Mari Kodama - The Official Website

Letter from Mari

Dear Friends,

After a record-breaking hot summer in Europe, autumn has finally arrived, bringing with it a welcome freshness and positivity to start the new season. The first half of 2018 was filled with new and exciting experiences as I discovered diverse cultures and the musical talents of a new generation.
I'll never forget the first time I heard...

Upcoming Appearances

September 7, 16:
YOKOHAMA and NISHINOMIY, JAPAN
Recitals
with Veronika Eberle, Violin

September 17-21:
HAMBURG, GERMANY
Int'l Mendelssohn Festival
- Hochschule für Musik
  und Theater- Master Class
- Elbphilharmonie
  (Kleiner Saal)
  Schumann: Piano Quintet

November 27-28:
OSAKA, JAPAN
Osaka Philharmonic/
Jun Maerkl
Takemitsu: Quotation of Dream
with Momo Kodama

December 7:
RIMOUSKI, CANADA
Orchestre Symphonique de l'Estuaire/
Kent Nagano
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2

January 12 & 16, 2020:
SOREL TRACY & MONTREAL, CANADA
La Maison de la Musique & Salle Bourgie
Rodolphe Bruneau Boulmier
Duo Recital with Momo Kodama

January 26:
MARSEILLE, FRANCE
Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Lawrence Foster
Bartók: Piano Concerto Nr. 2

February 19, 20 & 21:
GOTHENBURG & VARA, SWEDEN
Göteborgs Symfoniker, Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Beethoven: Piano Concerto Nr. 2

News

July 19, 2019
WATCH MARI PLAYS
Schönberg: Piano Concerto
at the SWR Symphonieorchester,
Kent Nagano conducting.
Stuttgart, Germany
Live recording on July 19, 2019.

Watch here...

Photo Excerpts from
Live Recording by the SWR

June 28, 2019
WATCH MARI PLAYS
SCHUMANN ARABESKE OP. 18.
At the 5th Trans-Siberian Art Festival in Novosibirsk, Russia, on March 11, 2018.
Watch here...

Photo by Alexander Ivanov / Trans-Siberian Art Festival

May 12, 2019
NEW RECORDING OF
BEETHOVEN CONCERTO No. 0 & EROIKA
2020 will be the year of Beethoven’s 250th birthday.
To celebrate this great composer, together with Deutsche Symphony Orchester Berlin and Kent Nagano, we recorded his works as very young composer: Concerto No. Zero, composed at age 14 and Rondo for piano and orchestra.
The release will be in the fall together with Beethoven Concerti No 1-5 which has already been recorded. Edel Berlin Classics Label

Thank you amazing DSO and it’s Intendant Alexander Steinbeis, fantastic producer Wolfram Nehls, commited Steinway technician Siegmar Kesselmann, Edel Artistic director Markus Heinecke, my agent Gabriele Schiller and my husband Kent Nagano who always is source of inspiration.

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO Berlin)
Kent Nagano
Berlin Classics
Steinway & Sons
Gabriele Schiller

August 15, 2018
REVIEW
from KlassikInfo.de, Germany
By Thomas Migge

Umbria’s promising new chamber music festival.
A successful opening “Tra Luce & Sogno – Festival di Postignano“ – a new festival gem in the heart of Umbria.
Read More...

July 26-29:
Postignano, Italy

Tra Luce e Sogno, Festival di Postignano, is where we share the experience of making and listening to music, creating a wreath of colorful sounds together, expressing the “love of harmony”.

Read More...

July 25, 2018
MARI KODAMA and
Tra Luce & Sogno
(Press portfolio)

A new festival of music, food and love...
Read More...

May 6, 2018
REVIEW
from The Sunday Times, UK
ALBUM OF THE WEEK: MARTINU
Double Concertos for Violin & Piano Mari and Momo Kodama, Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, conductor Lawrence Foster.

Read More...

April 6, 2018
MARTINU: Double Concertos
Japanese sisters Mari and Momo Kodama join French sisters Sarah and Deborah Nemtanu in this new recording of Bohuslav Martinu's concertos for violin and piano.

Listen...

August 2017
Il Mondo della Musica
...This recording by Mari Kodama and Momo Kodama, two youthful and well-known Japanese musicians, looks beyond the composer’s versions, and proposes a very different interpretation, one for two pianos...

Read more...

