Biography
Dr. Ikuko Inoguchi is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist, performer-scholar, musicologist and teacher. Born in Japan she has also studied in the US and the UK. Ikuko is particularly interested in exploring repertoire which displays cross-cultural influences. A recital she gave in Germany was praised as “Ikuko Inoguchi —a brilliant pianist, whose playing demonstrates subtle sonority and fascinating colourful tones” (Der Kessener).
As a prize-winning pianist, Ikuko has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in concert series and festivals across Europe, the US, and Asia and at prestigious venues, such as St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, Aichi Art Theatre in Japan, Takemitsu-Kurosawa Festival in Würzburg, and 1st International Music Festival “Doctors in Performance” in Helsinki. In 2013 she made her London concerto debut, performing Anton Rubinstein’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the City University Symphony Orchestra.
Repertoire/Collaborations with Composers
Ikuko has a wide range of repertoire, encompassing styles from Baroque to 21st-century music. As an advocate of new music, she has premiered a number of works and worked with composers, such as Paul Chihara, William Drabkin, Joe Cutler, and Yasunoshin Morita. Her imaginative concert programmes reflect her interest in different expressions of musical time and the artistic pursuit of a variety of timbre.
Previous performances
In 2022, Ikuko premiered To-o-ne for shakuhachi and piano by Yasunoshin Morita with the shakuhachi player Suizan Jean-François Lagrost. This project was part of her practice-based research on the performance of practice of ma in concert art music, generously supported by the Royal Musical Association and The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. During 2019–2020, as part of the Japanese Embassy’s “Japan-UK Season of Culture” programme, Ikuko performed piano recitals entitled “Japan in the West; the West in Japan”, a programme consisting of works inspired by Japan and Japanese culture (e.g. music and aesthetics) by European, American, and Japanese composers. This included the premiere performance of a haiku-inspired piece, Local Music for piano and harmonica, written for Ikuko by the British composer Joe Cutler.
Research and Scholarly activities
Ikuko is also in demand as a performer-scholar, musicologist, and performance workshop leader. She has presented a number of papers and lecture-recitals at international conferences, symposiums, and research seminars. She was an invited speaker and performer at a study day in The BBC Total Immersion: Music from Japan series, a Takemitsu Society meeting, The Contemporary Music Research Centre at the University of York, and Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music. She also coaches advanced students, including ones from the Royal Welsh Conservatoire of Music, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music, and City, University of London.
Education
After completing her initial musical training in Japan, Ikuko moved to the US and studied with the late Vitaly Margulis at UCLA, where she was inspired to pursue both an artistic and scholarly career. She completed her first doctorate (Doctor of Musical Arts) under the guidance of Andrew Cooperstock at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she received a number of scholarships and awards and worked as a collaborative pianist and Lecturer in Piano. She has also had lessons and masterclasses with world-renowned musicians, such as John Lill, Malcolm Bilson, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, and Edward Dusinberre (a member of Takács Quartet). In the UK, following a Visiting Scholar Fellowship at the Institute of Musical Research in London, she was awarded a PhD from City, University of London for her thesis discussing the relationship between performance and concepts of time in selected piano works of John Cage, George Crumb, and Tōru Takemitsu.
CURRENT & FUTURE activities
Ikuko is currently working on a recording project with animal-themed piano works. In June 2020 she was appointed as Visiting Research Fellow at City, University of London, and she is also Artist-in-Residence at Clifton High School.
