• IMG_1355web3







    “When I play, every second of the music must sound
    the way I myself am living and breathing and feeling.
    In Japanese, ‘Chi’ means ‘life-blood’,
    and I am happy if the listener hears that in my music.”
    Chisako Okano, Pianist

BIOGRAPHY

Chisako Okano was born into a family of musicians in Osaka, Japan. She studied with Prof. Hitoshi Kobayashi at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Tōkyō Geijutsu Daigaku).

In 1993 she continued her studies with Prof. Peter Eicher at the State University of Music in Karlsruhe. She completed her studies with honours in 1995, finishing her concert exam in 1998.
Chisako Okano participated in master classes with Vladimir Feltsmann, Irina Edelstein, Carlos Marques and Gerhard Oppitz.

Since then she has embarked on a productive concert career, working both as a soloist and with orchestras. Invitations have been extended by the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, the Mozart Society and other renowned organizations.

Chisako Okano’s particular gifts include a wide range of timbres and the ability to await the precise, right moment for the next note.

The Pianist lives and works in Karlsruhe, Germany.
Biografie_EN

CONCERT EXAMPLES

Konzertbeispiele_klein

Piano music at the turn of the 20th century from France and Russia

Claude Debussy
Alexander Scriabin
Erik Satie
Sergei Rachmaninoff

Three worlds

Johann Sebastian Bach  From the Well-Tempered Clavier
Ludwig van Beethoven  Sonata No. 17 D minor “The Tempest”
Modest Mussorgsky  Pictures at an Exhibition

From the west to the east

Maurice Ravel
Johannes Brahms
Frédéric Chopin
Sergei Prokofiev

Emotions

Franz Schubert
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
Johann Sebastian Bach

An evening with Erik Satie

Gnossiennes, Gymnopédies and other piano pieces

MEDIA

noch offen_klein

Audio samples

Johann Sebastian Bach
The Well-Tempered Clavier Part 2 No. 8 Prelude
in D sharp minor, from the album “Klavier-Recital”


Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109  2nd movement
concert recording


Erik Satie
Gymnopédie No. 1
from the album “Erik Satie Piano music”


Erik Satie
The son of the stars : First act Prelude – The calling
from the album “Erik Satie Piano music”


Alexander Scriabin
Prelude for the left hand in C sharp minor, Op. 9 No. 1
concert recording


Federico Mompou
Prelude  No. 5
from the album “Klavier-Recital”

Photos

Please click on an image to view the fullsize version.

0609_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
1493_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
1523_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
1182_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
1797_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
1286_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
0727_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
9860_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
1355_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload
1448_CO©mayfried_rgb_mitteldownload













Videos

Chisako Okano playing at a vernissage.

Watch the video.
Chisako Okano at 16:16

CONCERT REVIEWS

Presse
About Chisako Okano
“Flawless technique and astonishing musical expression: Chisako Okano focuses on contrast–when pastose harmony shifts to clear melody, or the silence that concludes one motif, before the following begins; savoring atmospheric transition, where melody lines diverge and then rejoin, moving from one tonality and coloration to another almost indiscernibly and yet at a stunning pace, giving each note a quality of its own while sustaining the wider context.

Extremely sensitive to the nature intrinsic to the pieces, but with the courage to interpret them her way, Okano gave new radiance to these difficult works in piano music. It was a wonderfully musical pleasure, much appreciated by her audience.”
Monika Rieger

J. S. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier

“Chisako Okano’s Bach interpretation was impressionistic: expressive, personal, and ponderous, but not heavy. In other words: Bach with a clear profile. It was the quadrature of the circle, a pre-Christmas wonder.

