Born in Kyoto, Japan, Yukiko Nishimura began studying music on her own initiative at an early age. She started taking piano lessons at the age of four and began learning composition at eight. After graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts with a major in music theory and composition, she continued her studies at the University of Miami in Florida and the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

She has been commissioned to write works by performers, ensembles and organizations. Her projects include composing music for Edison’s Frankenstein (1910), the first silent horror film in American cinema history, theatrical projects and collaborations with such as Noh theater, a traditional form of Japanese drama.

Nishimura studied composition with Atsutada Otaka, Alfred Reed, Richard Danielpour and Giampaolo Bracali, and piano with Ivan Davis and Sara Davis Buechner.