Yuriko Shibata is a Japanese composer, orchestrator, musical director, pianist, and dramatist living and working in New York City. Her specialty is creating beautiful, specific melodies to communicate the emotions of the characters, transcending language to speak right to the audience’s hearts.
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Recent career highlights include KUSAMA, which was featured in a table read presented by Theater Now and the National Alliance for Musical Theater in June 2025, and later selected for the Songwriters Showcase at the NAMT Festival in October 2025. Her songs were also selected for Theater Now’s Cabaret Series and performed at Soho Playhouse in April 2025.
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Her work also includes the musical SKIN, which debuted in an Off-Broadway workshop production at Rattlestick Theater and was later featured in New York Theater Barn’s 2025 New Works Series. In addition, Yuriko served as music director for the feature film Jesus, winner of the Kutxabank–New Directors Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
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Yuriko holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Tokyo College of Music and an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She is currently a participant in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop (Advanced), Theater Now’s Musical Writers Lab, and Theatrical Rights Worldwide’s The Collective.