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One of the warmest and most deeply touching players;
acclaimed as "astonishing! It's hard to believe she doesn't have an
extra hand or two" (The New York Times), "To my utter astonishment, I was
completely bowled over by it."( MusicWeb International, UK), "I’m still
innocent enough to sit in open mouthed awe ..."(American Record Guide),
"She is no ordinary mortal "(Usen Music, Japan) and "discovery of a major
pianist "(Répertoire, France), Ms. Okashiro's extraordinary talent
for interpreting and expressing a myriad of musical color has earned her
an international reputation, wowing audiences across North America, Europe
and Asia.
Her technique is as broad and vibrant as her
repertoire, choosing not only to excite listeners with the standard piano
repertoire, but to also bring to life the obscure piano transcriptions of
symphonic works by Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Scriabin, the unusual
chamber music repertoire such as transcriptions for two pianos of
The Poem of Ecstasy by Scriabin, and classical-pops crossover repertoire,
such as Beatles piano transcriptions arranged by famous classical
contemporary composers of Frederic Rzewski, Feldman, Toru Takemitsu and
John Cage, and piano works by Academy Award composer, Ryuichi
Sakamoto, and premiering the works of contemporary composers.
Her extensive discography of CD recordings has received over 300 pages
reviews, completely bowled over many CD reviewers and respected critics
all over the world, including Ira Rosenblum at New York Times, Paul
Serotsky in UK, Alain Cochard at Diapason, France, Carsten Dürer in
Germany and Kei Yosimura in Japan. In addition to her extensive
discography, Miss Okashiro has performed in many of the world's musical
centers including New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Montreal,
Tokyo, Argentina and Estonia among many other cities, and appeared
with conductors such as Alexander Vedernikov and Louis Fremaux among
others and with orchestras all over the world including the Japan
Philharmonic Orchestra, Argentina National Symphony Orchestra, the
Chautaqua Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Sherbrooke in
Canada and many others.
"Her playing here is astonishing. With such a variety of
texture and color, and so many notes flying by, it's hard to believe that
she doesn't have an extra hand or
two."
-Ira Rosenblum -New York Times
"Okashiro's playing is fabulous - how many hands
does she have?" -William
Youngren - Fanfare
"I'm still innocent enough to sit in
open mouthed awe at something like Chitose Okashiro's consummate technical
mastery"
-French-American
Record Guide
"By the variety and accuracy of her touch and the care of
her pedaling, Ms. Okashiro produced extremely resonant performances.
Often it seemed that the notes to be played, for both composers, were not
the important ones: what mattered were the higher harmonics resounding
afterward. The luxurious and stately chords were there to generate
glistening swirls of partials, which Ms. Okashiro was able to bring
forward and sculpt, as if her hands had been inside the
piano." -Paul Griffiths - New
York Times
"5 stars."
"A remarkably effective and powerful
approach. She spares no pains to accentuate contrasts and the
creativity."
-Diapason,
France
"gems"
-Billboard
"marvelous and
stunning" -Gramophone Japan
" it's so perfect that there is no space to
complain" -The Art of Records,
Japan
"She is a pianist of phenomenal talent. To my utter
astonishment, I was completely bowled over by it. At my time of life
"astonishment" is an increasingly rare experience, so I'm more than
content to be astonished. Chitose Okashiro's arrangement - and her
breathtaking performance - make you realise, in contradistinction to his
long-held reputation as a bit of a "wild child", just how refined a
composer was Gustav Mahler. Astonishingly audacious. "
-Paul
Serotsky - MusicWeb International, UK
"a marvelous interpreter and a grandioso technician figure
as one only rarely gets to hear.
outstanding"
- Piano News,
Germany |
