A passion for music and artistic connection

Over the years, she has received a number of prizes for piano, including the first prize at the Queensland Piano Competition in 2014 and 2017, the Wight Memorial Medal for Piano in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016, and the Jefferies Bursary for Music at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. During her Bachelor studies at the Queensland Conservatorium, Tokiwa came first place in competitions such as the Ross Peters 4MBS Chamber Music Prize, Basil Jones Sonata Prize, Minnie May Bussey Prize, Ruby Cooling Prize, and the Queenslanders Foundation Prize, as well as receiving the Sir Samuel Griffith Scholarship.  

Tokiwa’s passion and dedication to piano was instilled from a young age, keeping her busy with both her academic and musical studies. 

In Year 8, Tokiwa received a Certificate of Performance with Trinity College London with Distinction and was awarded the Highest Score Award and the Queensland Top of State award. In Year 9, she completed her Associated Diploma. 

‘Looking back at my high school days, I can see how busy and stressful it all was, but at the time I thought of music as a fun distraction from schoolwork. I think the most important thing for me was to have some sort of routine. I would always come home and practice until around 9 or 10 pm, and then do my schoolwork afterwards.  

‘The fact that I balanced practicing piano, playing flute in Symphonic Winds, singing in choir, doing my schoolwork, and also participating in co-curricular sport, like Badminton, during my years at BGGS, made me realise the possibilities and limits of my abilities and has made it easier for me now to juggle multiple things at the same time.’ 

But despite her intense schedule and evident passion for music, Tokiwa didn’t realise she wanted to pursue piano professionally until the end of her time at Girls Grammar. 

‘I have been learning piano since I was four years old, so it is such a natural part of my life that I never thought too much about it. I only understood that it was something I wanted to pursue when we were exploring different career paths in Year 12. I realised that none of the other careers particularly appealed to me and that piano was actually the part of my life that I enjoyed the most.’ 

Upon graduation, Tokiwa studied a Bachelor of Music in Performance (Piano) at Griffith University’s Queensland Conservatorium, before travelling to Oslo to study a Master of Music at the Norwegian Academy of Music (NMW).  

‘I always knew I wanted to study overseas, so I had been researching universities for quite a while before I applied. As this was during the COVID-19 pandemic, most universities had moved their auditions online, which was a blessing in disguise as that meant I didn’t have to fly to different countries in order to audition.  

‘I recorded about an hour of my repertoire and sent the audition tape to a few different schools—the Sibelius Academy, University of Toronto, McGill University, and the Norwegian Academy of Music. I was actually fortunate enough to be accepted into all four schools and ultimately decided to accept the offer to the Norwegian Academy of Music, which was my top preference.’ 

Tokiwa said one of her standout performance moments in her career was performing a concerto with the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra. ‘It is an indescribable feeling playing together with an orchestra to a full audience, filled with buzz and nerves, and elation.’