Yoko Kikuchi
Piano
YOKO was born in Japan.
She moved to Italy in order to complete her studies at the “Incontri col Maestro” International Piano Academy in Imola (Franco Scala, Stefano Fiuzzi) in 1996.
In 2002, she won the first prize at the International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, since then she has performed with major orchestra in Asia and in Europe.
Yoko has performed with many conductors including Lawrence Foster, Ivor Bolton, Yutaka Sado, Gerd Albrecht, Dennis Russell Davis, Leif Segerstam, HK Gruber, Pedro Halffter, Christian Arming, Dan Ettinger and Rainer Honeck among others.
She has performed with the NDR Radio Philharmonie Orchester Hannover , Gulbenkian Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Orchesta Sinfonica National Argentina, Orchestra Symphonique de Bretagne, Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, all Japanese Orchestras and others.
She also participated in several music festivals such as Salzburg Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and others.
Yoko is also passionate about other forms of art and she recently collaborated with classical ballet dancers including Diana Vishneva, Marcelo Gomes, Miyako Yoshida and others.
Her debut CD (Mozart) was awarded the 18th Music Pen Club Prize"Best Recording by a Japanese Artist". Since then ten more CDs have been released.
Yoko is living in Vienna.