Banquet on June 25, 2026

Ai Shimizu began studying classical piano in early childhood. Inspired by Tsuuko Iwamoto, who encouraged her after seeing her free and expressive approach to classical music, she transitioned to jazz. She then studied under Hiroshi Ikeda.

She enrolled in the Jazz Course of the Music Department at Osaka College of Music (Junior College Division), where she studied under Hiroshi Hatamoto and Akira Ishii. During her studies, she began performing primarily in the Kansai region.

After graduation, she joined numerous groups led by various musicians, gaining extensive performance experience across a wide range of stages. She has earned strong trust from veteran musicians and continues to expand her presence as one of the leading young pianists representing the Kansai area.

Currently, she performs with a variety of ensembles ranging from emerging to established artists, including the Ai Shimizu Quartet, Hiroshi Tanaka Trio, MASAX274, Flauta Brasileira, and the Brazilian Music Study Group. She also serves as the president of the “Hard Bop Study Group,” where she works to deepen understanding of hard bop and promote its appreciation.

In August 2017, she conducted a live recording session featuring drummer Fukushi Tainaka as a guest from New York. In February 2018, she released her debut album as a leader, “Decade.”

In 2020, she received the 13th Naniwa Jazz Award.

Ryo Hatakeyama was born in Kobe, Japan. He was educated in an International School in Japan and made him interested in the American music. His musical training started at the age of 18 as aa Electric Bassist, after graduating high school in 1995. He entered Koyo Conservatory in 1996 and have studied harmony and various types of music. It was the place where he met jazz and made him into it so much that he switched to Acoustic Bass at the age of 20.

In 1999, he entered the Berklee College of Music. He took lessons from Ron Mahdi, John Lockwood, Dave Hollender, and Jim Stinnett. During his college days, he have played in various venues and musician. After graduating Berklee in 2002, he made a decision to continue his musical career in Japan. He has played in various venues, cities, countries and festivals such as Taipei International Jazz Festival, Europa Fest, Pinneberg Jazz Festival, Kanazawa Jazz Street, Tokushima Jazz Street, Takatsuki Jazz Street, Nagano Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Osaka Bluenote, Billboard Osaka etc...

In 2018, he released his first album "Mosaic Structure" In 2021, he released his second album "Crab Nebula" He has played with Benny Green, Craig Handy, John Pizarreli, Makoto Ozone, Eiji Kitamura, Chihiro Yamanaka, Fumio Itabashi to name a few.

Takashi Kuge is a Jazz Drummer/Musician based in Osaka/Japan. Producer/sound engineer for “Osaka Jazz Channel” available on YouTube.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Singapore. Throughout 2012-2019, he has performed as a percussionist/performer at Universal Studios Japan (Located in Osaka) for parades and live shows. Throughout 2015 to 2020, he has played for a regular band on board “Pacific Venus” – a luxury cruise ship owned by Japan Cruise Line Co,. Ltd. (Travelled to various countries such as Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bali Islands, Philippines, India, Thailand, and many more including domestic ports in Japan.)

In November 2018, he was selected as a member for the recording of “Buddies” - a CD that was produced by a jazz bar in Osaka/Japan and exclusively recorded at Bunker Studios located in Brooklyn/New York. (Music/album also available on iTunes) Since October 2020 (currently ongoing), Kuge has been hosting a monthly jazz live/video shoot event “Jazz at the Parlor” at Brooklyn Parlor Osaka. (Venue produced by Blue Note Japan.) Video archives available on YouTube - Osaka Jazz Channel. Since May 2022, he has also been organizing a monthly jazz event for the 25th anniversary of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Osaka. (Currently ongoing.) Takashi Kuge is currently based in Osaka, Japan as an active jazz musician/producer

Prof. Robert Brainard leads a research group at the University at Albany studying the development of “Molecular Organometallic Resists for EUV”, and leads and plays tenor saxophone in a student group called “NanoJazz”.

Prof. Mark Neisser is a chair professor at Tsinghua University. His current research interests are novel resist materials, EUV lithography and etch of novel photoresists. He plays tenor saxophone.

With TNO High Tech Industry since 2007, Dr. Diederik Maas (PhD in experimental physics) develops instrumentation and applications for metrology and inspection in the semiconductor industry. Learning to play modern jazz on clarinet and sax is one of his other passions.

Dr. Christopher Bottoms is a research engineer and technical lead in the Semiconductors division of IBM Research. He specializes in lithography process and materials for Advanced Logic, Chiplet, and Packaging applications. In his free time, he is also a multi-instrumentalist musician supporting university and local groups in a variety of genres.