The pianist Michie Koyama (an artist on file at this Web site) and the ensemble Anthonello (Yoshimichi Hamada, Kaori Ishikawa and Marie Nishiyama) were named as recipients of the seventh Hotel Okura Music Awards.  These awards were established in 1996 as one of the artistic and cultural programs sponsored by the Hotel Okura, one of Tokyo's venerable landmarks. Their objective is to assist in the development of promising musicians who have amply demonstrated their talent in recent years.  Michie Koyama was the first Japanese pianist to receive awards at both the Tchaikovsky and International Chopin piano competitions. She performs often in Japan and abroad. Anthonello is a vibrant ensemble that specializes in music of the Baroque period and earlier. Its innovative work has attracted widespread attention. The awards will be formally presented and a commemorative concert held in the lobby of the Hotel Okura in Tokyo on March 25, 2006, starting at 18:00. The selection committee consisted of Kazuo Mae (director of Sapporo Concert Hall Kitara), Hiroo Tojo, a music critic, and Takuo Ikeda of the Nikkei Shimbun (Japan's foremost economic newspaper). The following are Mr. Mae's comments about the winners (from a Hotel Okura Tokyo press release).

 About Ms. Michie Koyama
 "Winning a top prize in a major competition is a great triumph and almost a sure path to a professional career for a young performer, but it is by no means the end of the struggle. The really crucial battles only begin at that point. By that measure, Ms. Michie Koyama's record of achievement is praiseworthy beyond doubt. In 2005 alone she has shown boundless energy in a series of concerts in Tokyo, Sendai and Kyoto to mark the twentieth anniversary of her prize at the Chopin competition, and crossed the country on a recital tour as well. Her astonishing energy has long been evident in her many recitals, chamber performances, concertos with major Japanese and foreign orchestras, concerts abroad, service as jurist for international competitions and recordings. She achieves highly because she is true to her own rhythm. I hear she has plans for a grand recital series over the next 12 years. I expect that as the years go by her beauty will remain constant, but increasing maturity in her music will make it all the more worth hearing."

 About Anthonello
"Named for the composer of the late 14th to early 15th century composer Anthonello de Caserta, this is an early music specialist ensemble whose performances are charged with startlingly modern energy and inspiration. They have a way of creating music with an attractively improvisational quality whose vitality is thrilling to hear. Players who have that ability get at the fundamentals of what music is all about, whether they are playing medieval pieces, jazz or folk songs. The ensemble's leader, Yoshimichi Hamada, likes to deal with his material in terms of mode, in the sense of rhythmical standards or methods, a point of view that makes Anthonello as at home with the spirit of contemporary popular music as in the world of medieval or Renaissance composition. When musicians get to be spontaneous enough to bring out the joy of music without having to think about it, classical music stops being conventional and begins to address the origins of things. That's when the music moves like a child of nature at play and gives the listener large draughts of happiness."

Michie Koyama
http://japansclassic.com/artists/kajimoto_18/michie_koyama.html
Anthonello
http://japansclassic.com/artists/ariel_02/anthonello.html