“She's achieved something extraordinary: she plays the piano like a string player"
Bachtrack
“Phenomenal!”
Bernard Greenhouse
Yoko Misumi is in great demand as a soloist and chamber musician having performed extensively all around Japan, New Zealand, USA and Europe, with particular predilection to Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, UK, Croatia and Slovenia.
Born in Kyoto to a musical family, Yoko started very early her piano lessons, showing at a very tender age her innate talent and musicianship. At age 14 she was already a prize-winner and would receive the Second Prize in the prestigious Kyoto Piano Competition. After graduating from Kyoto Music High School, she moved to London to continue her studies with Nina Sereda, and internationally acclaimed soloist Martino Tirimo.
Yoko has appeared as a soloist with the world most renowned conductors such as James Judd and Barry Wordsworth. She has appeared in such prestigious venues as Kyoto Concert Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Adrian Boult Hall etc. In master classes Yoko has worked and collaborated with Stephen Kovacevich, Dietrich Banhoeffer, Neal Larrabee, Elisabeth Dvorak-Weissmar, Kiri Te Kanawa, Bernard Greenhouse, Ralph Kirshbaum, Rivka Golani, William Aide, Norma Fischer and Dmitri Alexeev, among others.
She is the recipient of the First Prize of the John Longmire Beethoven Competition, Second Prize of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe Intercollegiate Piano Competition 2005, being also the winner of the Elizabeth Schumann Lieder competition 2006, the Leonard Smith & Felicity Young Duo Competition 2007 with cellist Stjepan Hauser. Most recently she won the Alfred Kitchin Piano Competition. She is also a holder of Leverhulme Scholar, and was awarded numeral prizes such as Friends in New York Prize, Edgar Comley Prize for excellence 2008 and TCM Founders’ Prize. Prize for musical accomplishments.
Together with a violinist Lana Trotovsek and cellist Stjepan Hauser, Yoko is a member of renowed The Greenwich Trio, described by legendary cellist Bernard Greenhouse as the "New Beaux Arts Trio".
