From a portrait of Aimi published on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute (Warsaw) website on the occasion of the Fifth International Music Festival, "Chopin and his Europe", August 2009. A download link for the full photo is on the Institute's website here.

Concert Engagements 2009

Tokyo, Japan, January 9th

New Year Concert, Nikkei Muse Salon, Nikkei Hall, Tokyo. Given with Russian violinist Anastasia Chebotareva

Program:

Beethoven: Violin Sonata no. 5 in F major op. 24 “Spring”

Saint-Saens: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, op. 28

Chopin: Scherzo no. 1 in B minor op. 20 (piano solo)

Milstein: Paganiniana Variations

Massenet: Meditation from opera “Thais”

Kroll: Banjo and Fiddle

Tokyo, Japan, January 27th

Concert Hall, Tokyo Opera City, with the Tokyo New City Orchestra conducted by Andrei Anikhanov

Program:

Mozart: Overture to Magic Flute

Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 1 C major op. 15

Chopin: Piano Concerto no. 2 in F minor op. 21

Played as encore: Chopin’s C minor nocturne no. 20 “Posthumous”

Left: Spring Sonata with Anastasia Chebotareva, January 9, 2009. Right: Piano concerto with Tokyo New City Orchestra, January 27, 2009. My thanks to Tom Wierzbicki for these video stills.

Tokyo, Japan, May 2nd

Bunkyo Kasuga Shunki (Spring) Step, Bario Hall, Tokyo. Details (in Japanese) on this PTNA page.

Whoops! I missed this. Aimi played the first and third movements of the Mozart Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor K466 with a small chamber group conducted by Youichiro Maeda. From the date this appears to have been part of the Golden Week festivities. Will try to find further details. Meanwhile, a video of the complete first movement has been posted by the PTNA: YouTube Mozart K466 1st movement.

Warsaw, Poland, August 23rd and 24th

Aimi will be a soloist at the Fifth International Music Festival, “Chopin and his Europe”, organized by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, Warsaw. She will be playing piano concertos by Mozart and Chopin on a “period” piano with the Netherlands-based Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century conducted by Frans Brüggen. The venue for both events is the Teatr Wielki, or Grand Theatre, of the Polish National Opera.

Sunday, 23rd August, 5.00 pm (rehearsal with audience)

Program:

Mozart, Piano Concerto in D minor KV 466 (See Aimi play the first movement on YouTube)

Chopin, Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 21

Admission is free. Tickets from NIFC office, 9 Piłsudski Square, from 5th August.

Monday, 24th August, 7.30 pm (full concert)

Program:

Mozart, Piano Concerto in D minor KV 466

Chopin, Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 21

Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Incidental music, Op. 61

Tickets:

(Box Office now closed for this event)

Festival program page (with booking details) in English

Festival program page (with booking details) in Polish

The magnificent Teatr Wielki in Warsaw. Below: The poster for Aimi's concert (thanks Tom!)

An observer’s report . . .

Tom W., who attended both events, writes that the concert was a great success. Aimi overcame any difficulties she might have expected from the 1840 Pleyel instrument she played on and turned in a stunning performance of the Mozart D minor concerto. Tom singles out the dramatic C minor section of the second movement for special mention, saying that “she went like a thunder storm for it.” Aimi was called back for no fewer than three encores (fortunately she had prepared three!), all Chopin: a short version of the Scherzo no. 1, a “bombshell” Etude op. 10 no. 4 “played clear, light and ultra fast”, and to put everyone in a more peaceful mood, the Nocturne no. 20. Four concertos and three encores in two days — pretty impressive considering that her body clock must still have been partly on Japanese time, meaning that for her the main concert started at something like 4.30 a.m.!

For more discussion of this concert on these pages, see Piotr Matwiejczuk’s review and Concertgoers’ reports.

