Yu Kosuge

With her outstanding technique, delicate touch and penetrating understanding of music, Yu Kosuge is one of the most highly regarded pianists of her generation worldwide. Yu has been giving concerts and performing with orchestras since childhood; at the age of nine, she made her debut with the Tokyo New City Orchestra. In 1993 she moved to Europe to continue her studies in Hanover and Salzburg, receiving great support and inspiration from András Schiff.

Yu Kosuge has performed at leading venues in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Vienna, Salzburg, London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Zurich, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Washington and New York. Her debut recital at Carnegie Hall was well received by critics who praised her “acute poetic sensibility…. wit, drama and radiant lyricism”. She has been invited to festivals throughout Europe, including the Salzburg Festival, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Passau, Braunschweig, Mozartwoche Salzburg, Holland Music Festival, Piano Festival Lille, La Roque d’Anthéron Piano Festival and La Folle Journée de Nantes. She also enjoys chamber music and has performed with members of the Berlin Philharmonic.

In addition to regular appearances with all the major Japanese orchestras, Yu Kosuge has worked with many of Europe’s leading orchestras, including the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, the Camerata Salzburg, the St. St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and has performed under conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Jun Märkl, Philippe Herreweghe, Gerd Albrecht, Lawrence Foster, Sakari Oramo, Christian Arming, Yutaka Sado, Mark Wigglesworth, Kazuki Yamada, Osmo Vänskä, Vasili Petrenko and Dennis Russell Davies.

Her numerous CDs for Sony include Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Mito Chamber Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa, Liszt’s 12 Études d’exécution transcendante, Chopin’s Préludes and Nocturne, and Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas. Since autumn 2018, Orchid Classics has released recordings of her cycle ‘Four Elements’ on four CDs: ‘Water’, ‘Fire’, ‘Wind’ and “Earth”. In May 2022, Sony released Dai Fujikura’s Piano Concerto No. 3 ‘Impulse’ and Ravel’s Piano Concerto with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth.

In March 2017, Yu Kosuge received the Suntory Music Award, which is given to individuals or organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to the development of Western music in Japan.

Yu Kosuge lives in Berlin.