Future Classic Women Awards – Aisa Ijiri, Pianist, Steinway Artist 240423

Hello and welcome to the 5th edition of Future Classic Women Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte, on Women's Radio Station, the program where we search for the most amazing new female artists on the classical panorama. Today on Future Classic Women Awards, we will be talking to concert pianist, stand-up artist, and founder and artistic director of the Tokyo International Piano Association, Aïssa Hijiri. Hello, Aïssa! Hello Stefania, thank you so much for inviting me today. I'm so thrilled, thank you. I'm very happy you're on, you know, we've been friends for such a long time and I can't believe you didn't come to the Women's Radio Station program before. I mean, so I'm very happy that you are a nominee this year and you're here with your latest single that is Melanie Spandrick's own, Ahiwa. Would you like to tell us about this? Yes, this piece was actually composed during the lockdown in 2020, and Melanie and I have been friends for many years and shared a couple of projects together, and she came to my festival in Italy, and we started to collaborate. And she— when I first told her about my life story, she kind of got inspired inspired actually by my name, which means 'ai' means love in Japanese and 'sa' means silk and sand. So she made a beautiful piece called 'Aisa' named after my name, and that went such a wonderful success and shared with my concert in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Belgrade, and also at my festival in Monte Cucchini. Just our collaboration has grown in such a beautiful way, and then we had a lot of exciting projects coming up, but then the lockdown started. So during that time, kind of, we've been sharing that, you know, the feeling of isolations and uncertainty and hope and prayers for peace. And it was one evening she sent me that she composed this beautiful piece for me. And "heiwa" in Japanese means "peace." So it was such a kind of comforting feeling to receive this music. As soon as I started to play, I kind of started to find peace in myself. And especially in those time, uh, we all remember we couldn't see each other and we have to have a social distance, and it was very hard time. And but this piece kind of connected both of us, Melanie and I. And then I started to do the live streaming in empty concert hall, and with this piece I connected with a lot of friends and family members, we couldn't see each other. And we just felt like we were all kind of embraced by the— by the— yeah, the power of music through this piece. And also, I performed it in a Blue Live in Japan that was the concert dedicated to the doctors and nurses who has been, you know, working so hard during the COVID And we made a charity. So it's like this, with out of this one piece, we shared so much emotion but also such a hope. And Aunji Classic Orchestra, which is one of the leading Japanese traditional instrumental orchestra based in Tokyo, has heard this piece and they just loved it. And it was only a few months ago in in the New Year's time in Japan, we started to play around it and made a bit of like improvisation. So based on the piano music, they were putting some improvisations and some like little cadences with Japanese drum, taiko, and Japanese flute and shamisen, the Japanese guitar. And we just spontaneously recorded. And Star and Sun Japan was very supportive interested to this project, and we made a promo video, and the producer in Tokyo heard this recording and loved it. So we just released the single. It all just happened in a kind of spontaneous way. And I just— we also thought that this is a perfect moment to release because of many things happening in the world. We live in such a turbulent, dramatic time. So to spread the music which has a beautiful message and prayers for peace, for us all to be together. So, and the music has such a power to do it. So I thought this was a perfect moment to release and then connect us all and share. That's absolutely beautiful. Well, let's listen then to Aïssa Hijiri performing Hey, you want— composed by Melanie Spansvik and all. And this was Melanie Spanswig on 'Heiwa' performed by our guest Eisa Ichiri. Eisa, this was absolutely fantastic. Now tell us a little bit, you know, you're a Stanway artist. Was this recorded on a Stanway piano? Yes, of course, it was one of the beautiful ones. It was in Stanway Hall, so I had a selection of beautiful, uh, Starway and Model D in Tokyo. So I picked the one which I connected to myself the most. Ah, beautiful. So it was recorded on the Spirio because there is this— in— it was, it was a Spirit. Ah, it was a Spirit. Ah, fantastic. So would you like— you know, you are the very first one, um, recording on a Spirio, um, on Future Classic Women Awards, and I would like to share this incredible feature that the Steinway piano has. So basically, they have this software that is called Spirio and allows the piano to play without the pianist, as if the pianist was actually there. So when a concert pianist like Aïssa performs a chord on a Steinway piano with this software included, then it enters this incredible database of phenomenal recordings. I mean, there is some of the greatest pianists in there, including historical recording. Like, you can see Rachmaninoff performing the piano, and then it's like if Aïssa is there with you when you played on the Spirio piano. Um, so that's quite— and, you know, it's a completely new way of recording and performing. Um, how do you feel about I mean, is it making you to record in a different way, to think about your performance in a different way, or is exactly the same as if you were in a recording studio? Um, that's a very interesting question. Yes, it was in 2015, quite a long time ago, the beginning of, um, the Star and the Sun's, this, Spirio, uh, journey started. Uh, first I was Yeah, I was quite shocked because it was— there's some nuance and the breathing between the phrase, everything was so accurate. It was very accurate. And I was at the Stanley Hall in New York and recorded and working with the Aspirio engineers, and I was just fascinated by the fact that we as a classical artist and recording artist, we always work with the sound. We record the sound. Yeah. And it was just because it's a completely different approach. But I could say, especially now, after having lived the time of the pandemic, I thought this is a such a fastest way to connect us kind of together. We can listen to the— we can basically reproduce the live performance. So I could listen myself a few minutes after, straight after, how I played it, how I— so it's like a good way to observe our own performance as if we were the third party. And I think it's really also very inspiring tool for young musicians, even students, to record the recital before the— recite the program before the performance and to kind of listen to it and observe how we actually are performing. Of course, their impressions from— of the same performance, but from the point of the art the artist sitting very close to the piano or the one who is listening from the auditorium is very different. So I think it's— we can use this period also for the, like, studying. We can really observe our— listen to our perform— like, you know, like live performance as if we were someone else listening in an auditorium. And also I think that now with the technology of a videocast, which they can play, replay the same performance at the same time connecting their Tokyo and London or New York or, you know, Florence or Paris or Hamburg, they can connect. So I think that's also very closest. Of course, you know, live performance is live performance. Which we can never replace with anything, you know? But to get closer to that is— I think this is a very revolutionary and it's a very fascinating, inspiring experience for everyone. And I think it will change our musical society a lot because if we want to— Before we had to take a flight and travel to go to master class, for example, but it kind of opened the door. Of course, it's different. Of course, it's a live performance and live master class is the best, of course, but also, but it gives us the opportunity to open the door that we can get very closer to like having a master class with a professor in London. Still, we were in Tokyo or New York we can get really close to that actual live situation even we were miles away from each other. So I think this is— well, I think change a lot in our musical society. Absolutely. Well, what is incredible now, for example, there is all these spatial sound recording. So you get to listen to— recordings that have been, you know, produced with spatial microphone. So instead of having a microphone in just one position somehow, you have microphone in different position. That is what we normally do, you know, when we're in the recording studio, or even for a live performance, you have various microphones around the piano, and then they get mixed together and you hear one final sound. Instead, with the spatial, basically you can move around and you can hear as if you were near to the keyboard or near to the tail of the piano or far away in the concert hall. Now, having a Spirio playing— a Spirio Steinway piano playing live and without the pianist being there, you know, like you're performing here in London and they're listening to you in Japan or in New York, or if you have a Spirio Grand piano in your living room, it's like you have the concert pianist in your living room. But the sound that you get is not the sound from the microphone, it's actually the sound from the piano performing for you in that very moment. So then you can walk around the piano and you can listen to the sound as if, you know, without disturbing the pianist as well. Because normally when we perform, you know, how many times it happened to you, you're performing, you got some photographers or videographers that they want to take a video of you and they go around the piano because it looks fantastic, but they are distracting you because you have to look at your million notes being played on 88 keys. So like that, you can actually do it without fearing, you know, to interfere in the performance itself. So I think it's very revolutionary. It's quite a revolutionary technology. Yes. And actually, I have a big Also, I think we can connect people from various different fields. I launched Starmay Spirit at the Belgrade Philharmonic Hall last year, and it was part of my piano festival. And so it was also a special celebration for the diplomatic friendship between Japan and Serbia. All the diplomats and ambassadors came for probably— and some of them are not so familiar going to the classical concert, I guess. Okay. Some of them are classical music lovers, but some of them are kind of coming to the classical concert for the first time at the Philharmonic Hall. So I recorded actually my recital with— because it was a Steinway studio piano, so I recorded my own performance. And then after the recital, instead of playing that encore, I made a little speech and came with iPad and spoke about Spirio. And I replayed one of the piece I played in a concert. And everybody was like really shocked. And the Japanese— yeah, Japanese, Korean, Italian ambassador, they were all in the audience. And I invited them to come to the stage and to look at the instrument and listen to it and see the movement. And everyone was like almost like children, or everyone took out their phone filming, and they were so— they were so fascinated by it. And I think that we found already a couple of the companies. The Toyota was also in the audience, and they were like, wow, like this is so fascinating, and they want to have it in office because they can have a live performance. In an office. Yeah. And connecting the artists and technology, it's really fascinating for everyone. And that was quite amazing, amazing experience. Fantastic. Well, are all your albums now on stereo? Or, for example, we're going to listen now Lis, Les Cloches de Genève. So can we find this recording in the Sperio database, or that was recorded before Sperio existed? Yeah, this was before, before Sperio. Okay, because I know that they can put even old recordings into the Sperio technology, but I guess that's an extra process. Um, well, would you like to tell us about this album then, about Les Cloches de Genève and Liszt? And the album, where is it from? Yes, I wanted to share this piece because this was the beginning of my journey with the Anna de Pellerinage by Franz Liszt. So my— one of my first piano teachers in Japan, Mrs. Ruriko Kase, was one of the last students of Sultan Kodayi. And so I grew up with the Hungarian piano method when I was a child. And my first concert in Europe was at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. And I was 12 years old. And it was part of the festival in Budapest. And then I kind of fell in love with the music of Franz Liszt. And, of course, visiting that place and visiting the Liszt Academy and looking at their, you know, his instrument and knowing about his life, of course, it opens the door to completely, yes, the world of Franklis, not just as a musician, but as a human, you know. So then I kind of connected myself with kind of his emotions while he was writing the Anedi Pelerinage. So he is like, no, he was a pilgrim. Well, let's explain. Not everyone speaks French, so Les Années de Pèlerinage is The Pilgrimage Year, composed by Liszt. Yes, yes, yes. So the Franz Liszt, you know, as a pilgrim, um, and I think he's a pilgrim, was kind of always searching for love. Even he had a love, but he was always searching for new inspiration, and I kind of connected to that feeling, you know. We are same for you, Stefania, we as artists, we start traveling from quite young age for festivals or competitions or summer courses, and we start traveling and meeting many friends and musicians, artists, and Then I kind of— those, you know, emotions and impression we get from the traveling. And some emotions and impressions we cannot express with words. But he expressed it all in those pieces from the Years of Pilgrimage. And the first piece I played from Years of Pilgrimage was Le Croix de Genève. And the story that Franz Liszt was with his love of his life, Countess Marie d'Agoult. They met in Paris and escaped from the scandal in Paris about their love affair, went to Geneva, and they were reading all the books and having a beautiful time, you know. Being in love, and they had their first daughter, Blandine. Liszt composed this beautiful piece for, you know, for the love for his first daughter, Blandine. And it's just the beginning of the piece, starting with like bells, 3 bells. He must be hearing them in evening And it's just these 3 bells is creating this beautiful, beautiful romantic music. And I could almost picture it. I could, that scene, scenery, and I could feel such a very delicate emotions. And I kind of felt very connected to that. You know, I think that as an artist we have this bent quite a lot of time traveling and practicing, going to the concerts, and quite a lot of time on our own. But we have always piano as our, you know, as a soulmate, sharing all these journeys and emotions. And I kind of felt really close. I was quite young when I first played this piece, but I could kind of imagine this piece, you know, like I think he was— he had lots of fans and lovers, but at the same time he was quite in a solitude with his piano and expressing it. And for my debut recital at the Tokyo Opera City, I