Credits:

Kimiko Higuchi

Description:

＜Kimiko Higuchi began playing the viol at the age of six under the tutelage of her mother. Studied with Haruko Fujita, Midori Tanabe, Morihiro Okabe, Susumu Nagai, Atsuko Kannishi, K. Helwig, H.E. Liebensahm, G. Agosti, H.C. Staanska, W. Blankenheim, and Dinora Varzi. After graduating from Musashino Academia Musicae, he moved to Germany in 1974. In 1977, he won the third prize at the Finale Ligure International Piano Competition in Italy. Since then, she has given numerous recitals in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and won the "Scherzo Special Prize" at the Lugano International Piano Competition in Switzerland in 1980. In 1985, she performed Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and in October 1993, she gave the Japanese premiere of the piano version of Mahler's "Ode to the Earth," which was nominated as one of the "Top Ten Concerts" by "Ongaku no Tomo" and received rave reviews. In October 1993, he gave the Japanese premiere of the piano version of Mahler's "Ode to the Earth.Since 1988, she has given nine successful recitals at the Berlin Philharmonic and Kammermusiksaal (sponsored by Adler), establishing herself as a regular in the Berlin piano world. In September 1994, he won a prize in the professional pianist category at the Ibla Grand Prix International Competition in Sicily, Italy, and made his CD debut in 1997 with a Liszt program, which was well received. As a piano pedagogue, he has achieved unprecedented success and attracted high acclaim and attention by consistently producing top prize winners and orchestral collaborators at the German Youth Competitions, the Steinway Piano Competitions in Berlin and Hamburg, and the Bach Piano Competition in Keten, among others, from his students in Berlin. He has served as a lecturer at the Berlin Church Music Academy's Viano Department and at the Berlin City Music School's Viano and Chamber Music Departments. He has been a jury member of the Pitina Viano Competition and the Berlin Steinway Viano Competition, and has been a regular member of the Federation of German Musical Artists in Berlin since 2005.Since her homecoming recital at Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in 2008, she has been active in a wide range of activities, including competition judging, lectures, and public lessons, in addition to her long performance experience in Europe, and performing throughout Japan. After returning to Japan, she released two CDs from N&F: "Debussy 12 Etudes" (MF-25701) in 2012 and "Memories of Nohant, Chopin: Sonata No. 3, etc." (MF-25702) in 2014, the latter of which was highly praised as a "Record Geijutsu" semi special selection. (2/2) Universal Music/IMS