Chiyuki Okamura (Soprano)

Born: Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, the island of Shikoku, Japan.

The Japanese soprano, Chiyuki Okamura-Riem [Japanese: 本文 へ ジ ャ ン プ], studied with Joji Obara at the University of her hometown. In Germany she continued her education at the Hamburg Conservatory and at the Academy of Arts in Bremen. Among her teachers were Knut Schoch, Harry van der Kamp, Clemens Löschmann, Peter Kooy and Gemma Bertagnolli. In addition, she participated in master-classes with Helmut Kretschmar, Norman Shetler and Christoph Prégardien. At the 26th International Early Music Competition in Yamanashi (Japan) in May 2013 Chiyuki Okamura was awarded the 2nd prize (a first prize was not awarded).

The studies of early music and historical performance practice a particular focus in Chiyuki Okamura artistic activity, while she also appears frequently in several vocal groups in addition to regular solo engagements. So she got in recent years invitations to Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kanzawa and Kochi) as well as to Germany, Poland, Russia and China.

Under Rolf Beck, Chiyuki Okamura performed both in George Frideric Handel's oratorio Alexander's Feast with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchester and in Gabriel Fauré's Requiem with the Bamberger Symphoniker and the Orchestre de Paris. Both works were published as a CD recording by Hänssler Classic. With the organist Matthias Eisenberg she sang under the baton of Cornelius Trantow Felix Mendelssohn's Hör mein Bitten at Lübeck's Dom; with the Südwestdeutschen Philharmonie Konstanz under Vassilis Christopoulos she could be heard in J.S. Bach's Weihnachts-Oratorium (BWV 248). In 2010, she sang with the ensemble Echo du Danube the Christmas Oratorio I pastori di Bettelemme by the German-Italian composer Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger for the label Accent.

In March 2013 Chiyuki Okamura participated in the American tour of the Bach Collegium Japan. Under the conductor Masaaki Suzuki works by J.S. Bach and F. Mendelssohn were performed together with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

Sources:
Chiyuki Okamura Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (June 2015)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2015)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Philippe Herreweghe

Soprano

Member of Collegium Vocale Gent:
[C-26] (2020): BWV 45, BWV 118, BWV 198 [2^nd recording]
[C-27] (2023, CD): BWV 99, BWV 6 [3^rd recording], BWV 147
[V-19] (2018, Audio): BWV 245 [4^th recording]
[V-22] (2018): BWV 245 [5^th recording]

Stephan MacLeod

Soprano

Member of Gli Angeli Genève:
[GV-47] (2021, Video): BWV 158, BWV 56 [ripieno]
[LV-1] (2021, Video): BWV 158, BWV 56 [ripieno]
[C-3] (2021, CD): BWV 56 [3^rd recording; ripieno], BWV 158 [3^rd recording; ripieno]

Links to other Sites

Chiyuki Okamura - Sopran (Official Website) [Germana/Japanese]