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The Japanese harpsichordis and organist, Masako Awaji, with Chiyoko Arita at the Toho Gakuen College of Music (2012-2014) and later with Yoshio Watanabe. In 2017, she graduated from the the Bachelor program of the Royal Conservatory The Hague in Netherlands where she studied the harpsichord with Jacques Ogg, Kris Verhelst, basso continuo and improvisation with Patrick Ayrton, the fortepiano with Bart van Oort and Petra Somlai, the clavichord with Menno van Delft. She also received harpsichord lessons from Pieter-Jan Belder, Siebe Henstra, Arthur Haas, Kenneth Weiss, Christophe Rousset, Andreas Staier and Skip Sempé. She is currently a Master student.
In 2011, Masako Awaji performed the concert for the harpsichord by Walter Leigh. It was the first performance of this piece in Japan. In 2016, she debut the solo harpsichord concert at the Utrecht Fringe Festival where she performed the Fugue improvisation. At the end of March 2017, she participated in the Gianni Gambi International Harpsichord Competition in Italy and she received the 3rd place. At the middle of September 2018, she participated in the International Baroque Music Competition for Harpsichord in Rouen and she was the finalist of Asian candidate. At the middle of January 2019, she participated in the first International Basso continuo and Partimento competition in Poland and she took the special prize. At the middle of May 2019, she won the 1st prize at La Stravaganza First International Harpsichord competition in Romania.
In Masako Awaji's debut concert in Japan in April 2017, she performed the Fugue improvisation. Her second solo concert in Tokyo will take place at the end of December 2017. As a continuo player, she is a member of the Apollon’s cabinet. They debut at the Utrecht Fringe Festival in 2015. She organized the La petite Aurola which was performed at the same festival in 2016. She joined the project, L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, a production by Michael Chance, in January 2017. She played the continuo part and she conducted the orchestra. The opera turned out to be a great success at the British Embassy in Den Haag, the Netherlands. In March 2019, she passed the young fellowship audition as a harpsichordist of Nederlandse Bachvereniging. |
