Pianist in residence
Mitsuko Uchida

The pianist-in-residence for 2008.2009 is the first woman to be so honoured: Mitsuko Uchida. Born near Tokyo in 1948, she was twelve when she moved with her family to Vienna and became first a student of Richard Hauser, later of Wilhelm Kempff and Stefan Askenase. Her international breakthrough she made in London: in 1982 she played the complete Mozart piano sonatas in the Wigmore Hall. After her resounding success with that cycle, the recording industry stood up and took notice. Uchida’s award-winning recordings of the complete Mozart piano sonatas and concertos have long enjoyed cult status among music lovers.

In the years that followed, the pianist achieved widespread acclaim above all as an interpreter of Mozart, but that mission actually originated by chance: “I wanted to do something ‘big’ and had in mind the complete piano sonatas of Mozart or Schubert. For Schubert everyone at that time immediately thought of Alfred Brendel. But I didn’t know anyone who played the Mozart sonatas. That’s the only reason why this connection with Mozart came about.”

Today, Mozart and Schubert have been joined in the pianist’s core repertoire by Beethoven, Debussy, Schumann, Chopin and the composers of the Second Viennese School. Her crystal-clear touch and the subtle balance of intellect and emotion in her interpretations are received all over the globe with, if not the loudest applause, then surely the most grateful.

Mitsuko Uchida will appear as soloist with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle in February playing Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto. It goes without saying by now that, in her capacity as pianist-in-residence, she will also be interacting with members of the orchestra and young scholars of the Orchestra Academy: on four evenings spread across the whole season, Uchida, in the guise of chamber player and Lieder accompanist, will present a select repertoire ranging from Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann to Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg.