2009 – 2010 Season
CANADIAN PIANIST, RACHMANINOFF TOP POPS SEASON FINALE ON MAY 8
Christine Mari Yoshikawa
At the tender age of 9, Christine Mari Yoshikawa was playing piano concertos and performing as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras in cities such as Paris, London, Munich, Sofia, Prague, Tokyo, New York, Boston and Chicago. In regular concerto engagements and recitals in major halls around the world, the Canadian pianist has quickly established herself as one of Canada’s most sought-after young pianists.
She will be the featured soloist during “Enchanting Escapades,” the final concert of the season by The Panama City POPS, Saturday, May 8, 7:30 pm at the Arnold High School Auditorium. Her encore appearance reprises her highly acclaimed appearance at last year’s final POPS concert on May 2.
Ms. Yoshikawa will perform the first movement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concert Number One.” The piece was written by the Russian composer in 1892 at the age of 19, and was modeled after Norwegian Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, a favorite work of the composer. Rachmaninoff revised the piece in 1917, transforming an early, immature composition into the concise, spirited work it is today.
Yoshikawa Background
Equally comfortable in both traditional and contemporary genres, Dr. Yoshikawa frequently performs chamber music with some of the world’s finest musicians.
She is the winner of many national and international competitions including the Grand Prize winner and Laureate of the Kromeriz International Piano Festival Competition, the Canadian Music Competitions, Young Concert Artist Guild, 7th Ehrhart International Competition.
She was awarded the 2002-03 Mary Louise Remy Endowed PEO Scholar for her doctoral research on the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, a recognition reserved for the top two of just 85 research scholars selected from over 600 North American nominations.
Additional awards include the prestigious Kieckhefer Doctoral Dissertation Award, the Aiken-Rockefeller Concert Artist Career Grand and Medallion, British Columbia Arts Council Grant, and the President’s Scholar Award.
A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Dr. Yoshikawa began her piano studies at the age of two. She holds top medals from the Western Board and Royal School of Music in London, and degrees with distinction honors from the University of Victoria, University of British Columbia and Arizona State University.
A committed educator, she conducts clinics and masterclasses internationally. She has held teaching positions at the University of British Columbia and Arizona State University, and currently serves on the faculties of Chipola College and Gulf Coast Community College.