Monica Ohuchi, piano
Hailed as a pianist performing “brilliantly with clarity, nuance and natural musicality” (Times Argus, July, 2009), Japanese-American pianist Monica Ohuchi has performed to wide acclaim from audiences across the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe both as a soloist and chamber musician. Ms. Ohuchi’s concert engagements have brought her to such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Meany Hall of Seattle, the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheater, and Hakuju Concert Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Ms. Ohuchi is regularly heard on radio broadcasts across the country, including National Public Radio, New York's WQXR, and Seattle's KING FM. Additionally, she has been featured in national television broadcasts such as Delaware Today, a television broadcast of rising stars, and on the WE Network. Ms. Ohuchi made her orchestral debut at age ten with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. Now, a seasoned performer, Ms. Ohuchi has been invited as guest soloist with numerous orchestras from coast to coast and abroad, including the Colorado Symphony, Marin Symphony, New Millennium Symphony Orchestra of Gijon, Spain, Orchestra Seattle, Corvallis Youth Symphony, and the Rain City Symphony.
In May of 2011, Ms. Ohuchi performed the world premiere of Kenji Bunch’s Piano Concerto with the Colorado Symphony, conducted by Jeffrey Kahane. Of these world premiere concerts, Kahane describes Ms. Ohuchi as “…a pianist of the first rank… possesses a ravishing palette of color and who dispatches the most difficult passages with effortless grace.” A project overseen by Magnum Opus and Meet-The-Composer, and Ms. Ohuchi will continue soloing the concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in their 2014-15 season.
Since capturing first prize at the Chinese International Piano Competition at the age of five, Ms. Ohuchi has been awarded top prizes in over twenty national and international piano competitions. Ms. Ohuchi most recently won first prize at the 2006 William Garrison International Piano Competition. She is also the first prize winner of the Wayne Nadeau International Piano Competition, and winner of the Dorthy A. Anderson International Piano Competition. Ms. Ohuchi is two-time U.S. national champion of the Music Teacher’s National Association Piano Competition, and is a four-time grand prize winner of the WIAA Washington State Piano Competition. Additionally, she was named a New York Steinway Hall Recital Award Recipient, as well as the Artist International Presentations Inc. Award Recipient.
An enthusiastic collaborator and active chamber musician, Ms. Ohuchi frequently performs in a duo with acclaimed violist and composer, Kenji Bunch. She is a regular performer in the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival in Corvallis, Oregon, with the Craftsbury Chamber Players in Vermont, and the Five Seasons Chamber Festival of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and New York City, where she is both performer and a chamber music coach. Ms. Ohuchi worked with marimbist Makoto Nakura, performing the world premiere of Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez’s Ex Machina II on a ten-day tour of Japan, and has served as Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Center of the Arts in Banff, Canada, performing piano-duo repertoire with pianist Sarah Rhee.
In addition to her concert schedule, Ms. Ohuchi uses her talents as a passionate advocate for charitable causes, and has organized and performed benefits for many organizations: Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals of New York State, The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Washington State, SAGE Eldercare of New Jersey, Amnesty International, the Bellevue Art Museum, and the 2001 Dominican Plane Crash Relief Effort.
Ms. Ohuchi's debut album, titled Monica's Notebook was released on Helicon Kleos Classical Records in May of 2011. A set of twelve performance etudes written especially for her by composer Kenji Bunch, each etude in Monica’s Notebook examines a particular facet of contemporary piano technique, including the stylistic inflections of vernacular idioms, such as jazz, blues, and rock all the while paying homage to the rich tradition of performance etudes in the classical cannon.
A native of Seattle, Washington, Ms. Ohuchi began her piano studies at the age of two with her mother, Sumiyo Ohuchi. Ms. Ohuchi holds both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from The Juilliard School where she studied with Julian Martin. Her past teachers include Marc Durand, Martin Canin, Bela Siki, and David A. Brown. She has also coached with such distinguished artists as Murray Perahia, Jacob Lateiner, Robert McDonald, and Craig Sheppard.
Strongly committed to music education, Ms. Ohuchi is an active teacher and coach. She served a four-year tenure at The Juilliard School, teaching piano to non-majors, and currently serves on the piano faculty at Music in Chappaqua, in Chappaqua, New York. She also maintains an active private studio in New York City. Ms. Ohuchi's students have been top prize winners in competitions, most recently winning the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Music Teacher's National Association New York State Junior High School Piano Competition. Her students have also been featured at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and performed at New York's Steinway Hall.
Ms. Ohuchi currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, daughter, and their Pitbull-mix rescue dog. She and her husband have completed the 2008 and 2010 New York City Marathons as well as the 2009 Edinburgh Marathon.
