Yoko Kikuchi
Since winning first prize at the 2002 International Mozart Competition in Salzburg, Yoko Kikuchi has performed with the most prestigious orchestras and conductors in Europe and Asia. She has played under the direction of Lawrence Foster, Ivor Bolton, Gerd Albrecht, Yutaka Sado, Hubert Soudant, Dennis Russel Davis, Leif Segerstam, HK Gruber, Dan Ettinger, Christian Arming, with the Gulbenkian Orchestra, NDR Radio Philharmonie Orchester Hannover, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Brittany Symphony Orchestra, Mantuan Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai and Shenzhen Symphony Orchestras, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, as well as with all major orchestras in Japan, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. She has also been a guest at numerous renowned music festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Prague Spring International Music Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Tokyo Spring Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.
She studied piano with Franco Scala and fortepiano with Stefano Fiuzzi at the “Incontri col Maestro” Piano Academy in Imola, and harpsichord with Mayako Sone. She has also received important artistic inspiration from Alexander Lonquich, Sir Andras Schiff, and Elisabeth Leonskaja, among others. She has performed in chamber music concerts with the Vienna-Berlin Ensemble as well as with Rainer Honeck, Radek Baborak, Daniele Damiano, Ernst, Daniel and Andreas Ottensamer, Michael Collins, Walter Auer, Karl Heinz Schütz, Emmanuel Pahud, and others.
Yoko Kikuchi is also passionate about other art forms. She has performed with the Tokyo Ballet as well as with renowned classical dancers such as Alessandra Ferri, Friedemann Vogel, and Matthieu Ganio.
Her debut album, featuring piano concertos by Mozart, won the 18th “Music Pen Club” Prize in the “Best Recording by a Japanese Artist” category in 2005. Since then, she has recorded many albums, including recently Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and is currently working on a live recording of the complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle.
In the 2025/26 season, Yoko Kikuchi will make her house debut at the Vienna State Opera as part of the ballet evening Visionary Dances, performing Bohuslav Martinů’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major, H 149, in Justin Peck’s Heatscape. She will also appear at the Ballet Gala 2026, interpreting Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43.