Mitsuko Uchida
piano

Biography

”Uchida is, simply, Uchida – an elegant, deeply musical interpreter who strikes an inspired balance of head and heart in everything she plays"   Chicago Tribune

Mitsuko Uchida is a performer who brings a deep insight into the music she plays through her own search for truth and beauty.  She is renowned for her interpretations of Mozart and Schubert, both in the concert hall and on CD, but she has also illuminated the music of Berg, Schoenberg, Webern and Boulez for a new generation of listeners, and her recording of the Schoenberg Piano Concerto with Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra won four awards, including The Gramophone Award for Best Concerto.  During recent seasons she has been giving performances of Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, and Opus 101 and 106 (Hammerklavier).  Her Royal Festival Hall performance of Op109, 110 and 111 was described by John Allison, The Times critic, as ‘one of the most transporting concerts London has heard all year’.  Her recording of Beethoven’s Op101 and Op106 was described by Michael Church in BBC Music Magazine as ‘Beethoven in all his grandeur and with all his capacity to express spiritual agony (the slow movement) and heroic struggle and triumph (the first and last movement) revealed with shattering directness ….This disc is of a calibre that I count myself lucky to encounter once in a decade.’  Uchida recently won BBC Music Magazine’s award for ‘Instrumentalist of the Year’ and ‘Disc of the Year’ for this recording.
 
Mitsuko Uchida performs throughout the world with many different partners. In March 2009 she toured Europe with the Philharmonia and Esa-Pekka Salonen playing Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto and as a regular guest artist at both the Salzburg Mozartwoche and the Salzburg Festival, she gave concerts this year with the Vienna Philharmonic and the Hagen Quartet and a liederabend with Magdalena Kozená  This season, Uchida continues her focus on Beethoven, performing all five of his piano concertos with Simon Rattle during a month’s residency with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in February 2010. She will also be participating in European concert tours with the Cleveland Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, giving solo recitals in Paris, New York and Tokyo, as well as returning to direct the Chicago Symphony and appearing at the Vienna Festival with Pierre Boulez and the Ensemble Intercontemporain playing Berg’s Chamber Concerto with Christian Tetzlaff.  Uchida will also be embarking upon a recording project of solo piano works by Schumann.

Mitsuko Uchida records exclusively for Decca and her recordings include the complete Mozart piano sonatas and piano concerti; the complete Schubert piano sonatas; Debussy’s Etudes; the five Beethoven piano concerti with Kurt Sanderling; a CD of Mozart Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Mark Steinberg; Die Schöne Müllerin with Ian Bostridge for EMI; the final five Beethoven piano sonatas; and the 2008 recording of Berg’s Chamber Concerto with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez and Christian Tetzlaff.  Autumn 2009 sees the release of Mozart’s concertos No. 23, in A Major (K.488) and No. 24, in C minor (K.491), with Uchida directing the Cleveland Orchestra from the piano.

Mitsuko Uchida has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to aiding the development of young musicians and is a trustee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust.  She is also Co-director, with Richard Goode, of the Marlboro Music Festival. In June 2009 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Website: http://www.mitsukouchida.com/