As of May 2009, and starting on this page, I'm going to include information about what Aimi was doing from various other sources. To keep the emphasis on the YouTube videos, this information appears after the video entries for each year. I have used five sources: 1. Aimi's profile on AADGT Japan (since removed) 2. Wikipedia; 3. the sleeve notes to an unreleased CD; 4. Aimi's Fan Club (now inactive), which has information up to 2007; and 5. PTNA Newsletters.

It should be noted that some of this information may not be entirely reliable! I’ve done what I can to check some of it from other sources on the internet, but this has proved difficult in many cases. Where possible I give links to corroborating sources. The numbers in brackets after specific items of information refer to the five main sources I have listed above. (Note: In need of update now we have To-On and EMI Japan artists pages)

2004 — Age 8¼ to 9¼ (cont.)

Event/Date: Unknown

Piece(s) played: Debussy Arabesque no. 2

Duration: 3:40

Posting details: klingsor93, 5 November 2007; LVB1770, 15 December 2007.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: Some may be interested to compare Debussy's own performance played from a piano roll. Ok, rolls may be suspect, but it does show that you need a special ear and mood to play french music! The point is well made on a blog page by my musician friend Corinne: Debussy — For Adults Only?, where she follows the train of thoughts that struck her when she listened to this performance by Aimi.

Event/Date: PTNA? Jul/Aug 2004?

Piece(s) played: 1. J. S. Bach, Allemande from 6th French Suite; 2. Chopin, Mazurka no. 5 in B flat major, op. 7-1.

Duration: 3:41

Posting details: cristeny, 11 June 2010 (first posted by klingsor93, 5 November 2007).

YouTube (cristeny)

Comments: Brace your ears for the rather poor acoustic in this one: sounds like mics are too far back in an echoey hall.

Event/Date: Unknown (public performance)

Piece(s) played: Chopin Nocturne no 20 in C sharp minor (op. posth.)

Duration: 3:49

Posting details: tempuploader, 10 July 2007; LVB1770, 28 February 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: Immaculate. It is suggested that she is 8 or 9 here, but I have the feeling that this recording may be incorrectly placed and that it belongs in Aimi's tenth year — compare her costume and appearance to the Mozart Coronation performance below.

Notes for 2004

In January 2004 Aimi competed in the final stage of the Fifth International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia, winning the Gold Prize at 1st and 2nd grade Elementary School level. (1) (Link: Past Winners' page 2004 on Chopin Competition site)

She made her concert debut with the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra. (3; no further info found)

She became the youngest winner ever of the PTNA piano competition at Junior G level (under 16s). (1,3) On page 2 of the PTNA News Letter 2004 we read, under the heading "8 year old girl amazed jury and audience":

"With her little body and small hands, an eight-year-old-girl exhibited outstanding maturity and infinite musical talent. She, Miss Aimi Kobayashi won at the grade under 15 years old (Jr. G grade), leaving other participants far behind. At the final round, she performed Beethoven Sonata No. 10-1, Chopin Etude op. 25-2 and Nocturne. Her music was really coming from inside, and was expressed thoroughly on the piano. . . ." [The Newsletter says under 15, but in fact it is under 16s]

She began receiving piano lessons from Yuko Ninomiya.

2005 — Age 9¼ to 10¼

Event/Date: Televised concert at Zankel Hall (Carnegie Hall), New York, June 5.

Piece(s) played: n/a

Duration: 8:03

Posting details: cristeny, 29 May 2008

YouTube link

Comments: Appears to be an edited version of the AADGT clip linked below. Both are from an LCI TV program made by Jacques Collet. Includes another prize-winning pupil of Yuko Ninomiya, Shohei Sekimoto, and the delightful Mirai Sumino playing at an AADGT-sponsored event at Carnegie Hall. Also an interview with Elena Rossman, director of the AADGT. In french with english subtitles. Aimi is heard performing parts of her Chopin Nocturne no. 20 (Zankel Hall) and the second movement of Beethoven Sonata no. 5 at a private performance. Click on the thumbs below for some video grabs.

