciplinary artist Emilio Rojas. Most recently, she was part of dancer and choreographer Rachel Bernsen‘s A Dialogue (number one), the first movement of Bernsen’s performance suite, NOVEL FORMATS.

Kitamura has performed in major festivals in the U.S. and around the world including Big Ears (Knoxville, TN), JazzFest Berlin (Germany), Moers Festival (Germany), Edition Festival for Other Music (Stockholm, Sweden) and Vision Festival (NYC).

Formerly a journalist at Fuji Television Japan, Kitamura did a stint as a Gulf War reporter in Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Later, she was the director of communications, and then the executive director for Anthony Braxton’s Tri-Centric Foundation. As an educator, she has taught at Dartmouth College, Face the Music (Kaufman Music Center), Arts for Art’s Visionary Youth Orchestra and The New School. Since 2022, Kitamura has been a visiting faculty at Bennington College. Kitamura is CELTA-certified.

Kitamura studied piano at Juilliard Pre-College with Ms. Jane Carlson, and privately studied counterpoint and Schoenberg harmony with Mr. Paul Caputo. She was born in NYC (U.S.A.), raised partially in Tokyo (Japan), spent a few summers in Melbourne (Australia), lived and worked for many years in Paris (France), currently resides in Brooklyn, NY (U.S.A.).