[Change of Pianist] International Music Festival NIPPON 2020

We regret to inform you that H?vard Gimse (piano), whose participation in the "International Music Festival NIPPON 2020” (in February-March 2020) had previously been announced, will not be able to come to Japan due to his circumstances. Therefore, another artist will perform on the following dates. Thank you for your understanding. ■Beethoven Chamber Music Marathon Concert, Produced by AKIKO SUWANAI Sunday, March 8, 2020, ［Part.1］1:00 p.m. Piano Trio No. 4 in B flat Major, Op.11 "Gassenhauer" (Demarquette／Kaneko／Kikuchi) Change: H?vard Gimse ⇒ Yoko Kikuchi Piano Trio No. 7 in B-Flat Major, Op. 97, "Archduke" (Roussev／Demarquette／Kikuchi) Change: H?vard Gimse ⇒ Yoko Kikuchi ［Part.3］7:30 p.m. Quintet for Piano and Winds in E-flat Major Op.16 (Yoshii／Kaneko／Hidaka／Koyama／Kikuchi) Change: H?vard Gimse ⇒ Yoko Kikuchi Violin Sonata No.4 in A Minor, Op.23 (Suwanai／Sakata) Change: H?vard Gimse ⇒ Tomoki Sakata Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96 (Suwanai／Sakata) Change: H?vard Gimse ⇒ Tomoki Sakata ■Akiko Suwanai Chamber Music Projects, Akiko Plays CLASSIC & MODERN with Friends 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, 2020 7:00 p.m., Friday, March 13, 2020 Change: H?vard Gimse ⇒ Markus Groh ■Concert in Kamaishi Supporting Recovery Efforts after the Great East Japan Earthquake 6:30 p.mThursday, March 12, 2020 Change: H?vard Gimse ⇒ Markus Groh [Biography] Yoko Kikuchi (Piano) [past_image 3]Yoko Kikuchi was catapulted into the limelight when she became the first Japanese first prize winner at the 8th International Mozart Competition in 2002. She subsequently appeared in the Mozart-Matinee series at the Salzburg Festival in 2003, and since then she has been actively performing in Japan and overseas. She is now one of Japan’s leading pianists in terms of both artistry and popularity. Yoko Kikuchi has achieved success not only in appearances with major Japanese orchestras, but also internationally in recitals, performances with various orchestras, and chamber music concerts. Since 2011, she has frequently been invited to the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. In 2015, her performance with the Afflatus Quintet at the Prague Spring Music Festival was televised on Czech national TV and earned high praise. In 2009 and 2018, she carried out ambitious projects in which she performed all the piano sonatas of Mozart on the fortepiano and the modern piano, winning favorable reviews. Yoko Kikuchi has also performed in collaborations with artists from the ballet world, including the internationally celebrated dancers Diana Vishneva and Miyako Yoshida. She is also active as a recording artist and has released CDs on Avex and Octavia. Yoko Kikuchi was awarded the 18th Music PenClub Prize for Best Recording by a Japanese Artist, the 1st Jomo Arts and Culture Prize (Music Division), and the 17th Idemitsu Music Award. Markus Groh (Piano) [past_image 2]Pianist Markus Groh gained immediate world attention after winning the Queen Elisabeth International Competition in 1995, the first German to do so. Since then his remarkable “sound imagination” and astonishing technique, have confirmed his place among the finest pianists in the world. During the current season, Mr. Groh made his debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica under Carl St. Clair, performing the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1. Later this season, he returns to the U.S. on tour with the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet, in the Morgan Library Chamber Music Series. In 2018/2019, he will make debuts with the Pacific Symphony and the National Symphony of Colombia, as well as return appearances with the Omaha Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica. Markus Groh has also appeared with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland,Detroit, Houston, National/Washington, D.C., the New York Philharmonic, Omaha, Philadelphia, SaintLouis, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver, among others. Worldwide engagements include the Beijing Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, Residentie Orkest/The Hague, Helsinki Philharmonic, London Symphony, Malm? Symphony, MDR Orchestra/Leipzig Gewandhaus, New Japan Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, to name a few. A spellbinding recitalist, Mr. Groh draws from the piano shapes, textures, and colors that one seldom hears in live performance. In addition to his stunning debut on the Hayes Piano Series at the Kennedy Center in 2013, he has appeared at the Friends of Chamber Music series in Denver and Kansas City, the Vancouver Recital Society, and several times at The Frick Collection in New York. Chamber music activities include regular tours with the Tokyo String Quartet and the newly-founded Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet. Widely acclaimed for his interpretations of Liszt, Markus Groh was a student of Professor Konrad Richter in Stuttgart and Professor Hans Leygraf in Berlin and Salzburg. He has recently been named Professor of Piano at the University of the Arts in Berlin. ⇒ Learn More [past_image 1]