Hannah Kagawa

New Zealand Percussionist, Composer, Educator and Craftsman

Hannah Kagawa is a Christchurch‑born New Zealand percussionist and composer who is currently in the third year of her Bachelor of Music at the University of Canterbury, majoring in Performance and Composition. She studies percussion under Grammy‑nominated percussionist Dr Justin DeHart. Supported by a Trinity College London ATCL Percussion Diploma, Hannah maintains an active performance career across classical, contemporary, and global percussion traditions.

This includes performing with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra as a casual percussionist and serving as principal timpanist of the NZSO National Youth Orchestra, as well as studying Indian tabla and Indonesian gamelan. Her artistic development has been supported by international opportunities, including attending the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Indianapolis through the Cloyd Duff Memorial PASIC Scholarship in 2024.

Hannah is also an active composer. Her works have been commissioned and performed internationally, and her catalogue spans solo, chamber, and orchestral music, with a particular emphasis on percussion repertoire that incorporates crafted instruments and unconventional timbres. Her recent works include Cloud Piercer (2025), a solo marimba work commissioned by Auckland Philharmonia principal timpanist Steven Logan, and Arabesque (2025), an orchestral work premiered by the Carthage Symphony Orchestra of Tunisia. She received early recognition through the University of Canterbury’s Lilburn Composition Competition in 2024, winning first prize for Toys (2024), a solo work for multi‑percussion.

In addition to her creative work, Hannah builds percussion instruments, contributing to New Zealand’s musical community, where specialist craftsmanship in this field is rare. She is currently constructing a five‑octave concert marimba, which will be the first of its kind built in the country. Hannah also teaches at Beat Music Studios and works as a private percussion tutor, offering tuition in percussion, drum kit, music theory, and composition. Through her combined work as performer, composer, educator, and craftsman, she continues to develop a distinctive and evolving presence within the global percussion scene.