played this piece, and it was the beginning of my years of pilgrimage with Liszt. So I recorded a lot of pieces from the first book of Switzerland and the second book, Italy. And of course now having— running my piano festival in Florence, I could really relate myself with the second book of Italy. So I wanted to share this music because it was the beginning of my journey in Europe as well. Let's listen then to Liszt's Les Cloches de Genève, The Bells of Geneva, performed by Aïssa Ijiri. And this was Liszt, Les Cloches de Genève, The Bells of Geneva, performed by our latest nominee of Future Classical Women Awards, Aïssa Ijiri. Aïssa, this was absolutely great. Now, we were talking about the pilgrimage and the fact that, like Liszt, you're now in Italy as well with your new festival, the Montecatini Festival. So tell us a little bit, um, you know, about how you came to London. That is where we met, and, uh, how your journey is bringing you down now to Italy and to Serbia, and, uh, how, you know, your life basically, your current life, because I know our life changes continuously. But yes, yes, life is a big subject, so I need maybe one week with you. I know, I know, but, um, Yes, I came to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama for my master's degree, and I went to Royal College of Music for artist diploma. And I think that we met more than 10 years ago through our mutual friend. Yes, we did. Yeah, and but about this festival, it was kind of, it was a whole beautiful, actually, journey. After my Carnegie Hall recital, that was in 2017, I think, Stefania, being also, you know, you as a concert pianist, you can also, I think, relate it to my emotions, but— Of course. Carnegie Hall is one of the biggest concert halls in the world. Is like performing, I don't know, Royal Albert Hall here. You performed as well at Royal Albert Hall. So, yeah. You're doing them all. Yeah. So, like, after, like, as a pianist building a career as a performance, and after Carnegie Hall recital, that was fantastic, completely a dream day for me. It was sold out, and I saw the recital. And I didn't imagine how— I mean, I always dreamed about playing at the Carnegie Hall ever since I was a little girl, but the reality was much more beautiful than my dream. This is what I can say. Yeah, all my family members, friends, and, you know, professors, everyone who was on my journey was there, and it was sold out. Even the I thought, who is going to come to my Carnegie Hall, you know? Yes, I'm— but, but it was packed, and I sold all my CDs, and there was still a queue. Oh wow, waiting for my autograph. And it was just amazing day. And that was a day, that was a day also I felt that was end of my— end of one chapter like everything we do as a concert pianist and as also student hours about the practice and so many competitions, auditions, and a lot of dramas and emotions and tears and everything. Like everything we have taken the step for that moment. And of course it was not the only Carnegie Hall, but other stepping stones to go up to that point. And after that recital, I thought I felt such a contentment, but at the same time, I knew it was the end of one chapter. And it was the year I established the Tokyo International Piano Association as my new company to start my own project for the education and the future generations and for the culture. So, and I launched my festival in Japan. It was a— I have such a passion, so it ended up quite a big festival. I had a series of concerts, master classes in Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga, Yokohama, Tokyo, and it was Tokyo was a Kiri Hall with over 800 people, so it was quite a big festival and I've done it with my colleagues and world-class concert pianist Peter Jablonski. And so that was the beginning of my new journey. And after that, from that festival, I connected with so many young musicians. And also from my background, I was also African. When I was a child. So I connected with so many other people who are not from the music world but who wants to support, um, uh, music, musical community. So I— this is something that we need to expand because you were not just an athlete, you went to the Olympic Games. I mean, that's not any athlete. Thank you. I mean, when you told me this, I was like, oh my gosh, you are incredible. I mean, I think each of us, when we— I mean, I don't, I don't know one, uh, successful artist who's not as well an incredible person with incredible stories. But yeah, I, I think you're the first one and only one I know that's gone to the Olympic Games. As a skier, so that's a super speed as well, super dangerous. Do you still ski? Yes, I do. And also the skating, swimming. Oh yeah, last night I was swimming as well. I'm— and yeah, my stroke, uh, in the competition was a butterfly, so I was really seriously swimming. I still love it. The difference is I don't need to time myself, you know. I can, I can swim it so slow. And that's wonderful. You know, I remember when I was little, I was, I was forbidden to ski or to skate, so I did it, but, you know, very little, just for— because I love skating, for example. I always watch all the competitions. And skiing, I