Nationality Japan
International Concert Pianist
Since becoming the youngest winner of the Concours International ARD, Munich in 1991, Osaka-born Momo Kodama has since been invited to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and Düsseldorf Symphoniker Orchestra. She has appeared in recital at the Paris Philharmonie, Amsterdam Muziekgebouw, Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonic and Konzerthaus, Suntory Hall, and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Momo is a guest of such festivals as Marlboro, USA; Verbier, Switzerland; La Roque d’Anthéron, Festival Chopin, Festival d’Automne, Festival Saint-Denis, Musica, France; Festival Enesco, Romania; Festival Tivoli, Denmark; Settembre Musica, Italy; and Schleswig-Holstein, Germany; Festipel Munich, Germany; Festival Matsumoto and Miyozaki (Seiji Ozawa), Japan. Chamber music partners include Christian Tetzlaff, Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, Gautier Capuçon, Steven Isserlis and Jörg Widmann. She also devised and performed a programme, for the 100th Anniversary of Debussy’s death, with actor Pascal Rénéric and baryton Josep-Ramon Olivé in Paris, at La Bellevilloise, Paris and repeated further in France and in China.
Her repertoire extends from the classical and romantic periods to contemporary works, in particular, composers such as Toshio Hosokawa*, Jörg Widmann, written especially for her, and Christian Mason. Momo Kodama is a distinguished interpreter of Olivier Messiaen (Turangalîla-Symphonie, Vingt Regards, Catalogue d’Oiseaux), the music by whom she is one of the best exponents in the world, and premiered his Fantaisie for Violin and Piano, with Isabelle Faust in 2006. *She premiered the Japanese composer’s new cycle of ‘Etudes’ at the Lucerne Festival, and repeated it at the Wigmore Hall, Tokyo Opera City (premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s Etudes), and at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2018.
She released her second CD for ECM, featuring Studies Cycles by Claude Debussy and Japanese composer, Toshio Hosokawa in 2017. Prior to this, La Vallée des Cloches, also released by ECM with
Ravel’s Miroirs, Takemitsu’s Rain Tree Sketch and Messiaen’s La Fauvette des Jardins, received outstanding acclaim from the New York Times, BBC Music Magazine, Classica (CHOC), Télérama (FFFF). This follows a series of recordings, all highly celebrated, of Debussy, Chopin and Messiaen (Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus, Catalogue d’Oiseaux). In addition, Momo has recorded two CDs for Pentatone (Tchaikovsky and Martinu) together with her sister Mari, which were very well received in the press.