Hailed as a pianist performing “brilliantly with clarity, nuance and natural musicality” (Times Argus, July, 2009), Japanese-American pianist Monica Ohuchi has performed to wide acclaim from audiences across the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe both as a soloist and chamber musician. Ms. Ohuchi’s concert engagements have brought her to such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Meany Hall of Seattle, the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheater, and Hakuju Concert Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Ms. Ohuchi is regularly heard on radio broadcasts across the country, including National Public Radio, New York's WQXR, and Seattle's KING FM. Additionally, she has been featured in national television broadcasts such as Delaware Today, a television broadcast of rising stars, and on the WE Network. Ms. Ohuchi made her orchestral debut at age ten with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra performing Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. Now, a seasoned performer, Ms. Ohuchi has been invited as guest soloist with numerous orchestras from coast to coast and abroad, including the Colorado Symphony, Marin Symphony, New Millennium Symphony Orchestra of Gijon, Spain, Orchestra Seattle, Corvallis Youth Symphony, and the Rain City Symphony.
In May of 2011, Ms. Ohuchi performed the world premiere of Kenji Bunch’s Piano Concerto with the Colorado Symphony, conducted by Jeffrey Kahane. Of these world premiere concerts, Kahane describes Ms. Ohuchi as “…a pianist of the first rank… possesses a ravishing palette of color and who dispatches the most difficult passages with effortless grace.” A project overseen by Magnum Opus and Meet-The-Composer, and Ms. Ohuchi will continue soloing the concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in their 2014-15 season.
Since capturing first prize at the Chinese International Piano Competition at the age of five, Ms. Ohuchi has been awarded top prizes in over twenty national and international piano competitions. Ms. Ohuchi most recently won first prize at the 2006 William Garrison International Piano Competition. She is also the first prize winner of the Wayne Nadeau International Piano Competition, and winner of the Dorthy A. Anderson International Piano Competition. Ms. Ohuchi is two-time U.S. national champion of the Music Teacher’s National Association Piano Competition, and is a four-time grand prize winner of the WIAA Washington State Piano Competition. Additionally, she was named a New York Steinway Hall Recital Award Recipient, as well as the Artist International Presentations Inc. Award Recipient.
An enthusiastic collaborator and active chamber musician, Ms. Ohuchi frequently performs in a duo with acclaimed violist and composer, Kenji Bunch. She is a regular performer in the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival in Corvallis, Oregon, with the Craftsbury Chamber Players in Vermont, and the Five Seasons Chamber Festival of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and New York City, where she is both performer and a chamber music coach. Ms. Ohuchi worked with marimbist Makoto Nakura, performing the world premiere of Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez’s Ex Machina II on a ten-day tour of Japan, and has served as Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Center of the Arts in Banff, Canada, performing piano-duo repertoire with pianist Sarah Rhee.
In addition to her concert schedule, Ms. Ohuchi uses her talents as a passionate advocate for charitable causes, and has organized and performed benefits for many organizations: Coalition of Concerned Legal Professionals of New York State, The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Washington State, SAGE Eldercare of New Jersey, Amnesty International, the Bellevue Art Museum, and the 2001 Dominican Plane Crash Relief Effort.
Ms. Ohuchi's debut album, titled Monica's Notebook was released on Helicon Kleos Classical Records in May of 2011. A set of twelve performance etudes written especially for her by composer Kenji Bunch, each etude in Monica’s Notebook examines a particular facet of contemporary piano technique, including the stylistic inflections of vernacular idioms, such as jazz, blues, and rock all the while paying homage to the rich tradition of performance etudes in the classical cannon.
A native of Seattle, Washington, Ms. Ohuchi began her piano studies at the age of two with her mother, Sumiyo Ohuchi. Ms. Ohuchi holds both a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from The Juilliard School where she studied with Julian Martin. Her past teachers include Marc Durand, Martin Canin, Bela Siki, and David A. Brown. She has also coached with such distinguished artists as Murray Perahia, Jacob Lateiner, Robert McDonald, and Craig Sheppard.
Strongly committed to music education, Ms. Ohuchi is an active teacher and coach. She served a four-year tenure at The Juilliard School, teaching piano to non-majors, and currently serves on the piano faculty at Music in Chappaqua, in Chappaqua, New York. She also maintains an active private studio in New York City. Ms. Ohuchi's students have been top prize winners in competitions, most recently winning the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 Music Teacher's National Association New York State Junior High School Piano Competition. Her students have also been featured at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and performed at New York's Steinway Hall.
Ms. Ohuchi currently resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, daughter, and their Pitbull-mix rescue dog. She and her husband have completed the 2008 and 2010 New York City Marathons as well as the 2009 Edinburgh Marathon.