love watching the skiing competition, the super giant. But I, I basically just go down as slow as I can, and I'm very, very afraid. You know, they, they grew me up with this fear that if you fall down and you break the tip of a finger, basically your career is over. So how could you combine the two things together? Um, actually, my parents, you know, my parents really encouraged me to find my own passion, and when told my mother— she's a piano teacher— so I— when I told my mother, uh, when I was 7 years old, that was my first concert, um, um, that I want to become a pianist. And she told me that she doesn't recommend it. She doesn't recommend it. Of course, now I practice and a lot of things to sacrifice, but she doesn't recommend it. But she will support if I want to do, but find your own passion. And I had a— I was very curious girl, and my father, um, was also sportsman. So I've, I've shared, um, a lot of like diving and a lot of things with my father, and I'm only one child, so I shared with artistic side like pianos and also going to the operas and the museum. A lot of artistic side with my mother, and I shared everything, you know, in the ocean, in the mountains, and everything with something to do with sports with my father. He was a great coach as well, even after the piano lessons. And he was, uh, we were going to the track and field and training, and I had a— he even bought a parachute, you know, because we have to train our muscles. So we put the belt around our waist and then we have a parachute, so we have a weight from the wind and we have to, uh, you know, run. No, I didn't know, I didn't know that. That's incredible. Oh my gosh, he got all the equipment. Um, I was, I was naturally very fast sprinter. And then in the beginning, I became the fastest one in school, and then I became fastest one in the city, and then go to the prefectures and the national championship, and it just goes up. So I was quite naturally good in sports. And then, then because my parents really encouraged me to do as many things as I want. So just I ended up doing the sports and the music at the same time. Um, but what was your father's sport? Was he doing anything? He was, he was in, uh, volleyball, in a national volleyball. Oh wow. Yeah, but, um, but I love volleyball, another dangerous sport for us pianists, but yes. I was very good with that because we have strong fingers, isn't it? So, yes. So do you play volleyball? No, I actually don't do anything to use the fingers. Okay. All the sports I did are kind of— I have a space on my own, like a solo sport, you know, figure skating or skiing, swimming. Like, I have my own lane, you know. Got you. Yeah, got you. Yeah, so yeah, my parents really encouraged me and I enjoyed it. Sometimes actually I remember the championship for swimming, actually swimming and piano competition was the same day. Wow. Oh no, crazy. I was crazy and I wanted to do both and luckily swimming pool and the concert hall was quite close. I think it was half an hour by car. Oh, right. So my mom was— my mother was driving between two places. And the first round on the piano competitions and go to the swimming, and then I passed the first round, I have to come back to concert hall and change and play again and go to the swimming again. And I was back and forth. Oh my God, I won that piano competition and it was so funny. After the, like, you know, ceremonies for the winners and my mother told the jury members that I was doing the two competitions. I was also doing the competition for swimming and then they said, oh, that's why Her hair was constantly wet, and I was wondering, why her hair is constantly wet? It was so funny. I mean, I was a child. Oh my God, that's such a funny story. Yeah, that's very funny. That's very, very funny. Well, you know what, then let's listen from— because I'm thinking of you as a younger crazy pianist and woman. And let's listen to Young Juliet from Prokofiev for the 10 pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Opus 75. And this was Prokofiev, the 10 pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75, Young Juliet, performed by our fantastic guest Aiza Ijiri. Aiza, that was absolutely wonderful, joyful. I loved it. And, you know, we're unfortunately already at the last length of our interview. I mean, it goes so fast, and, you know, and you have so many stories that you can share with us. Um, so, but, you know, let's talk about your next project. So we have this wonderful, um, single that just came out that we listened at the beginning of our interview. That was Melanie, um, Spencewick, um, on Heywa, composed for you, and that translates into peace. It couldn't be more relevant really today in our current situation worldwide. But what's your next project? What's coming up next? I have a couple projects going on, but the one of the biggest one and one of the exciting ones, uh, it's my upcoming festival in Florence. So after the festival, which I told you a little bit about in Tokyo, it just project expanded, and it was in 2018 I was the part of the films about Petrarch's sonnets. It was directed by Marco Della Fonte, the Italian film directors and produced by Lost Pictures. And we