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Michie Koyama, as a finalist in both the 7th Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1982 as well as the 11th Chopin International Piano Competition in 1985, is the first Japanese pianist to receive awards at both of these renowned competitions. Since then, she has since established a worldwide career as one of the foremost Japanese pianists.
In recent years, her concerts have included two evenings of piano concertos celebrating her 20th anniversary on the concert stage in November 2005 at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, which received the Grand Prize from the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs in 2005.
Starting in June 2006, Ms. Koyama took the unprecedented step of announcing the programs of a series of 24 recitals over 12 years <the World of Michie Koyama>∼A Romantic Journey Through the Piano Keys> to take place at Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo, continuing through 2017. The same series is also being held in Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, Fukuoka and Nagoya.
Her collaborations with orchestra include more than 60 concertos, ranging from baroque to contemporary. She has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of Saint Martin Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony, the Russian National Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philhamonische Virtuosen Berlin, the Hague Residentie Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
In addition, she has performed with some of the world's most renowned conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Herbert Blomstedt, Otmar Suitner, James Conlon, Raphael Frübeck de Burgos, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Kazimierz Kord, Alexander Dmitriev, Jean Fournet, Claus Peter Flor, Sir Neville Marriner, Horst Stein, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Fedoseev, Yuri Temirkanov and others. She often appears in world tours as soloist with several Japanese orchestras.
Further concerts have included the complete sonatas of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff between 2002 - 2004, as well as a series of 5 concerts of Brahms' Chamber Music between 2001 and 2005. Ms Koyama has frequently performed in chamber music concerts, with partners including pianist Maria João Pires, violinist Augustin Dumay and cellist Mario Brunello.
Her talents have won her numerous honors. Ms Koyama was presented the 12th Chopin Association Award in 1986 and as a result was invited to perform in the Chopin Festival held in the Czech Republic that same year. In 1990, she gave a recital in the hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, and gave a London debut recital with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall in 1991. She has served on the juries of Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1994 and Long-Jacques Thibaud International Competition in 2004. In recent years she has been a performer at the International Piano Festival of La Roque d'Antheron, giving recitals there in 2006 and 2007.
As an exclusive recording artist for Sony Music Japan International, Ms Koyama has released 22 CDs, including the complete sonatas of Scriabin, Chopin's complete Ballades and Schubert's Wanderer Fantasie and Impromptus. |