July 2017
Watch Mari on the
STEINWAY & SONS
"Life From The Factory Floor" Series

Mari Kodama: Introduction
Beethoven's Für Elise
Couperin's Le tic toc choc ou Les maillotins

June 2017
CD DeFalla
Pizzicato
Highly colourful performances with typical Spanish flair. The Suisse Romande Orchestra is in top form and sounds absolutely great in this outstanding surround recording.
Remy Franck

Read more...

February 2017
CD OF THE MONTH
The Record Geijutsu
From the beginning till the end there is no single flaw in the Kodama sisters’ musical presentation. The throughout outstanding performance is an interesting delight for music lovers. Listening to this music opens a realm of bliss. …
One can tell that the two sisters enjoyed their playing, which makes the listening joyful as well. Their success derives from their great talent and they both benefit from their collaboration.
Jiro Hamada

In surround rendition the full sound of this recording can be enjoyed as if listening to it in the concert hall.
Yoshiyuki Ishida
Read more...

January 24, 2017
DAZZLING
Review from Allgemeine Zeitung

Dutilleux’ in changing moods dazzling and rushing sonata is a breathless...
Read more from Allgemeine Zeitung

December 22,2016
SUBLIME MOMENTS
Review from Sächsische Zeitung Dresden
Mari and Momo Kodama prove with an enchanting Tchaikovsky CD how fanciful and dreamy their piano playing can be and to what fascinating virtuosity they are able to reach. … Here they create great art, very elegant and tenderly played, with sublime moments. The Kodama sisters’ keyboard artistry is not the only aspect that enthralls – the recording is very well produced as well.
Jens-Uwe Sommerschuh
Read more...

SPARKLE AND STYLE
Review from the Guardian
The Japanese sisters Mari and Momo Kodama grew up hearing The Nutcracker. That deep familiarity gives their performance of the suite here, transcribed for two pianos ...
Read more from The Guardian, January 8, 2017

BALLET EN NOIR ET BLANC
Review from ARMATAG
“... A very exciting recording, a ‘labour of love’ by two extraordinary pianists whom we dream about seeing perform together Debussy and Ravel for two pianos, four hands....”
Read full article here.

LISTEN TO MARI ON SPOTIFY
Check out Mari's 'Artist Page' on Spotify and sample her latest recording.

MARI AND MOMO IN HANOVER
… Together with her sister Momo Kodama she masters it brilliantly, navigating through the turmoil of the opening movement, letting the melody give consolation in the second movement and speeding with great effect through the finale...
Read more from Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, 19. November 2016

When the Japanese Mari and Momo Kodama entered the stage it was already obvious from their distinctively patterned dresses that the performance would be beyond normal concert routine...
...to play easy is often the most difficult endeavor, which was mastered by the Kodama sisters in the most convincing manner.
Read more from Neue Presse, 19. November 2016

The Kodama sisters on the cover of PIANIST magazine, Netherlands. Read the review here.

PENTATONE ANNOUNCES
the release (November 1, 2016) of a new recording with dazzling keyboard artistry from Mari and Momo Kodama in rare arrangements of Tchaikovsky’s most-beloved ballets. For more information and to listen to excerpts from this sparkling new CD:

“Together for the first time in the recording studio, the sisters Mari and Momo Kodama are on scintillating form in these lively arrangements of music from Tchaikovsky’s ballets Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker..."
(HRAudio.net, November 2016)
Read more...

WATCH Mari and Momo discussing the project here.

LES CLEFS D'OR - RESMUSICA
Mari's Beethoven 32 Sonata Box Set continues to win accolades - it has been selected as one of Les Clefs d'Or for 2015 by Resmusica

RECORD GEIJUTSU: Record of the Month
Mari's Beethoven 32 Sonata album has been re released in Japan with Japanese translation booklet. It has been chosen as the CD of the month of December issue of Record Geijutsu. Read full article at:

Toronto Star: Music festival gives a reason to say Bravo Niagara!
Mother-daughter venture off to strong start with Mari Kodama and Karin Kei Nagano at Spring Into Music. Read full article at:

Stenhammar: Piano Sonatas No. 2 - Watch live excerpt of Mari and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra perform Wilhelm Stenhammar's piano concerto No. 2. Kent Nagano conducting:

Letter from Mari

Upcoming Appearances

News

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