Misako Mihara

She is the First Prize winner of the 26th International Johannes Brahms Competition (Piano Division) and received the Highest Music Award at the 24th ABC New Artist Concert Audition. Her awards also include First Prize at the Grand Prize Virtuoso Salzburg International Music Competition 2016, First Prize at the 12th Romanian International Competition, and the Board Prize of the Japan–Romania Music Society.
At the 5th Alcobaça International Chamber Music Competition, she was awarded the Second Prize (highest award) as well as the Prize for the Best Performance of a Portuguese Work. In addition, she received the Grand Prize at the 7th Sengawa Piano Audition, among many other distinctions.

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She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Japan, and graduated with the highest distinction from the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK Berlin). As a Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs Overseas Study Fellow (2017), she continued her studies at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, where she completed her postgraduate program.
Her principal teachers include Jacques Rouvier, Zlata Chochieva, Hiroko Ninomiya, Izumi Komoriya, Yumiko Doi, and Mitsuyo Yamamoto.

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Maintaining an active career as both a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed with numerous orchestras in Japan and abroad, including the Euro Symphony SFK Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Gunma Symphony Orchestra, Yamagata Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo New City Orchestra (now Pacific Philharmonia Tokyo).
In 2025, she appeared in the concert series “Live: The Music of Nodame Cantabile” and launched her own Brahms-focused chamber music series, “Dear Brahms.” Her international activities continue to expand, with invitations to festivals such as Italy’s "Palermo Classica Festival" and performances as a piano concerto soloist in Taiwan.

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Her repertoire spans from Baroque to contemporary works, with a particular dedication to the music of Johannes Brahms, which she studies intensively and explores deeply in her musical expression.
Her two CD recordings, “Brahms – Neue Bahnen” and “CONTRAST,” have been selected and praised by leading music journals. One review noted: “Her powerful fingers vividly reveal the subtle nuances entrusted by the composer to each individual note.”

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She currently serves as a part-time lecturer at the Toho Gakuen School of Music and teaches at its Music School for Children (Sengawa and Ochanomizu branches). She is a recipient of the Fujisawa City Special Contribution Award for Lifelong Learning (2019), a registered artist of the Public Hall Music Vitalization Program (2025–2026) by the Japan Foundation for Regional Art Activities, and a Cultural and Arts Advisory Board Member of Fujisawa City.