Biography

The Japanese pianist Naoko Sonoda studied at the Toho-Gakuen Academy of Music in Tokyo with Seiko Ezawa and Mikhail Voskresensky and at the Berlin University of the Arts with Rainer Becker. She received chamber music lessons from Markus Nyikos, Tabea Zimmermann and Natalia Gutman. 

After completing her studies, she was hired by the Berlin University of the Arts, the Hanns-Eisler University of Music in Berlin and the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar as an artistic assistant, an activity that she is currently continuing.

Naoko is a multiple winner of international piano and chamber music competitions. She has received the award for the best pianist several times, for example at the “International Markneukirchen Music Competition” in Germany, at the “International Lutoslawski Competition” in Poland and at the “15. International Tchaikovsky Competition” in Russia. In 2021, she received the pianist prize for the best interpretation of Enescu's sonata at the “International Enescu Competition” in Romania. 

Naoko has given concerts as a soloist and in chamber music formations in numerous countries in Europe and Asia and has repeatedly taken part in various festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania music festivals. She has performed both as a soloist and as a chamber music partner of Kolja Blacher, Mark Gothoni, Danjulo Ishizaka, Jens Peter Maintz, Santiago Valencia Cañón and Andrei Ionita, with whom she has an artistic collaboration. 

In addition, she has already had several live appearances in various public broadcasters such as the BBC, ZDF, BR, WDR, HR, DLF and RBB. In recent years, Naoko Sonoda has been a guest in large halls such as the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Carnegie Hall in New York and the chamber music hall of the Berlin Philharmonic.