Hidéki Nagano

Born in 1968 in Japan, Hideki Nagano won first prize at the national student competition at the age of twelve. Following his studies in Tokyo, he continued at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSMDP), where he studied piano with Jean-Claude Pennetier and vocal accompaniment with Anne Grappotte. After graduating with highest honors in vocal accompaniment, piano and chamber music, he was a finalist or won prizes in several international competitions including Montreal, Queen Elisabeth and Orléans (Samson François award). In 1998, he received two awards for young talents in Japan (the Muramatsu award and the Idemitsu award) and another award for the best Chopin’s interpretation by Japan Chopin Society in 1999.

It has always been important for Hidéki Nagano to pursue relationships with contemporary composers and to transmit lesser known repertoire. He was invited by Pierre Boulez to join the Ensemble intercontemporain in 1996, and since, he regularly performs as soloist in Europe & Japan. He has notably been invited by the NHK Symphony Orchestra (dir. Charles Dutoit), Festival Musica in Strasbourg, Suntory Summer Festival, Festival « Automne à Varsovie » and Mozartwoche in Salzburg.

He recorded solo several works by Antheil, Boulez, Messiaen, Murail, Dutilleux, Prokofiev, Ravel and he participated in several recordings with the Ensemble intercontemporain, such as Ligeti’s Concerto for piano (Alpha Classics, 2017) and “une page d’éphéméride”, one of Boulez’s last piano pieces (Complete Works of Boulez, Deutsche Grammophon, 2013).