Japanese pianist & fortepianist Keiko Shichijo is a special voice in the world of classical and contemporary music. Her unique vision of music brings together her traditional Japanese sensibility and her knowledge of European historical music practice. This is evident in her empathy for the music, the instruments and the story behind them. Keiko is a specialist on the fortepiano, the instrument of composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. She teaches modern piano and fortepiano at the Fontys Conservatory in Tilburg.

“…Her sound filled the hall like one big…warm blanket…”
Linda Shine, Music of life magazine

“…Purity of sound – breathtaking…”
Audience Response

Les en Coaching

As a teacher and coach, Keiko concentrates particularly on compositions from the historical, modern and contemporary piano repertoire. She believes it is especially important for a musician to know the history of the music: What sound did the composer hear? What did he imagine? Keiko’s Asian background gives an extra layer to her lessons and coaching through the special combination of deep knowledge of the subject matter and an ‘outsider perspective’.

Focus of Keiko´s lessons

Keiko on her piano classes.

Prizes and festivals

Keiko has won many international competitions, including twice the International Early Music Competition (solo and duo) in Bruges, the International Early Music Competition ‘A Tre’ in Trossingen in Germany and the Minkoff Prize from music publisher Edition Minkoff. She has performed at many international festivals such as festival Printemps Des Arts (France), the Early Music Festival in Utrecht, MA Festival in Belgium and La Folle Journée in Tokyo.

Albums

Keiko’s first solo album on fortepiano was released in 2012 by the Hamamatsu Museum of Musical Instruments in Japan. The album features works by Schubert. Her second solo CD ‘6 Dances by Komitas Vardapet’ was released in 2016 and received unanimous praise in the international press. A performance was featured on the national TV program Vrije Geluiden, among others.

Collaborations

Keiko Shichijo forms a duo with the well-known violinist Cecilia Bernardini. Together they perform regularly in various European countries. As a specialist in contemporary music, Keiko works with many composers. In the past she has worked with Helmut Lachenmann, Tom Johnson, Johannes Kalitzke, Jürg Frey, Roscoe Mitchell and Bernhard Lang, among others.

Press

“Shichijo gave it a tour-de-force performance, full of brilliance and unquestionable authority.”
Performing Art Monterey Bay

“Her approach and interpretation were remarkable: the well-researched, powerful rendering of the rhythmic side of the music, as well as the exciting dynamics with delay and discharge, contrasts, tensions and intonation of lower and higher components. All these elements promoted the movements of the highly committed six (!) dancers Michelle Cheung, Julie Pécard, Jonas Frey, Evandro Pedroni, Joseph Simon and Nora Vladiguerov, their curvature, rotation, struggle, surrender and acceptance in a permanent spontaneous reconfiguration. The tension between earthiness and heavenly ether runs through both musical sounds and spontaneously emerging and orchestrated movements. It was a remarkable, engaging and mind-blowing experience, a meaningful multidisciplinary undertaking, a fruitful encounter at a crossroads. It increased the understanding of cultural features and variants of minimal music, of the power and design of what we call “repetition. ”
In All About Jazz by Henning Bolte