Mié Ogura-Ourkouzounov
Mié Ogura, an artist who knows how to fuse everything__According to the French newspaper “France-Antilles” 2022, Mie Ogura, continues to challenge the unknown, operating a language nourished by a broad palette of sounds and rich modes of play which she juggles with flexibility and freedom.
Born in 1973 in Japan, she began playing the piano at the age of three, composition at six and flute at seven. She moved to France in 1995, when her talent was spotted by Pierre-Yves Artaud. She graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (classes of Pierre-Yves Artaud and Sophie Cherrier) in 1999, and in 2000 was unanimously awarded a prize for Improvisation. At the same time, she obtained diplomas in North Indian modal improvisation and Baroque Traverso. From 1996 to 1998, she received a scholarship from the Chigiana Academy in Italy to study with Aurèle Nicolet. She also continued to study jazz improvisation, theory, and drums at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory in Paris.
The “Ourkouzounov Duo” formed with her partner, guitarist-composer Atanas Ourkouzounov, is renowned for its unprecedented repertoire of original compositions and arrangements. For over 20 years, the duo has been invited to perform at festivals in 20 countries around the world. Mié has also performed with French ensembles such as L'itinéraire, Ensemble Cairn, Sphota Improvisation Ensemble and Ensemble Nomade in Japan with whom she has participated in numerous contemporary music creations.
In 2009, her collection of jazz arrangements “Flute Jazz Coffee Break” was published by Edition Trim. From 1998 to 2011, she was invited to the festival d'Entrecasteaux by Alain Meunier, one of France's greatest cellists, and toured Japan as a duo with French piano prodigy Marie-Catherine Girod in 2014.
She released her first solo album, dedicated to her compositions performed by herself in multi-track (flute, voice, piano, synthesizer and drums), to realize this in solo concert, she mastered a looper pedal. She went on to form a group, “Les Spirales”, with Aidje Tafial (drums), Matthieu Guillouët (bass) and Séverine Eouzan (sax), with a particular focus on music education for first-grade pupils in Paris elementary schools.
In 2022, she won a grant from the “l'Expo'70 fund” for ‘Expo 2024 Osaka’ to carry out an international cultural exchange project, entitled ‘Trio Ralchenitsa ~The bridge between Japan and Bulgaria’, inviting the Duo Ourkouzounov with one of the greatest masters of Bulgarian traditional music, accordionist Petar Ralchev.
In 2023, she was invited to perform as an improviser on the “Symphony of memories” project by Charlie Aubry (visual artist) at La Pop, a multidisciplinary creative space. In addition, the opening concert proposed by her students from the CMA19 improvisation workshop was chosen as one of the “10 ideas to enjoy at the Nuit Blanche du Grand Paris” in the newspaper “Le Monde”. In 2024, they put on a second performance in Bordeaux, and the autographed score and improvisation video are exhibited at the FRAC-MECA museum in Bordeaux, as a joint work with Aubry.
The “France-Antilles-Japan” orchestral project, in collaboration with Max Cilla (a traditional flutist from Martinique island) - for which Mié not only coordinated, but also composed and arranged all the music - was a resounding success, with concerts in 2022 by the French flute orchestra conducted by Marc Hajar (artistic director Pierre-Yves Artaud), and in 2024 by a symphony orchestra directed by Jane Latron and Stéphane Granjon, made up of 3rd cycle and specialized cycle students from the conservatories of the XIXth and Xth arrondissements of Paris.
Passionate about teaching, Mié currently teaches flute and improvisation at the conservatory of the XIXth “Jacques Ibert” in Paris. She is a prizewinner of the National Qualification Competition for Professors in Paris. Not only has she defended the need for improvisation teaching for 20 years, but she has also contributed to musical education in the community by teaching in public schools. She is also a trainer for young teachers at the CEFEDEM of Normandie.
Biography
Mie Ogura-Ourkouzounov
Mié Ogura, an artist who knows how to fuse everything__According to the French newspaper “France-Antilles” 2022, Mie Ogura, continues to challenge the unknown, operating a language nourished by a broad palette of sounds and rich modes of play which she juggles with flexibility and freedom.
Born in 1973 in Japan, she began playing the piano at the age of three, composition at six and flute at seven. She moved to France in 1995, when her talent was spotted by Pierre-Yves Artaud. She graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (classes of Pierre-Yves Artaud and Sophie Cherrier) in 1999, and in 2000 was unanimously awarded a prize for Improvisation. At the same time, she obtained diplomas in North Indian modal improvisation and Baroque Traverso. From 1996 to 1998, she received a scholarship from the Chigiana Academy in Italy to study with Aurèle Nicolet. She also continued to study jazz improvisation, theory, and drums at the Maurice Ravel Conservatory in Paris.
The “Ourkouzounov Duo” formed with her partner, guitarist-composer Atanas Ourkouzounov, is renowned for its unprecedented repertoire of original compositions and arrangements. For over 20 years, the duo has been invited to perform at festivals in 20 countries around the world. Mié has also performed with French ensembles such as L'itinéraire, Ensemble Cairn, Sphota Improvisation Ensemble and Ensemble Nomade in Japan with whom she has participated in numerous contemporary music creations.
In 2009, her collection of jazz arrangements “Flute Jazz Coffee Break” was published by Edition Trim. From 1998 to 2011, she was invited to the festival d'Entrecasteaux by Alain Meunier, one of France's greatest cellists, and toured Japan as a duo with French piano prodigy Marie-Catherine Girod in 2014.
She released her first solo album, dedicated to her compositions performed by herself in multi-track (flute, voice, piano, synthesizer and drums), to realize this in solo concert, she mastered a looper pedal. She went on to form a group, “Les Spirales”, with Aidje Tafial (drums), Matthieu Guillouët (bass) and Séverine Eouzan (sax), with a particular focus on music education for first-grade pupils in Paris elementary schools.
In 2022, she won a grant from the “l'Expo'70 fund” for ‘Expo 2024 Osaka’ to carry out an international cultural exchange project, entitled ‘Trio Ralchenitsa ~The bridge between Japan and Bulgaria’, inviting the Duo Ourkouzounov with one of the greatest masters of Bulgarian traditional music, accordionist Petar Ralchev.
In 2023, she was invited to perform as an improviser on the “Symphony of memories” project by Charlie Aubry (visual artist) at La Pop, a multidisciplinary creative space. In addition, the opening concert proposed by her students from the CMA19 improvisation workshop was chosen as one of the “10 ideas to enjoy at the Nuit Blanche du Grand Paris” in the newspaper “Le Monde”. In 2024, they put on a second performance in Bordeaux, and the autographed score and improvisation video are exhibited at the FRAC-MECA museum in Bordeaux, as a joint work with Aubry.
The “France-Antilles-Japan” orchestral project, in collaboration with Max Cilla (a traditional flutist from Martinique island) - for which Mié not only coordinated, but also composed and arranged all the music - was a resounding success, with concerts in 2022 by the French flute orchestra conducted by Marc Hajar (artistic director Pierre-Yves Artaud), and in 2024 by a symphony orchestra directed by Jane Latron and Stéphane Granjon, made up of 3rd cycle and specialized cycle students from the conservatories of the XIXth and Xth arrondissements of Paris.
Passionate about teaching, Mié currently teaches flute and improvisation at the conservatory of the XIXth “Jacques Ibert” in Paris. She is a prizewinner of the National Qualification Competition for Professors in Paris. Not only has she defended the need for improvisation teaching for 20 years, but she has also contributed to musical education in the community by teaching in public schools. She is also a trainer for young teachers at the CEFEDEM of Normandie.