Atsuko Ikuta
Born in Boston.
Began playing the piano at age five.
Won the Gold Prize in E/F grades, the Most Excellent Award in the advanced level (duet division) and the First Prize in the senior division at the PTNA Piano Competition.
Attended Die Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Switzerland on a Rieter Foundation Scholarship after graduating from Waseda University. Studied with Konstantin Scherbakov. Continued on to complete the master’s course in performance at Conservatoire de Musique de Genève on a Vontobel Foundation Scholarship along with completion of the piano duet course at the same time.
Gained additional experience under the instruction of Alexander Jenner, Paul Badura-Skoda, Mikhail Voskresensky and Pascal Rogé through various lectures, classes, etc. Won the Second Prize and Rachmaninov Special Prize in the 2005 IBLA International Competition (Italy). Won the Third Prize and Cimarosa Prize in the 2011 Cimarosa International Piano Competition (Italy).
Previously performed with the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Jena Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany) and George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania).
Performed with many soloists from the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Kieler Symphony Orchestra etc. in the area of chamber music.
