Yukiko Hori was born in Osaka. She studied piano under Prof. Kazuko Yasukawa since she was 13. After graduating from the High School of Music at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, she completed her undergraduate studies at the same institute, obtained her master's degree there in 1980, and was a recipient of the Leonid Kreutzer Prize. In 1981, she was appointed as assistant accompanist in the Department of Strings at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts. She went to Europe in 1986 to study under Prof. Christoph Lieske, and received the Solistendiplom in Switzerland in 1988. She was also a prizewinner at the Concurso Internacional de Ejecución Musical Maria Canals de Barcelona. She spent 12 years in total in Switzerland: not only was she teaching at the Konservatorium Bern and at the Konservatorium Schaffhausen, but she was a frequent recitalist and also active as a soloist in orchestral performances and as a partner for chamber music and lieder. The result of her activities in Europe can be summarized by this recital review: "The outstanding strength of this wonderful pianist lies in a thorough musical figure based on her distinctive perspective, which won the audience's affections" (Der Bund, March 1998).

After returning to Japan in the spring of 1998, she resumed concertizing and teaching young people at Ferris University. She gave a concert cycle, "Johann Sebastian Bach: 6 Partitas Series Concerts" from winter 1999 to spring 2002 and received favorable reviews. In the fall of 2003, she was invited by the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen to conduct piano masterclasses and recitals. She has issued Liszt's Sonata and Ravel's Miroirs on CD, as well as some chamber music and concertos with orchestra, and in August 2006 her collection of Bach Partitas were released.