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Mitusko Uchida

Mitusko Uchida
Richard Avedon

Pianist

Legendary pianist Mitsuko Uchida brings a deep insight into the music she plays through her own quest for truth and beauty. Renowned for her interpretations of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven, she has also illuminated the music of Berg, Schoenberg, Webern and Boulez for a new generation of listeners.

Artist in Residence at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Mitsuko Uchida played the opening piano recital in January 2017. This season also marks the start of a three-year collaboration with the Southbank Centre in London. In 2016 Mitsuko Uchida was appointed an Artistic Partner to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and began a series of concerts directing Mozart concerti from the keyboard in tours of major European venues and Japan. Other recent highlights included an acclaimed performance of the Schönberg piano concerto with the London Philharmonic and Vladimir Jurowski at the 2015 BBC Proms, play-directing the Cleveland Orchestra in performances at Severance Hall and Carnegie Hall, and two appearances at the 2016 Baden-Baden Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle. Recital tours in 2016 included the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Royal Festival Hall and Carnegie Hall. With a strong commitment to chamber music, Mitsuko Uchida collaborates closely with the world’s finest musicians. Following concerts with Dorothea Röschmann, the Ebène Quartet and Magdalena Kožená in 2015, Uchida also appeared in chamber music programmes with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the United States. This season, Mitsuko Uchida partners with Jörg Widmann for a series of concerts at the Wigmore Hall, Ellbphilharmonie and Carnegie Hall.

In the second half of 2017 Mitsuko Uchida will embark on a Schubert Sonata series, featuring 12 of Schubert’s major works which she will tour throughout Europe and North America. She will also return to the Salzburg and Edinburgh Festivals and appear with the Berlin Philharmonic and Simon Rattle, the Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti and the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia and Antonio Pappano.

Mitsuko Uchida’s loyal relationship with the finest orchestras and concert halls has resulted in numerous residencies. She has been Artist-in-Residence at the Cleveland Orchestra and at the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Mozartwoche and Lucerne Festival. Carnegie Hall dedicated to her a Perspectives series entitled ‘Mitsuko Uchida: Vienna Revisited’ and the Concertgebouw a Carte Blanche series.

Mitsuko Uchida records exclusively for Decca. Her extensive discography includes the complete Mozart and Schubert piano sonatas. Since 2011 Uchida has been recording Mozart’s Piano Concerti with the Cleveland Orchestra live in concert and directing from the piano. The first release won a Grammy Award in 2011. The last instalment featuring concerti K.453 and K.503 is scheduled to be released in autumn 2016. Her recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra won four awards, including The Gramophone Award for Best Concerto.

Highly committed to aiding the development of young musicians, Mitsuko Uchida is a trustee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and Director of the Marlboro Music Festival. In June 2009 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In May 2012 she was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal and in 2014 received an Honorary Degree from the University of Cambridge. A guest of honour at the Salzburg Mozartwoche in 2015, Mitsuko Uchida was awarded the Golden Mozart Medal. In October 2015, she received the Premium Imperiale Award from the Japan Arts Association.

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