August 2010

I have just finished compiling a video of this concert, and I can only say that Aimi was playing fantastically. The Chopin concerto, which was played first, is quite magical. The Mozart is now entirely convincing too, and she brings out its drama and changes of mood and tempo well. The video is for private circulation only at the moment, but if we can get the necessary permissions we hope to post some of the movements on YouTube.

Aimi takes Warsaw by storm . . .

These pics (not clickable) are crops from photos you will find on the Chopin and his Europe festival website here. On that page click on the “Show foto” link above the thumbs.

Nagoya, Japan, October 25th

A solo recital by Aimi at a small private concert hall in Nagoya. The recital, of just under one hour’s duration, will take place on the afternoon of Sunday October 25th and will be followed by a full English tea. Right: Views of the recital hall. The piano is a Bösendorfer.

Program (revised 13th September):

Beethoven Piano Sonata no. 21 in C major op. 53 “Waldstein”

Chopin Polonaise in A flat major op. 53 “Héroïque” (new in Aimi’s repertoire)

Chopin Mazurka in C sharp minor op. 63 no. 3 (new in repertoire)

Chopin Waltz no. 14 in E minor, op. posth (new in repertoire)

Chopin Scherzo no. 1 in B minor op. 20

Chopin Barcarolle in F sharp major op. 60 (new in repertoire)

There will be a short intermission about half-way through the concert. The Chopin works may be played in an order different to that shown here.

Concert arranged by Paul Lewis and sponsored by Paul, Tomasz Wierzbicki and myself. For a complete concert report see this page in the Reviews section.

Nagoya 24 Oct: Aimi and Mrs N in good form the evening before (for a big version of this photo see the concert report). Today (25th) is the big day, with a rehearsal in the morning and lots of equipment to set up before the recital begins at 2 p.m. We wish Aimi luck!

12:50 GMT Paul and Hiroko are back home from the staff party. Brief first email to say concert a big success, tho Paul says “word success would be a distinct understatement.”

The Nagoya recital now has its own page in the Reviews section.

Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, November 26th, 28th and 29th

Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra (Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira)

Conductor: James Judd

There has been a program change since I last posted, and Aimi will now be playing three concerts, not two. The original single concert in Rio at the Teatro Municipal has been “doubled up” into two concerts, both to be held at the Sala Cecília Meireles. The São Paulo concert remains unchanged. Aimi will be playing Beethoven's piano concerto no. 1 at all three concerts. The orchestra's website says that she is 13, which was strictly correct up to 23 September, but as of these concerts she will be 14 years and two months!

Rio de Janeiro November 26th, 8:00 p.m; and November 28th, 4:00 p.m.

The first two concerts are in the “Onyx” series, held in Rio de Janeiro. The venue for both is the Sala Cecília Meireles, which seats 835. The program on both days is the same, but note the different start times.

Beethoven Coriolanus Overture Op. 62

Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1 in C major, Op. 15

Beethoven Symphony no. 6 in F major, Op. 68, “Pastoral”

Portuguese page for Onyx series concerts (The english page has not been updated as of mid-September and gives incorrect information)

São Paulo, November 29th, 5:00 p.m.

The third concert is in the “Sapphire” series, held in São Paulo. The venue is the Sala São Paulo, which seats 1,500. The program is as for the Rio concerts:

Beethoven Coriolanus Overture Op. 62

Beethoven Piano Concerto no. 1 in C major, Op. 15

Beethoven Symphony no. 6 in F major, Op. 68, “Pastoral”

Portuguese page for Sapphire series concerts

Booking:

How to buy tickets — English page: http://www.osb.com.br/english/tickets.php

Compra de Ingressos: http://www.osb.com.br/ingressos.php

The Orchestra’s website (in Portuguese; there is a link to an abbreviated english version, but use with caution as some information is not being updated)

Sala Cecília Meireles, Rio de Janeiro. (© Francisco Edson Mend... (upper photo) and Gisela Diniz (lower))

Sala São Paulo, São Paulo (from Wikimedia Commons, © Luís Guilherme Fernandes Pereira)

An observer’s report from Rio: “world class . . absolutely, utterly radiant” . . .

