Midori Koga, piano
With performances described as “passionate” (Ann Arbor News), “meltingly lovely”, “rippling clean” (Globe and Mail), and “with exquisite tone colors” (Fanfare Magazine), pianist Midori Koga has been featured as soloist and chamber musician throughout Canada, USA, Spain, Taiwan and Austria, including highlight appearances in New York’s Merkin Hall, Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium, for the ProMozart Society of Detroit, and has held performance residencies with Interlochen Centre for the Arts, Cleveland Composers Forum, and NewMusicTampa. Chamber music collaborations include those with the internationally acclaimed percussion ensemble NEXUS, Soundstreams Ensemble, and with members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, (TSO). In addition, she has performed with the Esprit Orchestra, and the TSO in their New Creations Festival. Internationally released recordings can be heard on the Albany, Equilibrium, Fleur de Son, NAXOS, Blue Griffin and Centrediscs labels.
The newly released CD Bright Angel: Contemporary Works for clarinet and piano, carried by the Fleur de Son label, was included on the long ballot Grammy nomination list, with performances described as “kraftvoll und glänzen durch hervorragende Motivarbeit” (vibrant, and shine through superb motivic work) by Naxos Deutschland. The disc recorded with mezzo-soprano Patricia Green entitled Ice Age and Beyond: Works by Canadian Women Composers, funded by a grant through the Canadian Music Centre, with distribution throughout the US (Albany) and Canada (CMC Distribution Inc.), was awarded a Four Star review by the BBC Music Magazine. In another Canadian project funded by the Ontario Arts Council, the recording Glistening Pianos: Two Piano Works by Alice Ho featuring the piano duo 2X10 with pianist Lydia Wong, was released in Spring of 2014. This collaborative project gave Koga the opportunity to work with famed producer David Jaeger formerly of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Also active as lecturer and adjudicator, Dr. Koga has served in the College of Examiners for the Royal Conservatory of Music, as national adjudicator for the Canadian Music Competitions, and has presented pedagogical workshops worldwide. Highlight presentations include those for the International Society for Music Education Conference in Bologna, Italy and Thessaloniki, Greece; Music Teachers’ National Association Conferences in Washington DC, Seattle WA, Toronto, ON; the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Atlanta; and the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Chicago.
A passionate educator, Midori Koga, currently serves as Associate Professor at the University of Toronto where she teaches piano and directs the first Canadian Masters and Doctoral programs in the area of Piano Pedagogy and Performance. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan
She currently lives in Toronto, Canada with her two daughters, Mika and Keili, her husband Jun, and their golden doodle puppy Lucy.
