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The Japanese pianist, Michie Koyama, started learning piano playing at the age of 5. She completed musical high school at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, moving on to college level at the same University, studying with Michiko Yoshida and Hiroshi Tamura. She participated in international music competitions in Tokyo (reached semi-final stage, 1980). She is the only Japanese pianist ever to have won prizes at the international music competitions in both Moscow (the 7th Tchaikovsky Competition, 3rd Prize, 1982) and Warsaw (the 11th Chopin Competition, 4th Prize, 1985).
In 1991, Michie Koyama made her London debut at the Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then she has established a worldwide career as on as one of the foremost Japanese pianists. She toured in Europe and the USA. She has performed with top orchestras such as the Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Symphoniker, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, English Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonishe Virtuosen Berlin, Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Sinfonia Varsovia, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She often appears in world tours also appeared as soloist with several Japanese orchestras. She has worked with such conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Rapahel Fruhbeck de Burgos, James Conlon, Andrew Davis, Alexander Dmitriev, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Fedossev, Claus Peter Flor, Jean Fournet, jKazimierz Kord Neville Marriner, Seiji Ozawa, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Horst Stein, Otmar Suitner, Yuri Temirkanov, and others.
Michie Koyama's repertoire includes over 60 piano concertos and many solo works ranging from Baroque to contemporary. She also appears in chamber ensembles, notably with violinist Augustin Dumay and pianist Maria-João Pires. She performs at major music festivals. In 1999, she appeared at the International Chopin Festival in Duszniki, playing W.A. Mozart, J.S. Bach, Sergei Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Frédéric Chopin. In 2012, she toured Japan with Maestro Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, and then Moscow in 2013. In 2006, she started a grand-scale project "A romantic journey through the piano keys," which ended in 2017. This project consisted of 24 Recitals in 12 years (two concerts per year, in spring and autumn) in 7 Japanese cities: Sapporo, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Sendai, Fukuoka, and Kitakyushu. Since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, she has been visiting numerous schools and public facilities in the Tohoku region that was seriously damaged by the earthquake.
Michie Koyama has made 30 recordings for Sony, including works by Frédéric Chopin (Sonata in B minor, Mazurkas, Polonaises, Ballades, Scherzos etc.), Robert Schumann (Carnival, Kreisleriana etc.), Franz Liszt (Mephisto Waltz, En rêve, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Campanella, Feux follets etc.), Sergei Rachmaninov (Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini etc.). Her latest CD, entitled "Chaconne," won the 51st Record Academy Awards in Japan 2013 in the best instrumental solo category.
In 2005 Michie Koyama won the Grand Prize for music in the Arts Festival of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and in 2013 she was awarded the prize for music from TonenGeneral Group. She participated in Pacific Music Festival, Sapporo in 1999 and 2001 as a soloist with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and as a Guest Artist in 2013. In 2010, she sat on the jury of the 16th International Fryderyka Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. |
