Japanese pianist Noriko Ogawa (b. 1973) has achieved considerable renown in Europe, America and in her native Japan, where she is a national celebrity.
Since achieving her first great success at Leeds International Piano Competition, Noriko Ogawa has worked with leading orchestras and conductors including Charles Dutoit, Osmo Vänskä, Leonard Slatkin and Tadaaki Otaka. She is also renowned as a recitalist and chamber musician, performing with artists such as Evelyn Glennie. In 2001 Ogawa established a piano duo with Kathryn Stott.
Noriko Ogawa is associate artist at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester where she was artistic director for the Reflections on Debussy festival, jointly presented by the BBC Philharmonic and Bridgewater Hall during the 2011–12 season. She is an exclusive recording artist for BIS Records. Her discography includes Takemitsu’s Riverrun (Editor’s Choice, Gramophone) and Mussorgsky’s Pictures from an Exhibition (Critics’ Choice, BBC Music Magazine). Her recordings of Debussy’s complete piano music have won widespread critical acclaim.
Noriko Ogawa has received the Japanese Ministry of Education’s Art Prize in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the global cultural profile of Japan. Since 2004 she has acted as artistic advisor for the MUZA Kawasaki Symphony Hall.
Noriko Ogawa is passionate about charity work, particularly after the earthquake and tsunami which devastated Japan in early 2011. Since the earthquake she has raised over £20,000 for the British Red Cross Japan Tsunami Fund and is keen to keep fundraising, also working with the Japan Society throughout 2012. She has also founded Jamie’s Concerts, a series for autistic children and their parents.
