Biography

奥田有紀美

Born in Kyoto Prefecture, she began playing the piano at the age of 7. She has performed in Japan, Germany, Poland, Italy, Estonia, and Switzerland, appearing in concert series and music festivals. Major performance credits include the Toho Gakuen University Lunchtime Concert (recommended by President Tokihiko Umezu), Nippon Foundation Lunchtime Concert, Kawai Omotesando Concert Series, Yamaha Ginza Salon Concert Series, Bechstein Young Professionals Series in Cologne, and a concert at the Consulate General of Japan in Düsseldorf. She has also been invited as a soloist for the Adolf von Henselt Society concert series in 2026 at Henselt's birthplace.

She has performed as a soloist with the Narva City Orchestra, Lüneburg Symphony Orchestra, and Toho Gakuen Orchestra.

After graduating from Toho Gakuen High School Music Department, she graduated from Toho Gakuen College of Music. During her studies, she received the Japan Piano Tuners Association Award and performed at the association's New Artist Concert, University Piano Department Graduation Concert, and University Graduation Concert. After graduation, she entered the Toho Gakuen Graduate School as the top student, and after completion, moved to Germany.

From autumn 2018, she studied in the Piano Solo Master's program at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, obtaining the Konzertexamen (National Performance Diploma) in Piano Solo in 2022. In 2024, she completed the Chamber Music Master's program. In the 2023/24 academic year, she served as a répétiteur in Professor Hans-Christian Schweiker's cello class at the same university.

She has studied piano with Kazuyo Baba, Hisako Motomura, Keiko Takeuchi, Ikuyo Nakamichi, Nobuhito Nakai, Dina Yoffe, and Ilya Scheps, and chamber music with Severin von Eckardstein, Tomoko Kato, the late Kazuoki Fujii, Tsuguo Tokunaga, Christian Vardi, Harald Schoneweg, Anthony Spiri, and Robert Kulek. She has also received guidance and masterclasses from Mikhail Voskresensky, Michel Béroff, Jacques Rouvier, Shigeo Neriki, Chun-Mo Kang, Bernd Goetzke, Claire Désert, Akiko Ebi, Hisako Kawamura, and Rena Shereshevskaya.

She has won numerous domestic and international competitions, with major awards including 1st Prize in the High School Division of the 12th Japan Performers Competition, Gold Prize at the 10th Novi International Music Competition, 3rd Prize at the 10th Romanian International Music Competition, 3rd Prize at the 29th Les Splendeur Music Competition, 3rd Prize at the 5th Toho Piano Competition, 2nd Prize at the 3rd Toho Piano Concerto Competition, Excellence Award at the 5th Sun Heart Ensemble Audition (Piano Trio), 2nd Prize at the Vienna International Music Competition 2019 (Austria), 2nd Prize at the 8th International Piano Competition "Città di San Donà di Piave" (Italy), Special Prize at the 6th Vigo International Piano Competition 2022 (Spain), 2nd Prize (highest rank, unanimous) at the 4th France Music Competition, 2nd Prize at the Brigitte Kempen Internationaler Wettbewerb 2023 (Germany), and 2nd Prize at the 9th Colafemmina International Piano Competition "Premio Giovani Pianisti" 2025 (Italy).

She was a scholarship recipient of the Munetsugu Denji Foundation from 2020 to March 2025. In 2021 and 2022, she received grants from the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia for freelance musician support.

Currently, she is actively performing as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe and Japan, and is also enthusiastically teaching the next generation.