Kei Shimizu, concert pianist in Paris
Born in Tokyo in 1997, Kei Shimizu brings the technique she developed in Japan and a rich sound world to both her performing and teaching.
She attended Kunitachi College of Music Elementary School, Junior and Senior High School, before studying at Kunitachi College of Music and undertaking further training at the Vienna Academy of Music. She then studied piano at the TOHO Graduate School of Music and the École Normale de Musique de Paris, where she completed two Master’s degrees.
She has studied with Yasuko Taneda, Kei Osano, Yuki Nakajima, Pascal Rogé and Thérèse Diette. Awarded second prize at the LÀSZLÒ SPEZZAFERRI International Music Competition, she is now based in Paris, where she performs and teaches piano.
Training, encounters and teaching.
Tokyo
Kunitachi College of Music
Bachelor’s degree in piano.
Vienna
Vienna Academy of Music
Further study at the heart of the European tradition.
Tokyo & Paris
Double Master’s degree in piano
TOHO Graduate School of Music and École Normale de Musique de Paris.
Today
Performance and teaching
Concerts, collaborations and piano lessons in Paris and Île-de-France.
Classical piano, vibrant on stage and open to contemporary worlds.
French music lies at the heart of Kei Shimizu’s artistic world. It is in dialogue with great composers for the keyboard, the colours of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and film, animation and video-game music — all an important part of her piano repertoire.
The colours of French music
Textures of light, breath and movement: a central part of her musical voice.
Composers
- Debussy
- Ravel
- Fauré
- Bizet
- Saint-Saëns
- Lekeu
- Chaminade
- Boulanger
- Schmitt
- etc.
Landmark works from the repertoire
From the Baroque to Romantic music, works of character for a recital or a shared musical moment.
Composers
- Bach
- Haydn
- Beethoven
- Schubert
- Chopin
- Liszt
- Mendelssohn
- C. Schumann
- R. Schumann
- Rachmaninov
- Granados
- R. Strauss
- etc.
Twentieth & twenty-first centuries
Distinctive voices where virtuosity, timbre, pulse and sonic imagination meet.
Piano
- Levitzki
- Szymanowski
- Gubaidulina
- Ginastera
- Kapustin
- Messiaen
- Poulenc
- Milhaud
- etc.
Film
- John Williams · Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indiana Jones & E.T.
- Hans Zimmer · Interstellar, Inception & Pirates of the Caribbean
- Howard Shore · The Lord of the Rings
- Ennio Morricone · Cinema Paradiso & The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
- Alan Silvestri · Back to the Future & Forrest Gump
- James Horner · Titanic & Avatar
Animation & video games
Two essential strands of the repertoire: animation and video-game music, instantly recognisable from the first notes and thoughtfully reimagined for the piano and the stage.
Disney & Pixar
- The Sherman Brothers · Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book & It’s a Small World
- Alan Menken & Howard Ashman · The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast & Aladdin
- Alan Menken & Tim Rice · Aladdin
- Elton John & Tim Rice · The Lion King
- Frank Churchill · Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs & Dumbo
- Leigh Harline & Ned Washington · Pinocchio
- Randy Newman · Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. & The Princess and the Frog
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez · Frozen, Coco & Frozen II
- Stephen Schwartz · Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame & Enchanted
- Danny Elfman · The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Lin-Manuel Miranda · Moana & Encanto
Animation
- Joe Hisaishi · Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro & Howl’s Moving Castle
- Yoko Kanno · Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex & Macross Plus
- Hiroyuki Sawano · Attack on Titan, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn & 86
- Yuki Kajiura · Demon Slayer, Fate/Zero, Sword Art Online & Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Shiro Sagisu · Neon Genesis Evangelion & Bleach
- Toshio Masuda · Naruto
Japanese video games
- Koji Kondo · Super Mario & The Legend of Zelda
- Kazumi Totaka · Animal Crossing
- Junichi Masuda & Go Ichinose · Pokémon
- Nobuo Uematsu · Final Fantasy
- Yoko Shimomura · Kingdom Hearts
- Yasunori Mitsuda · Chrono Trigger
- Shoji Meguro · Persona
- Keiichi Okabe · NieR
- Motoi Sakuraba · Tales & Dark Souls
- Hitoshi Sakimoto · Final Fantasy Tactics & XII
- Masato Nakamura · Sonic the Hedgehog
- Michiru Yamane · Castlevania
Living repertoire made for the stage.
Explore Kei’s recent concerts and imagine a programme for your own event. For a recital, a collaboration or a private occasion, get in touch to discuss your project.
