Akiko Ebi
Meet Other
|
After winning the 41st Music Competition of Japan during her freshman year at Tokyo University of the Arts, EBI studied at the Paris Conservatory in Aldo Ciccolini’s class. She has been based in Paris and Tokyo since then and is dedicating herself to performing in 40 countries around the world, as for example, Berlin Philharmony Hall, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Theatre de Champs-Elysees, Pleyel, Suntory Hall, Teatro Colon, Wigmore Hall, etc. She received lots of prizes including 2nd Grand Prix of the Long-Thibaud Competition with 4 special prizes selected by A. Rubinstein, Laureate of the International Chopin Piano Competition, Japan Gold Disc Awards (two times), the Exxon-Mobile Music Award (Japan), the Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Government & Gloria Artis Bronze Medal by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. In 2024, she received the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs Award from the Government of Japan. She has been active in TV, radio, CD recordings, and performing with many world-leading orchestras and conductors such as Skrowatczewski, Foster, Guschlbauer, Janowski, Sado, Pommier etc. A two-piano duo concert performed with Martha Argerich was televised in many countries repeatedly. She is continuously invited to various masterclasses around the world, and served as Jury Chairperson of the 8th and 9th Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, and served on the jury of many distinguished international competitions including the 17th, 18th and 19th International Chopin Piano Competitions in Warsaw, Clara Haskil, Montréal etc. EBI has recorded 12 CDs as complete works of Chopin’s Etudes, Nocturnes, Preludes, and Impromptus, concerto, the piano works by Fumet (the world premiere), Ravel, and Hikari Oe, and the chamber music works (the piano quintets) by Webern, Franck, and Pierne, and the other chamber works by Lekeu and Faure performed with violinist Yumino Toyoda. Three volumes of complete piano solo works by Ravel giving her fingering and pedaling are published by Zen-On Music Edition. She translated a book written by Pascal Le Corre “Aldo Ciccolini, Je suis un lirico spinto” into Japanese. EBI is Chairman of the Frederic Chopin Society of Japan, chairperson of the Planning Committee of the Yokohama City International Piano Concert, and a specially appointed professor at Toho Gakuen School of Music. She served as a former Professor in the Graduate School of Nihon University College of Art, and a former Visiting Professor in the Department of Instrumental Music at Tokyo National University of the Fine Arts. |
