She studied with Kazuko Yasukawa and Pierre Barbizet. After her musical studies atthe Marseille Conservatoire, she received a doctorate in Science and the Arts from the National Univeristy of Fine Arts in Tokyo. She also won the Festival of Arts prize from the Japanese Ministry of Culture in 1990.
As a concert pianist and a writer, she has attracted the attention of the public through excellent multi-faceted performances in her parallel careers. She has to date recorded nine CDs, of which several have been nominated ‘Special Choice of the Month’ by the classical music review magazine, Rekodo Geijutsu.
In her capacity as a writer, she received the 9th Bidekazu Yoshida prize in 1999 with her biography of her Professor of Piano, Kazuko Yasukawa: Winged Fingers. She also received the 49th Essayists’ Prize for the biography of her grandfather, the writer Mizuho Aoyagi. The 25th Kodansha Essayist Prize was given to her for her book: The Goldberg Variations with Six Fingers. She also received the 23rd Music Pen Club prize for her album, Romantic Debussy.
In July 2011, she published, Glenn Gould: The Pianist of the Future (published by Chikuma). In September of the same year, she toured Japan with the violinst Christophe Giovaninetti, Professor at the Conservatorie National Superieur in Paris and founder of the Ysaye quartet.
In September 2012, the two concerts she performed in the Hamarikyu-Asahi Hall in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Debussy called ‘Debussy and Friends at the Chat Noir’ was critically acclaimed by the public and the critics.
That same year saw the simultaneous publication of her CD, Mysteres de Debussy (Camerata) and her essay, Promenade with Debussy (published by Chyuou-Kouron), which were praised both by the public and the press.
She will be performing at the celebrated festival ‘La Folle Journee’ in Japan in May 2013. She has a new French music CD coming out with Christophe Giovaninetti and her 20th book, Henri Barda: a mysterious pianist.
She is a member of the administrative committee of the Frederic Chopin Society in Japan and Professor at the Osaka University of Fine Arts. Her official website is https://ondine-i.net