A longer and more complete clip (13:14) can be viewed from this AADGT page. The first 5 minutes are sequences that precede the YouTube clip (but no further shots of Aimi), and it includes a short sequence, also cut from the YouTube version, in which Yuko Ninomiya charmingly but emphatically declares Aimi a genius.

Event/Date: New York, private recital, June 2005.

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 5 in C minor op. 10 no. 1 (complete, in one continuous clip)

Duration: 15:42

Posting details: Aimipiano, 5 August 2009, on the Daily Motion site (for the YouTube posting see below)

Dailymotion link

Comments: Lovely, with Aimi moving in her usual fascinating way. My thanks to Jacques Cinelli (aka Aimipiano) for help in identifying this event and when it took place.

Beethoven Sonata no. 5 on YouTube

Aimiklingsor93 has now reposted the sonata on YouTube, in three parts. First movement (4:28); Second movement (7:32); Third movement (3:52).

I recommend watching the continuous version from the Daily Motion site as the sound appears to be slightly more in synch and it doesn't have one or two technical glitches that mar the YouTube version. It's the same video, but for the YouTube posting it had to be split to fit within the 10-minute limit.

Event/Date: Chiba Paruru Concert Hall, Chiba, December 2005.

Piece(s) played: Mozart Piano Sonata no. 12 in F major K332 (audio only).

Duration: 15:08

Posting details: PTNA – Piano Encyclopedia series, 15 March 2010.

1st movement Allegro (4:58)

2nd movement Adagio (5:04)

3rd movement Allegro assai (5:06)

Comments: Not clear whether this is the event televised by NHK TV listed in Notes for 2005. The ambience is a little hard and echoey, but this is a classy performance. Aimi leaves one in no doubt that she can play a Mozart sonata with consummate mastery.

Event/Date: Unknown — possibly part of the Chiba Hall recital (see previous entry).

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 10 in G major, 1st movement, Allegro

Duration: 5:00

Posting details: siocanon, 1 December 2006.

YouTube link

Comments: For the complete performance, listen to the clips now posted by the PTNA on YouTube (see next entry below). This may be part of the Chiba Hall performance recorded in December 2005 (see entry above). The limited glimpse we get of the stage here does not look like the stage at Chiba, but a description on the internet says there's a system of panels on the rear wall that can be changed to give different acoustics, so it's possible it is the Chiba hall. Whatever, a check in an audio program shows that the 1st movement in this video clip is identical to the audioin the first clip below. Aimi also played this sonata when she was six.

Event/Date: Unknown — see comments in previous entry.

Piece(s) played: Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 10 in G major (audio only).

Duration: 13:16

Posting details: PTNA – Piano Encyclopedia series, 15 March 2010.

1st movement Allegro (5:10)

2nd movement Andante (4:21)

3rd movement Scherzo allegro assai (3:45)

Comments: This is definitely the same performance as in the video above — the audio tracks of the Allegro are absolutely identical.

Notes for 2005

March 22 International debut at la salle Cortot, Paris. (1,2,3,5) Played Beethoven Sonata no. 10 op 14 no. 2 and Bach Partita no. 2. (5)

June 5 Appeared at Carnegie Hall (Zankel Hall), New York, sponsored by AADGT. Concert was televised across Europe by French TV channel LCI and was also carried by Tokyo Metropolitan Television (Tokyo MX TV). (1,3) Zankel Hall seats 600.

October 23 Competes in final round of 59th All Japan [National] Student Music Competition [or Concours] (1,2,3), held in Fukuoka, and was the first fourth-grader in the competition’s history to come first in the Elementary School Division (4th-6th grade). (1)

December (n.d.) Appeared on NHK television. (1,3,5)

Awards: Aiko Iguchi prize, Nomura prize, Tsuzuki Music prize and Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun prize. (3)

2006 — Age 10¼ to 11¼

Event/Date: Public televised concert 25 January 2006

Piece(s) played: Mozart Piano Concerto no. 26 in D major "Coronation", last 10 minutes of the Allegro.

Duration: 9:59

Posting details: jakehun, 13 May 2006

YouTube link

Comments: From a performance with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra on 25 Jan 2006, when she was 10 years and 4 months. Conductor was Hirofumi Yoshida, venue Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall. (Information from calendar for January 2006, OperaCity.JP).

