Sayaka Asaoka

Born in 1979 in Tokyo, Sayaka started learning the piano at the age of three. In 1992 and 1995, she was invited by the Japan-Germany Association and JML to take part in a series of concert tours in Germany and Korea. Between 1992 and 1995, she also performed in concerts at seven schools in England (Eton College, Westminster School, Whitgift School, Rikyo Suchool, St. Mary’s School, James Allen’s School and Purcell School.) Sayaka has won many prizes in major Japanese piano competitions, including the 1st prize of the All Japan Student Music Competition and the 1st prize of The 20th PTNA Piano Competition Concerto Division. She has performed with various Japanese orchestras, including Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Toshiaki Umeda and Toho Academy Orchestra conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama. Between 1998~2004, Sayaka studied the Soloist Diploma Course, the highest course of the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, and received the Piano Soloist Diploma, the first time this had ever been awarded in the history of Toho Gakuen. At the same time, she also studied clinical psychology in the International Christian University (ICU) and received a BA degree. From 2005, she began to study in London with Christopher Elton, and in June 2006 she completed the Postgraduate Performance Diploma Course of Royal Academy of Music and received The Vice Principal’s Special Award for her final recital in which she played Rachmaninov’s pieces and she also received DipRAM, the Academy’s ‘Premier Prix’. Sayaka has also composed a series of original pieces, and a set of her debut CDs “Morning Star” and “Midnight Sun” were released in 2012.