(born 1962) is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Biography

Born in Kawasaki, Ogawa studied at the

Tokyo College of Music is a private music school in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded as in Kanda, Tokyo, in 1907. History The college moved to Toshima in Tokyo in 1924 after the original campus was destroyed by the Great Kantō earthquake. Some notable gra ...

(1977–80) and the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

in New York (1981–5), and later with Benjamin Kaplan.Kennedy M, ed. "Ogawa, Noriko" in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'', 2nd edn rev., Oxford University Press
(accessed 9 December 2008)

Career

After coming in second in a Japanese music competition in 1984, Ogawa attained third prize in the 1987

Leeds International Piano Competition The Leeds International Piano Competition, informally known as The Leeds and formerly the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition, takes place every three years in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1961 by Marion, Countess ...

, which launched her international performing career. Her New York début came in 1982, and her London début in 1988. Since 1997 Ogawa has been an exclusive recording artist for

BIS Records BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden. BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings. ...

. She has collaborated in a piano duo with British pianist Kathryn Stott since 2001, and the two women have recorded works by

Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

for

. In 2003, they gave the first performance of

Graham Fitkin Graham Fitkin (born 19 April 1963) is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres. Described by ''The Independent'' in 1998 as "one of the most important of our younger co ...

's ''Circuit''. She also has a longstanding collaboration with clarinetist

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

. Ogawa is noted for recording the piano concertos of

Alexander Tcherepnin Alexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Черепни́н, link=no; 21 January 1899 – 29 September 1977) was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin (pupil of Nikol ...

with conductor

Lan Shui Lan Shui (Chinese: 水蓝, born 1957) is a Chinese-American conductor. He was the Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra from 1997 to 2019. He has retired as Music Director on 26 January 2019, and was given the title of Conductor Laure ...

and the

Singapore Symphony Orchestra The Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Singapore. Its principal concert venue is the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay. The orchestra also gives concerts at the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and performs about ...

. Ogawa worked closely with Japanese composer

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 appeared as an advocate for his music on the

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

classical music programme, ''Visionaries'', in September 2008. In 2011 she concluded a complete series of

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

recordings and a new Mozart disc for BIS Records. Her Debussy discs have won the Editor's Choice of Gramophone Magazine, as well as Takemitsu recording. Ogawa regularly commissions new works and has performed premieres of works by composers of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included seria ...

, such as

Yoshihiro Kanno Yoshihiro is a Japanese masculine given name, and less commonly, a surname. There are dozens of different ways to write the name in kanji. Some examples of possible writings *義弘, "justice, vast" *義広, "justice, wide" *義寛, "justice, g ...

Dai Fujikura Dai Fujikura ( ja, 藤倉大 ''Fujikura Dai''; born 27 April 1977) is a Japanese-born composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Dai Fujikura was born in 1977 in Osaka, Japan. He moved to London when he was 15 to study at Dover Colle ...

. Ogawa teaches at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

(Professor of Piano) in London, and at the

(visiting Professor) in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Humanitarian work

Ogawa has been involved in fundraising for relief and rebuilding efforts following the March 2011 Japanese earthquake. She serves as a Cultural Ambassador for the

National Autistic Society The National Autistic Society is the leading charity for autistic people and their families in the UK. Since 1962, the National Autistic Society has been providing support, guidance and advice, as well as campaigning for improved rights, serv ...

, performing concerts for the parents of autistic children. She calls this concert series "Jamie's concerts", after the severely autistic son of two musician friends with whom she lived in London and whom she supported as they learned to diagnose and then cope with the disorder, saying: "I am not a doctor, I’m not a nurse, I’m not a teacher for someone with special needs, but I am a musician. What I realised is that I can do something – I can play concerts that give people like Jamie’s parents a break and an opportunity to meet other people who care for autistic children".

References

External links

Official home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ogawa, Noriko Japanese classical pianists Japanese women pianists Academics of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Prize-winners of the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition Juilliard School alumni Musicians from London Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom People from Kawasaki, Kanagawa 1962 births Living people Women classical pianists 21st-century classical pianists 21st-century English women musicians 21st-century women pianists