Born in Tokyo. Shimizu took first prize of the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Competition and also a recital prize in 1981.
 In 1982, Shimizu performed with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. In 1983, he performed with the Prague Philharmonia at the Prague Spring Festival. Following this success, he was invited to Czechoslovakia to perform as a soloist at the Musikfestpiele Bratislava. This was followed by a debut recital in Munich.
 In 1986 he performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rozhdesvensky for his London debut. That year Shimizu also recorded three piano concerti with LSO, conducted by Michael Tilson-Thomas, No. 1 by Tchaikovsky, No. 2 by Rachmaninoff and No. 1 by Liszt.
 From 1995 to 1997, Shimizu performed all Beethoven piano sonatas in Tokyo. These concerts were recorded and released as a complete set under the Sony Classical label. From 2004, he started to record the complete Chopin piano works, and 3 CDs from Octavia Records have been released.
 He has performed with many of the world's orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Marinsky Young Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, he has performed with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gianandrea Noseda, Michel Tilson-Thomas.