Shoko Inoue, Piano Recital
Tuesday, December 9 at 8 PM

Shoko Inoue is a prize-winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, first prize winner for contemporary music of the Frinna Awerbuch Competition and first prize winner of the Chopin Competition in New York where she made her Carnegie Hall debut. She is active as a soloist, chamber musician and recitalist throughout North America, Japan and Europe. Among her notable appearances are solo recitals at the 9th Annual World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Las Vegas and at the Shostakovich Festival in Rome's St. Cecilia Hall. She has had many solo concerts at the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Ontario, where she makes her home.

Shoko Inoue was born in Tokyo Japan, where she began playing the piano at the age of three. She studied with renowned teachers Shun Sato and Takashi Hironaka. Following her successful appearance at the Casadesis International Competition, she traveled to the United States to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music under full scholarship with Sergei Babayan, celebrated concert pianist, teacher, and artist in residence. Her studies continued with Marc Durand and John Perry in Toronto, Canada. As a student of Marc Durand, she received her M.A. in Piano Performance from the University of Montreal, Quebec.

Ms. Inoue is committed to enhancing life through music. Her intense performances and her broad and varied repertoire are remarkable. Sergei Babayan has noted that her "interpretations are born of utmost integrity and sincerity that set her apart from other musicians." She has performed Prokofiev's Concerto #2 in G minor, opus 16 with Oshawa Symphony in January, Trio Concert in Florida with Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth in February as well as piano duo concert with Sergei Babayan in Cleveland, Piano and Cello Duo concert with Amanda forsyth at the Glenn Gould Studio broadcasted by CBC radiostation in September, Piano Solo recital presented by Embassy of Japan at the national gallery in Ottawa in October 2008.

Vibrant and skilled, with unlimited musical colour and an expressive spirit, Shoko Inoue is quickly becoming known for her unique communicative stage presence and her quality of drawing an audience into her innermost thoughts and philosophy on the music she is performing. Her successful performances attest to her ability to recreate for listeners, the transcendental world of the composers' vision. She is an (avid reader of German literature)) and enjoys drawing and play with the nature and animal and worshiper of our origin .

"…(Shoko) tackled the first eight (Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues) in high-definition sound. Using a wide dynamic range, she placed every note just so ... only with more shimmer ..."
John Terauds, TORONTO STAR

"Inoue brought a delicate and searching spirituality to the first eight pairs." (Shostakovich Preludes & Fugues).
Ken Winters, Special to the Globe & Mail

"A pianist who immerses heart, soul and everything else into her generous artistry, with supremely sensitive and evocative playing. Her technique is dazzling, her grasp of sonority and dynamics, exceptional."
Donald Rosenberg, The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"A bold, unique, and original personality characterized by warmth and exuberant radiance on stage ... rare poetry and pianistic perfectionism..."

"She has the rarest talent of being able to speak directly from her heart and is able to bring the listener to tears, she is able to touch the most important and sacred strings of the heart."
Sergei Babayan, Pianist, professor of Cleveland Institute of Music

"... never in my life have I experienced a greater performing talent on the piano. The directness of her emotional contact with the music, the electrifying communication she is able to deliver to her audience, and above all the pure musical and spiritual content of what she has to say make an overwhelming and unforgettable impression on the fortunate listener."

John Perry, Professor of Music, USC Thoruton Faculty of Music and The Royal Conservatory of Music

Contact:
shokoinoue@hotmail.com