Miki Aoki

Praised for “genuinely memorable performance” by BBC Music Magazine, pianist Miki Aoki is widely recognized for her diverse abilities as a pianist and collaborative artist.

Ms. Aoki records exclusively for German Label Hänssler Profil. Her debut album, comprised of the piano works of Zoltan Kodaly, was released in the fall of 2011 and won critical acclaim. Her second CD, ‘The Belyayev Project’, features fascinating compositions varying from solo piano works by Liadow, Glazunov and Blumenfeld to the expressive and rhapsodic piano Trio by Rimsky-Korsakov. It was released in 2013. The Fanfare Magazine praised ‘The Belyayev Project’ as a “graceful, expressive and transparent performance”, and The Ensemble Magazine (Germany) wrote, “...pianist Miki Aoki interprets magically.”

Her third CD, ‘Mélancolie’, was released in May 2016 and was awarded a special prize by the Japanese music magazine “Record Geijutsu”. Her newest recording, ‘Tokyo Story’, was released in 2018. This recording is a world-premiere, featuring music from the films of Yasujiro Ozu in their original piano manuscript versions and has enjoyed an especially enthusiastic reception from the Japanese media.

A frequent guest artist in prestigious concert series and festivals around the world, Ms. Aoki has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall, St. Martin-in-the Fields, St. John’s Smith Square, the Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room at South Bank Centre, the Barbican centre, Blackheath Halls (UK), Laeizhalle Hamburg, Gasteig München, Philharmonie Essen, Beethovenssal Hannover (Germany), Philia Hall, Munetsugu Hall (Japan), Wiener-Saal (Austria), St-Petersburg Philharmonic Hall (Russia) as well as in festivals such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, Salzburger Festspiele, Rheingau Festival (Germany), Menuhin Festival Gstaad (Switzerland), International Chamber Music Festival Silver Lyre (Russia), Beaulieu-sur-la Mer (France), Valdres Festival (Norway), Copenhagen Summer Music Festival (Denmark), Steirisches Kammermusik Festival(Austria), Tertis International Viola Competition and Festival (Isle of Man), Tembi Festival (Indonesia), Phnom Penh International Music festival (Cambodia) and the International Classical Music Festival (Myanmar).

Ms. Aoki has performed as soloist with the National Symphony, London Soloist Chamber Orchestra, Hamburg Camerata, Korean Chamber Orchestra, Washington Sinfonietta and Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México. Her performances have been broadcasted on NDR-North German Radio, RBB- Radio Berlin, Brandenburg, BR Classics, WDR, Hessischer Rundfunk, Radio Suisse Romande, ORF Austria, Radio France, 98.7 WFMT Chicago, MPR Classic and ABC Classic FM Australia and BBC Radio 3.

As a collaborative pianist Ms. Aoki has been employed by the Heifetz International Music Institute, The Perlman Music Program, International Summer Academy Mozarteum Salzburg, Mattheiser Sommer-Akademie, and International Violin Masterclasses at Kronberg Academy. In 2021 she served as the official accompanist for the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Germany. In 2022 she served the same role for the Tokyo International Viola Competition.

 Ms. Aoki regularly plays for lessons and masterclasses of internationally renowned musicians including Yuri Bashmet, Christoph Eschenbach, Christian Tetzlaff, Maxim Vengerov and Tabea Zimmermann. Since 2009 Ms. Aoki has been engaged by the prestigious Kronberg Academy in Germany where she works with exceptionally talented young performers.

Ms. Aoki started playing the piano at age 4 and moved to London at age 9 where she joined the Purcell School of Music. She holds degrees from SUNY Stony Brook University (DMA), Yale University (MM) and Indiana University (BM). She graduated with a distinction in the Konzertexamen degree at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. (Mit Auszeichnung). Between 2012-2016 Ms. Aoki held a full-time Senior Lecturer position at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz in Austria.

Upon starting her new role as Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at Arizona State University for the 2022 fall semester, Ms. Aoki relocated from New York City. She had spent the last five years in New York under the tutelage of Gilbert Kalish and graduated with her DMA degree from SUNY Stony Brook in May of 2022. She held a staff pianist position at the Juilliard School from 2019 and in Winter term 2021/2022 taught as a sabbatical replacement piano professor at Lawrence University (Appleton, WI).

During the pandemic, Ms. Aoki founded and launched the virtual concert series, ‘Musik in the Air’. All programs are woven together uniquely by Ms. Aoki, and each has a theme; each in addition to the mission of ‘Musik in the Air’ which is to bring a world-class concert experience to listeners wherever they may be.