20-year old pianist Rieko Tsuchida was born in Japan and began her piano studies at age three with Ankie Foell. In 1999 she entered the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division as a scholarship student of John McCarthy, who still continues to be an important mentor and teacher. In 2011 she made her professional debut with the California Symphony, performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto no. 1 at the Lesher Center. That year she was also the youngest of eight pianists selected from around the world to participate in the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland, where she worked with artists such as Stephen Kovacevich and Ferenc Rados. Ms. Tsuchida has also performed at Carnegie Hall as first prize winner of the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition and has given recitals across the United States and in the Netherlands, England, and Japan. Ms. Tsuchida has won many awards in recent years. In 2012 she was one of five pianists chosen from the nation to be an NFAA YoungArts fellow, which gave her the opportunity to perform at the New World Center in Miami. She is also the winner of the 2012 Avanti Award, a grant given to an artist of any age pursuing a career in the performing or visual arts. In San Francisco she has appeared in joint programs alongside opera stars Placido Domingo at the De Young Museum, Joyce DeDinato at the San Francisco Museum of the Modern Art, and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In May 2013 she presented a solo recital at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. In August 2013 she performed Chopin's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Ashdod Symphonic Orchestra in Italy. Ms. Tsuchida is a recipient of the Leon Fleisher Scholarship at the Peabody Institute, where she is pursuing her a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Boris Slutsky. Please visit her website www.riekotsuchida.com for more information and upcoming events.
The Southeastern Piano Festival is grateful to the many generous individuals and businesses that help our festival become a reality. Steinway and Sons is the official performance piano of the festival. The Symphony League of the South Carolina Philharmonic sponsors the Arthur Fraser International Concerto Competition.
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