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Naoko Matamaru, piano

Naoko Matamaru was born in Tokyo. She studied with Carmen Moreno, Shinya Nakane, Caroline Palmer, and Carole Presland, in Chile, Japan, London, and in Manchester. Whilst at the Royal Northern College of Music, Naoko won the Julius, the Max Mayer, and the Olive Marsh Scholarships, the Margaret Tudor Evans Prize for Accompaniment, the Bessie Cronshaw Song Cycle Prize for Accompaniment and the Stella Award for Accompaniment. She was awarded the college’s Postgraduate Diploma in Piano Accompaniment, gaining a distinction for her final recital, and was a finalist in The Sixth Birmingham Accompanist of the Year Competition 2001. Having won a scholarship with the RNCM, she went on to win the Sir Henry Richardson Awards for Accompanists, which in turn allowed her to study further at the RNCM, and subsequently earn the Professional Performance Diploma. She has taken part in Master classes with Julius Drake, Gordon Back, Ian Brown, Malcom Martineau, Martin Katz, Gustav Fenyo, and Alexander Volkov. She has also played for distinguished musician’s Maser classes such as Malcom Fraser, Ruth Waterman, Eric Rosenblith, Pat MacMahon, Tony Moffat, Johannes Goritzki, Ralph Kirshbaum, Paul Watkins and Robert Irvine. She has appeared all over the UK performing both solo and chamber music, including the Grieg Concerto in Bristol. The most recent performances are a duo recital for Chamber Music International in Leeds in April 2005 and a duo recital in The Paxton House Summer Music Series in July 2005.

Naoko was on the Junior Fellowship in piano accompaniment for 2 years at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from September 2003-July 2005, and studied with Graeme McNaught. She was the accompanist most in demand at RSAMD, where she has performed regularly. She is now in great demand both as a soloist and a duo partner for recitals, instrumental and vocal competitions.