Hiroko Sakagami

Pianoforte

 

The Japanese pianist Hiroko Sakagami, who began playing the piano at the age of six, attended a music high school and subsequently studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts. After several competition successes, she received a federal scholarship from the Swiss Confederation and continued her training with Hubert Harry at the Lucerne Conservatory. She also took lessons with Nikita Magaloff, who became her most important mentor. In 1987, she completed her studies "with highest distinction" (an honor awarded for the first time) and won First Prize at the "Concours Clara Haskil." Since then, Hiroko Sakagami has performed in many cities in Europe, North America, and Japan.

 

She appeared at the "Printemps des Arts" in Monte Carlo, the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, and the Settimane Musicali in Ascona. She toured Europe as a soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Festival Strings Lucerne also engaged her for a tour. A central focus of Hiroko Sakagami's artistic activity is chamber music: she regularly collaborates, for example, with the Carmina Quartet.

 

For thirty years now, she has been teaching piano and chamber music at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Music; moreover, she shares her experience in masterclasses held in Germany, Romania, and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

 

On CD, Hiroko Sakagami has recorded works by Frédéric Chopin, Hans Georg Nägeli, Muzio Clementi, Johann Baptist Cramer, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Daniel Steibelt. Additionally, she has presented a musical history of the Canton of Lucerne.