Aimi began playing this concerto some two years earlier, with her first public performance at the Hupfer Piano Concours, held on 27-28 March 2004, when she was eight and a half. She was already playing the first movement beautifully then. (Info from documentary by Yamaguchi TV broadcast Jan 2010; for an illustrated transcript of the relevant section, go to this anchor link on my site.)

This appears to be the earliest video of Aimi posted on YouTube. The poster, Jakehun, a Japanese resident, has not been online for at least two years, and this is the only video he has ever posted.

For me this performance is a good example of the flawless “sound image” Aimi has in her head and the perfection with which she realizes it on the keyboard.

Event/Date: Aimi's first orchestral concert abroad, in Moscow with Vladimir Spivakov conducting the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, 24 December 2006.

Piece(s) played: Mozart piano concerto no. 26, “Coronation”. Short extract from end of third movement. (Aug 2009: For the complete concerto, see “A wonderful find” below.)

Duration: 2:26

Posting details: Global Private Equity website (this is not a YouTube clip).

Global Private Equity link

Comments: Global Private Equity sponsored a recording session by Aimi in New York in June 2008. This short clip gives a tantalising hint of how she plays the last movement. This is not of course the same concert as the Yomiuri Nippon S.O. event at the beginning of 2006, of which there is the long clip of the first movement.

Event/Date: Aimi’s first orchestral concert abroad, in Moscow with Vladimir Spivakov conducting the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, 24 December 2006.

Piece(s) played: Chopin Impromptu no. 1 in A Flat, op. 29, played as encore.

Duration: Link 1 - 6:29; Link 2 - 4:43

Posting details: Aimiklingsor93, 10 November 2009; LVB1770, 8 December 2007.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: This is ridiculously beautifully played — a once in a lifetime performance. Use Link 1 — it's longer than the previous version and much better quality.

If you can’t get enough of this performance, on their home page the AADGT have posted another view, taken from the audience with a handheld camcorder. Although Aimi is seen partially from the back, the video is interesting in showing more of the scene and also the rapt attention she was getting from the orchestra as well as the audience. Here is the link to the AADGT home page; scroll to the bottom of the list of video clips on the right until you find “Aimi Chopin Impromptu 1”. The clip, though fuzzy, can be expanded to full screen and lasts just over 4 min.

Click on the two thumbs below for enlargements from an older YouTube posting.

Complete performance of Mozart “Coronation” concerto in Moscow NOT AVAILABLE

May 2010: Sadly this is no longer available on the eTV channel TV Kultura. It’s a good example of why I’d recommend to all Aimi’s keener fans to equip themselves with ways to download or copy favourite videos. There’s quite a lot of software around to do this. One never knows when videos are going to disappear!

Notes for 2006

If 2005 was good for Aimi, 2006 appears to have been something of an annus mirabilis.

January 25 Appears with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra at Tokyo Opera City Hall (Yomi-kyo Orchestra House) playing Mozart’s Coronation concerto. Performance featured on Nippon Television’s “Late-Evening Concert”. Aimi was the youngest soloist to play with the orchestra since the violinist Mayuko Kamio (born 1986) ten years earlier. (1,2,3)

From the concert hall’s concert page for Jan 2006: Hirofumi Yoshida conducted; also on program: excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Entrance was free by invitation.

May (n.d.) “Aimi Kobayashi (11) played Mozart concerto No. 23 with special orchestra arranged for this festival.” Occasion was national holiday week, “La folle journee au Japon — Fete de Marunouchi 2006 — held throughout the Marunouchi area, Tokyo. Approximately 20,000 people enjoyed touring around the 35 free salon-style concerts” (PTNA News Letter 2006, p. 7) This is strange: there is no other record of her having played this concerto, which may be a mistake for no. 26, and she was 10, not 11.

National holiday week is “Golden week”, a series of four national holidays that starts with Showa (April 29) and continues with Constitution memorial Day (May 3), Greenery Day (May 4) and Children’s Day (May 5).

