Piano Étoile Series Vol.43
Piano Recital by Aimi Kobayashi

Sept. 17, 2022 (Sat) Start 3:00 pm

Saitama Arts Theater / Concert Hall

Scriabin: 2 Poems Op. 32

Scriabin: 2 Mazurkas Op. 40

Scriabin: Waltz in A flat major, Op. 38

Tchaikovsky: “18 Pieces” Op. 72, No. 2 (Lullaby), No. 3 (Tendres reproches), No. 8 (Dialogue)

Rachmaninoff: “Six Musical Moments” Op. 16, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 

Tchaikovsky: Piano Sonata in G major, Op. 37

Saitama Arts Foundation

Subsidy for the Promotion of Culture and the Arts, Agency for Cultural Affairs(Project to strengthen the functions of theaters and music halls) 

Japan Arts Council

Piano Teachers’ National Association of Japan (PTNA)

Aimi Kobayashi (Piano)

Aimi Kobayashi started playing piano at age three, made her concerto debut at age eight, and started her international career at age nine. In 2005 she became the youngest winner of the National Music Competition of Japan. In 2009, she won the junior section prize of the Asia-Pacific International Chopin Piano Competition, in 2011 the Yasuko Fukuda Prize, in 2012 the third prize at the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition, in 2021 the 4th prize of the Chopin Piano Competition.

In 2011, she was the first student from the Toho Gakuen School of Music to receive a full scholarship and she gave her first recital at Carnegie Hall for the Japan NYC Festival – of which Seiji Ozawa is the music director – before giving a recital at the Tokyo Opera City.

Aimi Kobayashi has performed with several major orchestras, both in Japan and overseas, including Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov and Brazil Symphonic Orchestra under James Judd, Tokyo Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra. In Japan she regularly performs with Yomiuri, Japan Philharmonic and Hyogo Performing Arts Center orchestras… Recent highlights include recitals in La Roque-d’Anthéron and in Salle Cortot in Paris and concerto with Philharmonic Royal de Liège and Tonhalle orchestras.

Aimi Kobayashi has recorded pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Liszt and Chopin at Warner Classics and Schumann and Beethoven at EMI.

She is currently continuing her studies with Meng-Chieh Liu at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Preschool children are not allowed to enter this performance.

Childcare reservations are available for preschool children ages 2 and up.

【Childcare application】

Comaam Inc.

048-240-5000 (9:00-6:00pm except Sat, Sun and holidays)

*1,000 yen per child will be charged.

*Please apply at least one week prior to the performance.

*Application will be closed as soon as it reaches capacity.

*Due to measures against new coronavirus infection, we can only accept one person per performance. Please contact if you wish to apply for more than one person.

Kanon Matsuda, Piano

Born in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, began piano lessons at the age of four under Yoshiko Hosoda.

In the fall of 2002, at the age of 6, she moved to Moscow to study with E. P. Ivanova, M. Voskresensky, and E. Vilsalase, and the following year, entered the piano department of the Moscow Gnessin Secondary Music School(college), the most prestigious music school in Russia, with first prize. In 2004, won the Grand Prix at the Edvard Grieg International Piano Competition in Moscow, Russia. In 2006, won the first prize in the piano category at the Nutcracker International Music Competition organized by TV Russian Culture Channel.

In 2009, won the first prize at the AADGT International Young Musician Competition (New York). In 2010, Grand Prix at the International Competition and Festival of Talented Youth “Classica 2010” (Kazakhstan). In December 2011, selected as the 2011 “Scriabin Scholar” by the National Alexander Scriabin Memorial Museum.

In February 2013, won the first foreigner’s best student award at the Moscow Gnessin Secondary Music School(college). The following year graduated at the top of her class from the same school. The same year in September, entered the Moscow Conservatory of Music as the first Japanese student to receive a special scholarship from the Russian government, graduating at the top of her class in June 2019. (Both Gnessin and the Moscow Conservatory awarded her the “Red Diploma,” which is given in Russia to those who have achieved the highest grades.) In the same year, entered the graduate school of the Moscow Conservatory of Music and completed in June 2021.

In November 2014, made her CD debut from Deutsche Grammophon. In June 2017, released her latest album, “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

First performance with the orchestra was at the age of eight. She has performed with such conductors as Mikhail Pletnev, Mark Gorenstein, Valery Gergiev, Andrea Battistoni, Kazuyoshi Akiyama, Masahiko Enkoji, Tadaaki Otaka, Kenichiro Kobayashi and Ken Takaseki, and with numerous orchestras including the Russian National Orchestra, The State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine Kiev, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Symphony Orchestra.

In 2018, awarded the Kagawa 21st Century Grand Prize.