2025 Screening Juror
JAPAN
Praised for her “impeccable technique and facility for crystalline sounds” (American Record Guide), “her natural ease and keen sense for drama” (BBC Music Magazine), “deliciously pearly touch” (Classical-Music) and “crisp, pointed and sensuous playing” (San Francisco Chronicle), Momo Kodama has built up an impressive career with performances with world-renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, NHK Symphony Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, Eliahu Inbal, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano, Roger Norrington, Lawrence Foster and André Previn. She has appeared at the Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Philharmonie, Berlin Konzerthaus, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Philharmonie de Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam, and Wigmore Hall in London.
She is a regular guest at festivals including Marlboro, Verbier, La Roque d’Anthéron, Festival Chopin, Festival d’Automne, Festival Saint-Denis, Enesco Festival, Tivoli Festival, Settembre Musica, Schleswig-Holstein, Miyazaki, and Matsumoto (Seiji Ozawa). Ms. Kodama enjoys making chamber music with partners including Christian Tetzlaff, Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, Gautier Capuçon, Steven Isserlis, and Jörg Widmann. She also devised and performed a program for the 100th anniversary of Debussy’s death, with actor Pascal Rénéric and baritone Josep-Ramon Olivé at La Bellevilloise in Paris with further repeats in France and China.
Her repertoire ranges from the classical and romantic periods to contemporary works. Composers such as Toshio Hosokawa, Jörg Widmann, and Christian Mason have written especially for her. She is regarded as a highly distinguished interpreter of Olivier Messiaen’s works (among which include the Turangalîla-Symphonie, the Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus, the Catalogue d’Oiseaux), and premiered his Fantaisie for Violin and Piano with Isabelle Faust in 2006.
Her latest recording for ECM, released in spring 2021, features concertos by Mozart and Toshio Hosokawa, with the Mito Chamber Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa. Prior to this, her CD La vallée des cloches and Point and Line – Hosokawa/Debussy Etudes also released by ECM, received outstanding reviews from The New York Times, BBC Music Magazine (recording of the month), Classica (“Choc”), and Neue Zürcher Zeitung. In addition, Ms. Kodama has recorded two CDs for Pentatone with her pianist sister, Mari Kodama with works by Tchaikovsky and Martinů, as well as four CDs for Triton with works by Chopin, Debussy, and Messiaen. She is a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.
Born in Osaka in Japan, she spent her early years in Europe, educated at a German school, she attended the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. She continued her studies under Murray Perahia, András Schiff, Vera Gornostaeva, and Tatiana Nikolayeva. In 1991, she became the youngest laureate of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.
Ms. Kodama is based in Paris and Karlsruhe. In her spare time she enjoys cooking, especially for and with friends and family.