Yet in both dynamic and tempo she avoided twisting the original intention or wandering off into extremes, presenting instead a rich and astonishing repertoire of immanently sophisticated expressive and technical skill. Denying simplicity all artificial portentousness, she presented it instead with frank dignity.”
Uwe Burkert

W. A. Mozart, Fantasy in C minor

“Okano presented the Fantasy’s colorful series of images with great expression in a highly personal interpretation with meticulously accurate keystrokes even in the most extreme pianissimo.”
Badisches Tagblatt

L. van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major

“Inspired by–among others–the outstanding pianist Chisako Okano, the artistic highlight of the concert was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in E-flat major. The young artist fascinated her audience not only with confident charm and poise, but with an extraordinarily virtuosic and smooth performance of variable expression. A true enchantress of the keys sat at the Boesendorfer. Her music develops organically, whether in the finest run of notes or in commandingly forceful chords, to become intriguingly brilliant.”
Ingrid Mueller-Waege

J. Brahms, Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5

“The impressive moonlight atmosphere in delicate, aromatic melody was especially striking in the Andante expressive that Chisako Okano played with intimate sensitivity. It was crowned by a joyous, compelling Allegro energico, leaving the audience amazed that a pianist of such graceful stature can master this expressive, passionate Brahms sonata and its wide chords with such astonishing technical brilliance. The artist was showered with enthusiastic applause and bravos.”
Badisches Tagblatt

S. Barber, Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 26

“Following three preludes by Spanish composer Federico Mompou, the absolute highlight of the evening was Samuel Barber’s four-movement sonata in E-flat major, op. 26. The pianist let these very different movements thrive, admirably filling with sound the energy of the first, the pearling figures of the second, and the complex fugue of the fourth movement with its furious ending.”
Werner Bromsen

DISCOGRAPHY


20130926_CD-Booklet_DRUCK_pfade.indd“This is a really very beautiful Satie recording!”
Dr. Wolfgang Scherer, Südwestrundfunk, Redaktion SWR2

Album details


20130919_Inlay_DRUCK.indd




01 Gnossienne No. 1
02 Gnossienne No. 2
03 Gnossienne No. 3
04 Gnossienne No. 4
05 Gnossienne No. 5
06 Gnossienne No. 6
07 Le fils des étoiles – Prélude du premier acte
08 Le fils des étoiles – Prélude du deuxième acte
09 Gymnopédie No. 1
10 Gymnopédie No. 2
11 Gymnopédie No. 3
12 Caresse
13 Sarabande No. 1
14 Sarabande No. 2
15 Sarabande No. 3
16 Prélude de la porte  héroïque  du  ciel
17 Nocturne No. 1
18 Pièces froides – Airs à faire fuir – I
19 Pièces froides – Airs à faire fuir – II
20 Pièces froides – Airs à faire fuir – III
21 Pièces froides – Danses de travers – I
22 Pièces froides – Danses de travers – II
23 Pièces froides – Danses de travers – III
24 Rêverie du pauvre
Chisako Okano
Erik Satie – Piano music
Order number: BM312453









Booklet





Album details


InlayOkano




Federico Mompou
01 Prélude Nr. 5
02 Prélude Nr. 7
03 Prélude Nr. 9

Franz Liszt
04 Ballade Nr. 2 h-moll

Johann Sebastian Bach
Aus dem Wohltemperierten Klavier, Band 2
05 Präludium VIII dis-moll
06 Fuge VIII dis-moll

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart
07 Fantasie c-moll KV 475

Franz Liszt
08 „Années de Pèlerinage“: Vallée d’Obermann

Chisako Okano
Klavier-Recital
Order number: BM312393


Kontakt

IMPRINT

Responsible for content
Chisako Okano
CAVATINA  Agentur für Musik
Bahnhofstrasse 10
D-76137 Karlsruhe
Germany
e-mail: agenturcavatina@gmail.com

Photography: Thomas Mayfried
Design: Susanne Asher

Despite careful control we assume no liability for the content of external links. The owners of the linked sites are solely responsible for their content.

CONTACT

Thank you for your interest.

Please use the contact form. I will take care of your request as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Chisako Okano