October 29 Second appearance at Carnegie Hall, this time in the large Isaac Stern auditorium, which seats up to 2,800. Concert was part of the AADGT-sponsored “Passion of Music” series (1,3).

December 24 Mozart Piano Concerto no. 26 “Coronation” played at Svetlanov Hall (Moscow International House of Music), Moscow, with Vladimir Spivakov conducting the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. As an encore she played Chopin’s 1st Impromptu. The press conference afterwards was covered by three TV stations and 33 newspapers. Aimi’s appearance was sponsored by the AADGT, and the concert was a great success. (1,2,3)

Awards: Aimi was awarded Yamaguchi Prefecture’s “Glory Culture Prize” three times over (three medals awarded). (1,4)

2007 — Age 11¼ to 12¼

Event/Date: LCI TV France interview with teacher Yuko Ninomiya and recital excerpts, broadcast 6 January 2007. Made by Jacques Collet.

Piece(s) played: N/A

Duration: 10:26

Posting details: mikka2007, 7 January 2007.

YouTube link Removed for copyright reasons

Comments: It’s a great pity that this has been removed as it contains lots of interesting stuff. Not least a very interesting and forthright interview with Mrs Ninomiya, but also Aimi responding lucidly when questioned about how her playing has changed since last year. There’s a transcript of the interview here (this site)

Event/Date: Japanese TV program, preparing for concert with teacher Yuko Ninomiya at Acros Fukuoka Hall, Fukuoka city, Kyushu, Japan, given on 2 April 2007.

Piece(s) played: N/A

Duration: 3:30

Posting details: tempuploader, 10 July 2007; LVB1770, 28 February 2008.

YouTube link 1 YouTube link 2

Comments: Shows her (in curlers!) practising parts of first movement of Beethoven's Pathétique sonata. Clip continues in next clip immediately below.

Click on thumbs below for video stills: Aimi's predilection for sticky buns; Yuko Ninomiya; final touches before the concert; the stage manager booms “Go, yes!”, and Aimi marches onstage to face another audience.

Event/Date: Japanese TV program (continues from previous clip), extracts from concert at Acros Fukuoka Hall, Fukuoka city, 2 April 2007, followed by discussion in TV studio.

Piece(s) played: N/A

Duration: 3:01

Posting details: tempuploader, 10 July 2007.

YouTube link

Comments: Very brief extracts include dramatic passage from 1st movement of Beethoven Pathétique sonata (cracking pace!) plus a bit from 2nd movement, then a couple of fragments from his first piano concerto. Towards the end she is seen playing Chopin’s 1st Impromptu, the piece she performed with such feeling in Russia in December 2006.

These two clips appear to be from a program made by Yamaguchi TV in 2007. Yamaguchi TV has made several programs about the increasingly famous girl from Ube (which is in Yamaguchi prefecture). There’s an illustrated transcript of the most recent program, made in 2010, on this page (my site).

Notes for 2007

February Aimi and her parents move to Tokyo, ending the need for her to make frequent flights to have lessons with her teacher, Yuko Ninomiya. (Source: NIFC bio of Aimi)

March 31 Soloist with Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra at Suntory Hall, Tokyo. Played Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1. (1,2,3)

April 2 Concert at Acros Fukuoka Symphony Hall playing Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1 with the “Fukuoka Chamber Orchestra”. (1,3) As there seems to be no such chamber orchestra, I suspect this may be (or be part of) the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, which is based in Fukuoka.

In April Aimi was enrolled as a scholarship student in the “preparatory division” of the Toho Gakuen School of Music, Tokyo. (Source: NIFC bio of Aimi)

May (n.d.) Interview on French TV channel LCI. Broadcast in May. (3) I’ve no idea what this refers to.

November (n.d.) “Third” interview on LCI TV, showing her being auditioned by (or playing for) Christoph Eschenbach at NHK Hall (part of the NHK Broadcasting Center) in Tokyo. (3) The 20-minute program by Jacques Collet was broadcast 1 Jan 2008. There’s a transcript of the program here (my site).

Next page: YouTube video catalog page 3

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Page created 25 April 2009. Last updated 12 June 2010

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