JASMIN ARAKAWA
“Characterful sparkle….redolent of Horowitz” (Gramophone)
A charismatic and versatile pianist, Jasmin Arakawa has performed widely in North America, Central and South America, Europe, China and Japan. A prizewinner of the 20th Jean Francaix International Music Competition, she has been heard in prestigious venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Salle Gaveau in Paris and Victoria Hall in Geneva. She has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Philips Symfonie Orkest in Amsterdam, Orquestra Sinfonica de Piracicaba in Brazil, and several orchestras in her native Japan. Other performance highlights include guest artist appearances at the Toronto Summer Festival, Ribadeo International Music Festival in Spain, Bicentenaire de Chopin in Switzerland, Scotiabank Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico, Festival de Música de Cámara in Peru, Festival Internacional de Música Erudita de Piracicaba in Brazil, Fazioli Piano Pure Series in Chicago and Distinguished Concerts International New York.
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Her debut solo piano album, Klavierabend was released August 2016 on MSR Classics, featuring works of Haydn, Schumann and Scriabin. Arakawa has a special interest in Spanish repertoire, which grew out of a series of lessons with Alicia de Larrocha in 2004. As a prizewinner of the Competition in the Performance of Music from Spain and Latin America and under the sponsorship of the Spanish Embassy, she subsequently recorded solo and chamber pieces by Spanish and Latin American composers.
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An avid chamber musician, Arakawa has collaborated with notable artists including cellists Colin Carr and Gary Hoffman, flutists Jean Ferrandis and Marina Piccinini, clarinetist James Campbell and the Penderecki String Quartet. In addition, she has served as Collaborative Pianist in Residence at the Banff Centre in Canada for three seasons. An advocate of new music, Arakawa has premiered and performed numerous contemporary works. Recently she recorded the complete works of Witold LutosÅ‚awski for violin and piano with violinist Véronique Mathieu, to be released on PARMA Recordings in July 2017.
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Jasmin Arakawa is a graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts in Japan. She holds Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Emile Naoumoff, the last student of Nadia Boulanger. A devoted teacher herself, she has given master classes at China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Peru, Instituto Baccarelli in Brazil, and numerous universities in the United States and Canada. Having previously served at Western Illinois University and the University of South Alabama, Arakawa will join the faculty at the University of Florida in Gainesville in the fall 2017, as Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Area Coordinator, as well as Director of the Florida International Piano Festival.
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