Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 - Liszt: Dante Sonata & 3 Petrarch Sonnets Aimi Kobayashi

• Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849): Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 35:
• 1 I. Grave - Doppio Movimento 05:30
• 2 II. Scherzo 06:59
• 3 III. Marche funèbre 09:57
• 4 IV. Finale (Presto) 01:40
• Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année - Italie, S. 161:
• 5 No. 4, Sonetto 47 del Petrarca 06:25
• 6 No. 5, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca 06:19
• 7 No. 6, Sonetto 123 del Petrarca 06:46
• 8 No. 7, Après une lecture du Dante (Fantasia quai sonata) 16:44
• 9 No. 3 in A-Flat Major, "O lieb so lang' du lieben kannst" 05:03
• Total Runtime 01:05:23

Info for Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 - Liszt: Dante Sonata & 3 Petrarch Sonnets

Aimi Kobayashi is a leading young Japanese pianist, one of the finalists at the Chopin Competition in 2015 Aimi Kobayashi is a leading young Japanese pianist, one of the finalists at the Chopin Competition in 2015. Born in Yamaguchi, Japan, on 23 September 1995, Aimi began her piano studies aged three, and made her first appearance with orchestra at the age of seven, followed by her international debut two years later. Since then, Aimi has appeared at the Carnegie Hall in New York no less than four times. Her international career continues to flourish: she was invited by various venues in Moscow, Poland and Brazil, amongst others. She has amazed audiences with her performances with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, as well as the Moscow Virtuosi with Vladimir Spivakov. She has performed in Poland several times, including at the International Music Festival “Chopin and his Europe”, and in concerto programmes by numerous Polish orchestras. She has performed with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Hyogo Pac Orchestra, and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and received high acclaim for her recitals in Japan, including at the Suntory Hall.

Aimi Kobayashi, piano

Aimi Kobayashi
Fourth Prize winner of the 18th Chopin Piano Competition, Aimi Kobayashi, garnered international acclaim for her exceptional talent.

She is considered one of the most sought-after pianists in Japan of her generation.

Aimi was born in 1995 in Ube, Japan. She started playing piano at age three, made her concerto debut at age eight, and started her international career at age nine.

She studied with Meng-Chieh Liu at the Curtis Institute of Music.

In 2009, she won the junior section prize of the Asia-Pacific International Chopin Piano Competition in Korea. Then in 2011, she was the gold medalist at the Asia International Chopin Competition for her performance in the concerto section, and in the same year, she won the Yasuko Fukuda prize. In 2012, she won third prize at the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition.

She gave her first recital at Carnegie Hall for the Japan NYC Festival – of which Seiji Ozawa was the musical director – before giving a recital at the Tokyo Opera City the following month.

She has already performed with several major orchestras, both in Japan and overseas, including the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Bruggen and the Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov.

In Japan she regularly performs with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and New Japan Philharmonic. She has recorded pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt for Warner Classics. In 2015, she became one of ten finalists at the 17th Chopin Piano Competition of 452 entrants from 45 countries. In July 2019, she played Mozart’s Piano concerto No.20 in D minor K.466 with Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège under Christian Arming. In March 2020, she played Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under Kristiina Poska.

In October 2024, she played Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Krzysztof Urbański. In November 2024, she played Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini op.43 with Tugan Sokhiev conducts Münchner Philharmoniker.

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