| Features |
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| Operatic Roles |
| Oratorio Repertoire |
| Skills |
| Other |
Akiko is an award-winning mezzo-soprano, established as an opera singer and recitalist both in Europe and Japan. She graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Tokyo, studied with Prof. Ryosuke Hatanaka and won the “Tomita Private Foundation” scholarship to study opera in the UK with Richard Gregson, Nina Walker and Dennis Knight from the Royal Opera House, also studied singing with Enrico Fissore, Sylvia Rhys-Thomas and Annette Thompson.
Originally a soprano, Akiko retrained as a mezzo and as a result went on to perform extensively in the UK and Europe together where she won a Distinguished Musician Award at the Bellini International Voice Competition – IBLA Grand Prize 2003 in Italy. She also was chosen to sing Suzuki in Madama Butterfly on a special centenary tour of the opera across ten Western European countries, such as at Salzburg Festival Hall with an Italian opera touring company in 2005.
Akiko gives monthly scheduled recitals in London, including English, Japanese, Italian, German, Spanish and French songs and is also dedicated to performing new English songs. She is currently working with Dominic Sewell and other British composers, premiering their new works under the auspices of the British Music Information Centre and other organizations as well as broadcast on BBC Worldservice. She was recently sponsored by the Art Council to give a recital at Cadogan Hall with five working English and Japanese composers, including David Matthews and has been invited to perform there again.
page top| composers | titles | roles |
|---|---|---|
| Massenet | Charlotte | Werther (scene) |
| Bellini | Adalgisa | Norma |
| Bizet | Carmen | Carmen* |
| Tchaikovsky | Olga | Eugene Onegin* |
| Puccini | Suzuki/Madre | Madama Butterfly |
| Verdi | Ulrica | Un Ballo in Maschera |
| Eboli | Don Carlos (scene) | |
| Amneris | Aida (scene) | |
| Meg | Falstaff* | |
| Rossini | Isolier | Le Comte Ory |
| Offenbach | La Pericole | La Pericole (scene) |
| Ravel | Tea Cup | L'Enfant et les Sortileges |
| Debussy | Delisande | Pelleas et Melisande (scene) |
| Poulanc | M.Jeanne | Les Dialogues des Carmeltes* (scene) |
| Delius | Palmyra | Koanga (scene) |
| Janacek | Frank & Owl | The Cunning Little Vixen* |
| Mozart | Sesto & Annio | La Clemenza di Tito |
| Gluck | Orfeo | Orfeo ed Euridice |
| Verdi | Maddalena | Rigoletto |
| Purcell | Dido | Dido and Aeneas |
| composers | titles |
|---|---|
| Handel | Messiah |
| Rossini | Petite Messe Solennelle |
| Verdi | Requiem |
| Mozart | Requiem |
| Vivaldi | Gloria 589 (588) |
| Pergolesi | Stabat Mater |
| Dvorak | Stabat Mater |
| Haydn | Stabat Mater |
| Bach | Mass in b minor |
| WS Lloyd Webber | Born a King |
| Sir A Sommervell | The passion of Christ |
| Weber | Mass in G minor |
| Saint-Saens | Christmas Oratorio |
| Japanese | mother tongue |
| English | fluent |
| Italian | Advanced |
| Spanish | Advanced |
| German | Conversational |
| French | Conversational |
| Czech | Singing purpose only |
| Japanese language coach | Recent clients include Angela Gheorghiu, Sarah Brightman |
| - Flamenco - Ballroom - Latin American - Tap Awarded prizes for Ballroom and Latin American Dancing Has performed for BBC, 1997 |
| Film: Appeared as Opera Sings in “Thunderpants”, 2001 |