Paulo César Mendes (pcmendes1973 on YouTube) was at the first Rio concert on November 26th and has just written to Christina Shatuho with this report:

“The audience loved her and she got standing ovations after playing Beethoven’s piano concerto no. 1 and two Chopin encores (the Op. 10 no. 4 Etude and the Nocturne no. 20 (Op. posth.)).

During her presentation, three things stood out to me:

1) Her world-class pianism (of course!). In particular, I find her technique very solid, especially in the concerto’s cadenza and the 2 encores.

2) She looked, at least to me, even younger than 14, particularly with that big smile and fluffy white dress (the same one you see in most of her videos).

3) Finally, she looks absolutely, utterly radiant. It's a joy to behold!”

— Sounds as if Aimi has made her mark in Rio!

Japan discovers Aimi — at last

In December 2009 Aimi’s career and public profile in her home country took a big leap forward when she signed up with EMI Japan and with the Japanese management agency To-On Artist Promotion.

So she now has two artist’s profiles on these companies’ websites that give a substantial amount of information. This includes information about her career so far (which one hopes has been checked and made both more informative and reliable!), but particularly about forthcoming recordings and concert engagements. You will need the Google translation tool for both.

EMI Japan: Aimi’s artist’s pages are here. In the yellow panel (not the site links at the top) you will find five tabs for Aimi: News, Profile, Release, Live, and Link. Oddly, Release has nothing as of 18 Dec about her CD and DVD. Live gives forthcoming concert information. There is an RSS feed.

To-On Artist Promotion: Aimi’s pages start here. Click on the Concerts and Updates tabs for further information. There is no RSS facility.

Many of us would I’m sure like to see Aimi starting her own website, like so many other promising young artists. Then I could spend more time on my owls! Hello Aimi . . .

Suntory Hall, Tokyo, December 14th

To mark the release of her CD on 10 February 2010 (now officially announced by EMI Japan), Aimi gave a recital at the Suntory Hall.

Program

Beethoven Waldstein Sonata no. 21

Chopin Etude Op. 10 no. 4

Chopin Mazurka Op. 63 no. 3

Chopin Scherzo no. 1 in B minor Op. 20

As an encore Aimi played her old warhorse the Chopin Nocturne no. 20 in C sharp minor (earlier I mistakenly misread the translated EMI info as the Fantasie Impromptu Op. 66, also in C♯ minor. Shame about that.)

Observer's comment on the Suntory Hall recital . .

FailedViolinist wrote: “I saw her concert Monday night at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She did not disappoint! The Waldstein was outstanding, practically on the level of an Alfred Brendel or a Claudio Arrau. I think she might have even played the Chopin Etude 10-4 a little faster than her Youtube clip, although I did not time it. The remaining pieces were also wonderful.

“About the only complaint I might have had is that I think they miked the piano a little too much.

“It would be nice if someone could put up some clips of her more recent performances. I understand that she is becoming a real star, and so it is more difficult, but I would think that her promoters could put up a few clips. Her own channel would be nice . . . And it would help her publicity.” (Posted in Channel Comments on Aimiklingsor's channel 17 Dec 2009)

There are also reports on Japanese sites of an exchange between Aimi and Yuko Ninomiya during an interview after the recital that caused a great deal of amusement. To judge from another report from Brazil of Aimi saying the unexpected during interviews she has a somewhat wicked sense of humour. Definitely a girl with lots of spirit!

This and three pther pics viewable from this page on PIA News Japan. Click on the numbered links under the first photo (reproduced above).

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Next page: Concert Schedule 2010

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Corrections, enquiries or additions re information on this page? Email me on raham [at] btinternet.com. For all other enquiries contact the AADGT in the US or To-On Artist Promotion in Japan.

Page created 11 February 2009. Last modified 12 January 2011.

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