Kanako Yoshikane

The official website of Kanako Yoshikane, an accomplished concert pianist

308.jpg

 

Born in 1990, she has been an active concert artist since her first recital. She took her first piano lesson from her mother at the age of three. After she entered Toho-Gakuen music school for Children, she continued her musical education under Prof. Kazuko Ariga and Takako Okamoto.

In 2008 she graduated from Toho-Gakuen Music High school with Prof. Michiko Okamoto and was selected for the Graduate Concert, at the one of the great halls in Tokyo, Kioi Hall. During her high school years, she was already performing in many cities; besides her official concerts, she was often invited to play at Hospitals, Kindergartens and nursing homes. In 2009 she performed at a Kindergarten in Tokyo, which was broadcast on TV and her work for children was admired.

She has won many prizes at several competitions including 3rd Prize at Japan-Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002, 2nd Prize at All-Japan Students Competition in Tokyo in 2008, semi-finalist at the International Hummel Competition, the unanimously First Prize at International Piano Competition Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Meryem “Excellence”, in 2015 she received the 3rd. Prize “Town of Gagny International Piano Competition” and 2nd Prize “Airola Premio Moscato International Piano Competition”.

She received a Scholarship from Rohm Music Foundation for 2011-2012. She completed her Bachelor's degree with the unanimous best grade at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and her Master’s degree with honors at the University of music and performing arts in Vienna.

Her concert schedule has taken her to many cities across Europe and beyond, including Berlin, Essen, Weimar, Salzburg, Paris, Geras, and playing as a soloist with the Torun Symphony Orchestra. She has also received lessons from Kazune Shimizu and Andrea Bonatta. Within the last year she has released an album «Hexameron», recorded with the German label MDG, in which she performs selected Variations from Liszt's "Hexameron" and as a solo-piece, Czerny's

"Variations on Sehnsuchtswaltzer by Schubert" Op.12. Her performance on the CD was critically acclaimed.

Jed Distler wrote

"Kanako Yoshikane’s understated elegance and supple fingerwork in Herz’s fluffy filigree stands out ........ Yoshikane’s pianism happily extends to her rippling, poetic performance of Czerny....."

In November 2014, she performed with Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the famous danish conductor Michael Schønwandt, the Piano part of Richard Strauss's “Der Bürger als Edelmann” 

In 2016, she performed with Rainer Horneck (Concertmaster of Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) and her teacher Christoph Hinterhuber at the Lafnitz Chamber Music Festival in Austria. In September 2019 she gave a concert with Walter Auer (Principal Flute Player of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology concert series which received much acclaim.

Her solo piano teachers include Mieko Ariga, Kazuko Ariga, Takako Okamoto, Michiko Okamoto, Peter Lang, Claudius Tanski, Christoph Hinterhuber, as well as Wolfgang Reddick (chamber music) and Meinhard Prinz (accompaniment). Currently, she is active as a solo and chamber musician in both Europe and Japan.

Copyright 2018 Kanako Yoshikane