won the Best Experimental Award at the Hollywood Film Festival. And that, yes, that's a surprise actually. It was first like a movie I took part in as a pianist and also as an actress. And we don't expect anything more, but it was like, whoa, that was beautiful surprise. And that led to something else. And I got to know quite many people from that film in Florence. And then I launched my piano competition, Montecatini International Piano Competition, which has actually grown so much during the lockdown because everybody joined in while I was— hosting it in online edition during the lockdown. We had fantastic— so many young talented pianists joined from nearly over 50 countries. And from that, many of our partners got interested in my festival, and we had We found the La Philharmonie, Florence Philharmonic Orchestra, as one of my partners joining the festival, and our investors and sponsors, and the wonderful palazzos in Florence. So I'll be hosting my piano festival together with La Philharmonie, and of course a very kind support from Ustam Sons. Now we are having a new flagship store in Milan. So I know, yeah, so a very kind support from our dear friends from Ustam Sons. I'll be hosting festival from 18th of October to 24th of October this year, featuring also lots of fantastic artists like Vasco Vasilev, concertmaster of the Royal Opera House in London, and so many wonderful pianists and musicians and conductors. And of course, the La Philharmonie will be our orchestra for the pianists. And the final round of Monte Catini International Piano Competition will also take place at the Teatro Nicolini. I think it's one of the oldest theaters in Italy. Yeah, beautiful, beautiful place to be, beautiful music, beautiful orchestra. So I definitely recommend everyone to go, it's gonna be fantastic. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. Um, so yeah, so that's what's gonna happen. And do you have more recording happening as well? Are you working on a new program or that you can share? Of course, it can be top secret and you tell us Next time when the new album comes out. I'm working on a couple more music with the Aung Jie Classic Orchestra combining the piano and Japanese traditional instruments. Wonderful. And the next one will be from the Tale of Genji. It's very, very old novel. I think it is written in 11th or 12th century in Japan. And 'Tale of Genji' is about, about like I think any very romantic novel in those times. It's about one prince who is very handsome, charismatic, and who falls in love with many beautiful women, and each chapter is about love story. And And the next one, the recording coming up, is about— it's called Sakurabito, which is actually, it's from the Tale of Genji novel. But this story, Sakurabito, which Sakura means cherry blossom and Bito, so it's like about a man. It's in direct translation is a man of cherry blossom. So it's like, actually, the real story was deleted for some reason. The one chapter is deleted from the whole novel. Yeah, so it's kind of stayed as a mystery. So the leader of the Aung San Suu Kyi Classical Orchestra made a story about this kind of one chapter which remains as a mystery that the one prince, the one man, just lost his beloved princess. And when she passed away, there was a beautiful cherry tree. And the cherry tree started, you know, from the winter to spring and started to be in full bloom and beautiful cherry blossoms. And then the summer comes with the leaves and autumn with the colored leaves and the winters again. So this prince is kind of dedicate his love toward— his love to these cherry trees and protect and look after these cherry trees. So it's about— it's a beautiful story, and we created this music. So the new recording is about this, and of course, I'm also working on my classical repertoire for my next new recording. I think it will be about Bach. During the lockdown, I was kind of— Bach was very therapeutic piece to play, and I was working a lot of Bach and also some of the Bach transcriptions. So this is what I'm working for my classical side, but my crossover side, I'm working on Japanese traditional instrument and piano, which is very eye-opening and very exciting. Wonderful. Well, we're unfortunately at the end of our interview. We're going to finish listening to your Liszt Sonetto 104 del Petrarca. But before, we'll just say goodbye to our amazing guest, Aysahiri, for the beautiful chat and music that we played today. Thank you so much, Stefania, for inviting me. It has been a really great pleasure and so much fun. Thank you. The pleasure has been ours. You've been listening to Future Classical Women Awards on Women's Radio Station, live every day at 10 AM and 10 PM London time. If you have any questions that you would like to ask to our guests or nomination for our Future Classical Women Awards, please email presenters@womensradiostation.com or tweet us @WomensRadioSTN. And if you would like to catch it again on our previous programs, you can head to my presenter page, Stefania Passamonte, Future Classical Women Awards on Women's Radio Station. And we're gonna finish our program today listening to Aisa Iri with List Sonnetto 104 del Petrarca.