is a Japanese pianist specializing in contemporary classical music.

Biography

Born in Kamakura, she began studying piano at the age of five and received her M.A. degree from the

Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music or is the most prestigious art school in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, and Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained renowned artists in the fields of painting, scul ...

. Her teachers included Yutaka Ito, Ray Lev, and George Vásárhelyi. She presented her first public recital in 1970 and her European debut in 1972.Biographical sketch from Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music appearing on enotes web site, accessed May 18, 2009
/ref> She has released numerous recordings and many 20th-century composers, including John Cage,

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

, Peter Garland, Alvin Lucier,

Isang Yun Isang Yun, also spelled Yun I-sang (17 September 1917 – 3 November 1995), was a Korean-born composer who made his later career in West Germany. Early life and education Yun was born in Sancheong (Sansei), Korea under Japanese rule, Chōsen ...

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Toshi Ichiyanagi was a Japanese avant-garde composer and pianist. One of the leading composers in Japan during the postwar era, Ichiyanagi worked in a range of genres, composing Western-style operas and orchestral and chamber works, as well as compositions usin ...

Carl Stone Carl Stone (born Carl Joseph Stone, February 10, 1953) is an American composer, primarily working in the field of live electronic music. His works have been performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the ...

, Maki Ishii, and

Takehisa Kosugi was a Japanese composer, violinist and artist associated with the Fluxus movement. Biography Kosugi studied musicology at the Tokyo University of the Arts and graduated in 1962. He first became drawn to music listening to his father play ha ...

, have written pieces for her. She has also performed works by Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez,

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde c ...

Tōru Takemitsu was a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu was admired for the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre. He is known for combining elements of oriental and occidental phil ...

, and her brother, Yuji Takahashi. On the occasion of the premiere of ''Triadic Memories'', Morton Feldman, described her as follows: "Aki Takahashi is very different rom_

rom_David_Tudor_or_Roger_Woodward">David_Tudor.html"_;"title="rom_David_Tudor">rom_David_Tudor_or_Roger_Woodward._Takahashi_appears_to_be_absolutely_still._undisturbed,_unperturbed,_as_if_in_a_concentrated_prayer..._The_effect_of_her_playing_on_me_is_that_I_feel_privileged_to_be_invited_to_a_very_religious_ritual."liner_notes_to_her_recording_of_Triadic_Memories,_ALM_Records_ALCD_33. Takahashi_has_toured_extensively_throughout_the_United_States,_Europe,_and_Asia,_and_served_as_Artist-in-Residence_at_the_University_at_Buffalo,_The_State_University_of_New_York.html" "title="David_Tudor_or_Roger_Woodward.html" ;"title="David_Tudor.html" ;"title="rom David Tudor">rom David Tudor or Roger Woodward">David_Tudor.html" ;"title="rom David Tudor">rom David Tudor or Roger Woodward. Takahashi appears to be absolutely still. undisturbed, unperturbed, as if in a concentrated prayer... The effect of her playing on me is that I feel privileged to be invited to a very religious ritual."liner notes to her recording of Triadic Memories, ALM Records ALCD 33. Takahashi has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, and served as Artist-in-Residence at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York">State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

from 1980–81. She was a guest professor at the California Institute of the Arts in 1984 and 1985.

References

External links

Aki Takahashi
- Official site 1944 births Women classical pianists Musicians from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese classical pianists Japanese women pianists Contemporary classical music performers Living people People from Kamakura Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century Japanese women musicians 21st-century women pianists {{classical-pianist-stub