Bronwyn Kirkpatrick is a shihan (master) of the shakuhachi who studied with shakuhachi grand-master Dr Riley Lee in Sydney, Australia for seven years. She holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in clarinet performance, graduating from the Canberra School of Music with Distinction in 1994.
Bronwyn has played the shakuhachi with the Bell Shakespeare Theatre Company, the Sydney Dance Company and TaikOz.

In 2003, Bronwyn released her solo CD “Moon” with the Brahma Kumaris. In 2004, Bronwyn was an invited performer at shakuhachi festivals in New York and Japan and was awarded her jun-shihan (teacher) and shihan (master) shakuhachi licenses from Dr Riley Lee.

In 2004 Bronwyn was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and in the following year an Australia Council Skills and Arts Development Grant, which enabled her to undertake further study of the shakuhachi in Japan with Kakizakai Kaoru, Furuya Teruo and Yokoyama Katsuya.

In 2005, Bronwyn was a prize winner at the prestigious All-Japan National Music (Hogaku) Competition (for Traditional Japanese instruments); the first non-Japanese person ever to win a prize. She also performed at the first Hawaiian International Shakuhachi Festival.

In 2008, Bronwyn was an invited performer and teacher at the World Shakuhachi Festival in Sydney and performed in the Adelaide season of “Chika” for the OzAsia Festival.

In 2009 she was a 'cultural ambassador' for the Japanese Embassy Pacific Region giving concerts in Fiji with koto player Shoko Ono, and in 2010 performed as a soloist with Symphony of Australia and in a live broadcast on ABC Classic FM for the International Society of Contemporary Music.

Recent performances have included concerts at the Jenolan Caves, Sydney Fringe Festival, Sydney Sacred Music Festival, Nolan on Lovel Gallery and the annual Sakura Matsuri at the Japanese Gardens in Cowra, NSW.

Bronwyn performs with members of the Sawai International Koto School, headed by Koto master Satsuki Odamura. She has also appeared on numerous CDs; recent releases include ‘The Sacred Fire’ by Kim Cunio and Heather Lee and ‘Desire Lines’ by Tony Eardley.

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