Sunday, January 1, 2023

Aisa Ijiri


Teaching Languages : English, Japanese
Teaching Period : July 14 (arrival) - 20 (departure)


Following her sensational recitals at the Tokyo Opera City (2010), the Carnegie Hal in New York (2017) and the Royal Albert Hall in London (2021), Aisa Ijiri has established herself as one of the award-winning concert pianists and has been described as, “a special talent whose European sophistication, fierce passion and poetic sentiment create an artistic atmosphere”- Record Geijutsu, Tokyo.


Born in Japan, Aisa made her European debut at the age of 15 as a concerto soloist at the Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw and as a recitalist at the Konserthuset, Stockholm. Since then, she has given regular recitals at many prestigious venues around the world including the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Cadogan Hall, Fairfield Halls, St. John’s Smith Square, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Kioi Hall (Tokyo), Izumi Hall (Osaka) and at international music festivals including Wimbledon International Music Festival, Three Choirs Festival, Lichfield Festival, and Chopin Festival in Duzniki-Zdroj. Her concerts have been broadcast on Classic FM, BBC1 Television, BBC Radio 3, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), Radio Beograd, N1 TV, Prva TV and CNN Worldwide. Aisa was awarded a “Cultural Encouragement Award” by the Mayor of Shiga in Japan as the youngest ever winner.

 As a concerto soloist, Aisa has performed piano concertos with the Osaka Century Symphony Orchestra (Conductor: Kentaro Kawase and Ken Hsieh), Orchestra Musica Celeste (Conductor: Yasuo Shinozaki), Orion Orchestra (Conductor: Toby Purser), Bushey Symphony Orchestra (Conductor: George Vass), Salonorchester Alt Wien (Conductor: Udo Zwölfer) among others. In 2019, she gave an acclaimed performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 ‘Emperor’ with the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Sachio Fujioka.

Aisa released her piano solo albums “Pilgrimage” and “Ailes d’amour”, featuring the music of Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Prokofiev onN.A.T Records and comtemporary piano albums “SAKURA” and “PRELUDES”, composed for her by Llywelyn ap Myrddin on WW Records. In 2019, Aisa performed as a soloist with the Prague Symphonic Ensemble for the world premiere of a new single ‘Until We Meet Again’ written by EMMY nominated Hollywood film composer Martin Tillman which was broadcast live on Classic FM. In 2020, a piano solo piece ‘Aisa: Sand, Silk and Love’, written for her by Melanie Spanswick was published by Schott Music in the Schott Edition Series. Aisa is an official recording artist for ‘SPIRIO’ by Steinway & Sons.

Aisa has become a cover artist in many international television series, feature films and publications such as CNN Style, Steinway & Sons, Lark Music, Honda Motor Company, Diplomacy & Commence, Wannabe Magazine and UN Women Opinion Leader among others. The feature film “AISA”, directed by Marco della Fonte, produced by Lost Pictures Ltd which Aisa played the starring role has received the Best Experimental Award at the Hollywood Boulevard Film Festival 2020.

Aisa is a graduate of the Kungliga Musikhögskolan, Stockholm (Bachelor’s Degree), Guildhall School of Music & Drama (Master’s Degree) and the Royal College of Music, London (Artist Diploma) with distinction. In 2018, she was appointed Honorary Representative for the Royal College of Music, London.

Aisa is an official Steinway Artist, the Artistic Director of the Tokyo International Piano Association and the Montecatini International Piano Competition. She is also the international jury member of the Hastings International Piano Competition, WPTA Japan and NOMEA.


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