Yuki Negishi has established herself as a pianist of rare poetry, passion and virtuosity, equally at home as an adjudicator, educator and researcher, captivating audiences wherever she performs around the world. Yuki has already performed in over 800 concerts in the UK alone, including many of the most important halls and festivals, and regularly performs about 30 concerts a year as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician in countries such as the Netherlands (Concertgebouw), France, Germany, Switzerland (Tonhalle), Italy (Festival di Londra, Blanc European Festival, Artepiano International Festival), Romania, Japan, China, Bangladesh and the USA. She has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Scala Radio, Xray FM, ITV, Channel 4, Dutch, Polish, Romanian and French television and radio.
She has released her debut CD through the Quartz label (www.quartzmusic.com) in May 2022, including music by Chopin, Kapustin, the world-premiere recordings of Melanie Spanswick's "Enigma" written for Yuki in 2019, and Robert Mitchell's "Our Hearts Dance the Infinite (As the Giant Puya Blooms)" to unanimous reviews from Gramophone, International Piano Magazine and Record Geijutsu Japan. Another CD has been released in conjunction with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation of unrecorded works by the Japanese composer Koichi Kishi, with violinist Yukiko Ishibashi in October 2022, by the Japanese label Mittenwald. Her latest release (May 2024) of Preludes by Arensky, Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Gershwin has also been praised by Colin Clarke of “ Classical Explorer”- “This is a wonderful disc, magnificently programmed and superbly played…nourishing for the soul..”
During the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic, she performed for various online festivals including the AndraTuttoBene Festival Online, Absolute Classics Festival Online (which featured on ITV News and her 5 recitals have reached over 100K views), Piano Week Online Festival and CityMusic Live (8 recitals). Her "Piano Music by Women" series in June/July 2020 was chosen in the TOP 5 online performances for the week of 29 June alongside Wigmore recitals by Angela Hewitt and Mitsuko Uchida/Mark Padmore by PIANIST Magazine.
She also served as a jury member for the Sussex International Piano Competition four times consecutively since its inauguration in 2010 (including the most recent 2018 edition) alongside such distinguished pianists as Artur Pizarro (Leeds 1st prize 1990), Vanessa Latarche (RCM Head of Keyboard) and Idil Biret. Other competitions she has adjudicated include the Open Piano Competition (2012), the London Youth Piano Competition (2019, 2021-2023), Music and Stars Awards (2020 & 2021), the Artepiano International E-Competition (2021-2023), the International Competition of Music and Arts 2021, the Indonesia International Youth Music Olympics (April 2022) and the International JSFest Instrumental Music Competition (Nov 2022).
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Yuki Negishi started playing the piano at the age of 5 in New York City. At the age of 10, she was accepted to The Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division as an honorary scholarship student in the class of the late Richard Fabre, who was a pupil of Rosina Lhevinne. Yuki has since worked with such eminent figures as the late Takahiro Sonoda, Christian Zacharias, the late Irina Zaritskaya, Dominique Merlet, Dr Peter Katin and Murray Perahia at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, Amsterdam Conservatory and the Royal College of Music where she obtained her Masters Degree with distinction and Artist Diploma in 2006. At the age of 16, she was the youngest prize-winner at the Takahiro Sonoda Piano Competition and she was awarded the 2nd prize at the 2000 International Jeunesses Musicales Competition in Bucharest. Since coming to the UK in 2001, she has additionally won no less than 10 coveted prizes at the RCM and elsewhere. As a chamber musician, Yuki has collaborated with members of the London Mozart Players, the Orchestra of the Swan, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic, the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and regularly performs with the award-winning London Myriad Ensemble (www.londonmyriad.com) and multi-award-winning violinist Elly Suh.
Yuki has released a DVD from Sound Techniques in conversation with BBC presenter Andrew Green. Upcoming projects include recitals and masterclasses in the UK (Absolute Classics, Strand/Edinburgh International Piano Series, the new Bechstein Hall with Elly Suh etc), Italy and Japan.
Reviews:
"(Debussy, Scriabin, Chopin, Kapustin)...truly spell-binding...such that one can hear a pin drop...shimmering use of timbres and pianistic colours...displayed great virtuosity but always at the service of the music ..performed it masterfully, with technical command which was virtually flawless."
-Vlad Bourceanu, Harrow Online, July 2022
"...the orchestra under Shaun Matthew was first-rate, and the soloist, pianist Yuki Negishi was exceptional...Yuki gave a spirited account of the work (Grieg), full of virtuosic fireworks. The capacity audience gave her a well-deserved ovation."
-Frank James, The Scarborough News, Nov 2017
...Yuki Negishi's performance of Mozart's limpid, gently melancholy Piano Concerto No.23 was a dream throughout, with moderate tempi and beautifully nuanced phrasing- this was exceptional Mozart playing. The orchestra provided a steady accompaniment and at times, as in the last section of Adagio, were inspired to playing that responded fully to the poignant simplicity displayed by their soloist."
-Ken Ward, Bachtrack, May 2012
"...The soloist, Yuki Negishi proved more than equal to this very demanding concerto (Brahms 2nd). The audience loved her seemingly effortless technique and faultless memory. Indeed her applause was such that Yuki was persuaded to play the D flat Chopin Nocturne as an encore. A uniquely memorable evening!"
-Frank James, The Scarborough News, May 2011
Updated 4 June 2024