Ayako Uehara Piano

“Following her excellent Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky CD, the young Japanese pianist drops a star in this Prokofiev recital. For crisp fingerwork and genuine feelings she’s still supreme… The Visions Fugitives come off the best: darting poetic miniatures, dispatched with delicacy and panache.

The Times, 25 April 2008, Geoff Brown

(Prokofiev - EMI Classics)

Born in 1980, in Takamatsu, Japan, Ayako Uehara became the focus of international attention after winning the first prize in the 12^th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 2002.

This season, Ayako made her recital debuts in Copenhagen and at the Tonhalle, Zurich as well as returning to the Suntory Hall to close her Japanese tour. Since making her debut with the LSO in 2005/06 season with Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Ayako has returned to work with the orchestra each season and this season performed with Vassily Petrenko. She made a successful debut with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Noseda in the UK and on tour in Japan .

Recent orchestral highlights include engagements with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande at the invitation of Mo. Janowski, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra with Fabio Luisi, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra under Fedoseyev, Dresden Philharmonic with Simone Young , Russian National Orchestra with Mikhail Pletnav, Toscanini Philharmonic with Lorin Maazel and a tour of Japan with the Berlin Radio Orchestra and Marek Janowski.

Since 2003, Ayako has recorded exclusively with EMI International and has just recorded her third disc, Prokofiev Solo Works which will be released in December 2007. Other recordings include her first album “Ayako Uehara/Tchaikovsky Grand Sonata” featuring all Tchaikovsky compositions. Ayako’s first ever recording was her live recording from the Tchaikovsky Competition which was released in Japan and sold over 30,000 copies.

This is for information only and should not be reproduced. Please see full biography for further details.