Rising Star
Yoko Kikuchi
Born in Maebashi, Japan in 1977, Yoko Kikuchi began her piano learning at the age of 4. She received her musical training from Kiyoki Tanaka. After her graduation in 1996, she moved to Italy and studied piano with Franco Scala, Antonio Ballista, Lazar Berman, and Fortepiano with Stefano Fiuzzi at the “Incontri col Maestro” International Piano Academy in Imola.
Her International career was launched in 2002 when she won the first prize at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg. In August 2003 Yoko Kikuchi gave two acclaimed performances of Mozart Piano Concerto No.21 with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, under the direction by Ivor Bolton at the Mozart Matinee of the Salzburg Festival, which firmly established her as a young artist not to be missed.
She has performed with many conductors including Laurence Foster, Gerd Albrecht, Dennis Russell Davis, Ivor Bolton, HK Gruber, Hubert Soudant, Günter Pichiler, Pedro Halffter, Christian Mandeal, Anton Nanut, Hanns Martin Schneidt, Saulis Sondeckis, Christian Arming, David Coleman, Petr Altrichter, Arie Van Beek, Erich Binder, Golo Berg, Seikyo Kim, Yip Wingsie, Alexander Dmitriev, Junichi Hirokami, Tadaaki Odaka.
Since her debut, Yoko Kikuchi has performed with major orchestras in Asia and Europe, such as the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Nuremberger Symphoniker, Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonic Konstanz, Robert-Schumann Philharmonie Chemnitz, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonisches Orchester Plauen-Zwickau, la Camerata Virtuosi di New York, Slovenia Radio Television Orchestra, Hellas Orchestra di Patrasso, Orchestra da camera di Mantova, Orchestra Pomeriggi Musicale di Milano, Chamber Orchestra of Auvergne, la Sicilia Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano e Trento, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, and all major Japanese Orchestras – HNK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, etc.
Yoko Kikuchi’s love of chamber music has led her to collaborate with musicians including Radek Baborak, Ensemble Wien Berlin, Leipzig Quartet, Afflatus Quintet.
Her debut CD Mozart Album: Piano Concerto no.21 & Piano Sonata no.KV331 Alla turca was awarded the 18th Music PenClub Prize’s “Best Recording by a Japanese Artist”. In 2007 she won “Idemitsu Awards”.
In addition, she also participated in several music festivals, such as Mozart-Matinee of Salzburg Festival, Schloss Eggenberg concert series in Austria, Sintra Festival, Madeira Festival, Leiria Festival in Portugal, Settembre Musica in Torino, Maggio musicale Fiorentino in Firenze, Mittelfest, Emilia Romagna Festival, Musica Insieme of Bologna in Italy.
In 2009 January she did a cycle of complete Mozart piano sonatas in a series of 4 recitals with Fortepiano and Modern piano at the Kioi Hall in Tokyo.