Brahms: Symphony No.4

Masumi Arai started her musical training with her father, whose passion was German Lieder. After graduating as the inaugural class of the Tokyo University of the Arts Affiliated High School, she continued her studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts under Susumu Nagai. She went on to study in Europe in 1961 on scholarship, studying in Munich and Essen, and later in Paris and London. She concertized extensively throughout Europe, the U.S. and Japan. From 1981 to 2004, she taught at the University of the Arts Berlin. Her teaching series in Japan, including the complete Schumann “Album for the Young” and Chopin works, have received critical acclaim.

She has performed chamber music concerts with the members of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Berliner Symphoniker, as well as regular appearances as accompanist for Lieder. In 1982, her performances were televised on TV Asahi’s “Untitled Concert”. Since 2006, she has been studying with Janusz Olejniczak, who played piano in the film “The Pianist”. 

In 2019, her book “The Way to Artistic Piano Playing Through Mindfulness” was published, available in German and French. In 2022, Arai made her first CD recording of works by Mozart and Schumann on the sonorité label. She currently resides in Berlin.

He began to take piano lessons at the age of five at the Suzuki Method, which luckily led him in his childhood to wonderful encounter with Klaus Hellwig and Masumi Arai, who were invited by this association, whose lessons greatly inspired him.

In 1984, while a student in the Music High School attached to the Tokyo University of the Arts, he won the first prize in the Junior Piano Division of the 30 th Maria Canals International Competition in Barcelona.

Then he entered Tokyo University of the Arts and was invited to the Mantova Festival in Italy, where he won the Rinaldo Rossi Prize.

The following year, he went to France to study in Paris. He entered the Ecole Normale de Paris and then the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. In 1992, he graduated from the Conservatoire with a Premier Prix (first prize) in piano, chamber music, and vocal accompaniment.

He has received numerous awards in competitions, such as the first prize at the first Paris Steinway Piano Competition in 1989, the first prize at the International Music Competition of France in 1990, as well as the Mozart Prize and the Messiaen Prize in the same competition, and so on. In 1996, he was a finalist at the 10 th International Bach Competition in Leipzig.

After returning to Japan in 2003, he taught at the Music High School attached to Tokyo University of the Arts and then served as an associate professor at Ueno Gakuen University. He regularly gives recitals and performs a wide range of activities including chamber music, vocal accompaniment, and collaboration with orchestras.

He has studied with Ayako Aoki, Reiko Sakai, Yasuko Nakayama, Kazuko Yasukawa, Bruno Rigutto, Pierre Réach, Michel Béroff, and Yvonne Loriod Messiaen.