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Musicians
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Kyoko Hashimoto Described as "a wonderful pianist and deep musician" by the great violinist Sandor Végh and much admired by her fellow musicians, Kyoko Hashimoto is increasingly coming to be recognised as one of the most intelligent, subtle and - above all - expressive pianists playing today. With a repertoire stretching from the pre-baroque to first performances of contemporary works, Hashimoto escapes all categorisation. A graduate of Indiana University and the Juilliard School, pupil of György Sebök, Menahem Pressler, György Kurtag and Ferenc Rados and winner of several major international competitions, Ms Hashimoto has performed in over 25 countries and in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center in the USA, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and at the Wigmore Hall, Snape Maltings and the South Bank in the UK. She has made nearly twenty CDs and recorded for radio and television worldwide, including a series of 20 works by Beethoven for Dutch radio. She appeared as a soloist with orchestra on Japanese television at the age of seven. In March 2012, her concert recording of the 4th of the D.935 Impromptus was chosen alongside interpretations by Edwin Fischer, Wilhelm Backhaus, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Hotter, etc. for a special programme of 'great Schubert performances' in BBC Radio 3's 'Spirit of Schubert' season. A French expert has hailed her Debussy Preludes book II from the same live recital disc as one of the three finest interpretations ever recorded, with those of Dino Ciani and Sviatoslav Richter. The Japanese critics of the Tokyo recital agreed: "I was mesmerized by this outpouring of pure rich fantasy ...... Hashimoto is an international concert pianist of the highest class." (Ryuichi Shibata) Kyoko Hashimoto directs the department of piano at the Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal, where she is Professor of Piano. |