Masako Ohta

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"I chose a Bechstein concert grand piano for my solo CD entitled Poetry Album, released on the Winter & Winter label. A luminous voice, a clear and warm sound even under the most subtle play… What character this piano has! A wonderfully poetic companion for a journey through the world of emotions… It inspired me and made me happy."

Masako Ohta

 

Masako Ohta is a pianist and performance artist born in Tokyo. She interprets classical and modern works in solo or with chamber music ensembles, performs improvisations, accompanies silent movies and composes for films and theater.

She studied piano first at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo and then at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin under Erich Andreas and György Sebök, prior to taking master classes with András Schiff and György Kurtág. In 2016, Masako Ohta was awarded the Giesinger Kulturkreis (1st prize), and in 2019 the Förderpreis für Musik of the City of Munich.

Highly interested in the poetry and music of Japan, Europe and other cultures, she frequently collaborates with actors, poets, sculptors and musicians from various countries. Moreover, she develops and performs her own concert series, dance shows and theater roles and participates in intercultural and interdisciplinary projects involving other artists.

Masako’s interpretations of works by composers such as Mozart, Debussy, Karl Bohrmann, Bruno Maderna and David Monrad Johansen have been broadcast by various radio stations, including Bayerischer Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk, Südwestrundfunk and RIAS Berlin.

A graduate piano teacher, she gives lessons and master classes for piano and chamber music, combined with tai-chi and Japanese calligraphy. Masako has been living and working in Germany since 1985, starting in Berlin and then moving to Munich in 1988.

Photo: © Winter&Winter

More information on Masako Ohta

My Japanese Heart

Winter & Winter My Japanese Heart

Masako Ohta retreats into the silence of the Waldhaus Grandsberg in the Bavarian Forest to dedicate herself to Japanese masterpieces in deep concentration and solitude. The Munich-based pianist takes us on a musical journey through time and invites us to experience extraordinary compositions from four centuries from the land of the rising sun. Sound creations of great Japanese composers such as Kengyo Yatsuhashi from the 17th century, Kengyo Yoshizawa from the 19th century, Toru Takemitsu from the 20th century as well as Toshio Hosokawa and Fumio Yasuda from the present are telling us about springtime at the sea, the rain tree, the singing of birds and dances of distant islands.

The album was recorded in December 2019 at the Waldhaus Grandsberg on a C. Bechstein Concert D-282 and was released in June 2020 on the Munich label Winter & Winter.