Sanae Yoshida

About Sanae Yoshida

Sanae Yoshida is a pianist in Oslo whose work moves between new music and the classical canon, whether as a soloist, in chamber groups or within larger ensembles. Composers regularly write for her, and she has been the first to perform a great many new works. Her training began at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, followed by a move to Norway in 2005 to study with Jiri Hlinka at the Barratt Due Institute of Music.

At the Norwegian Academy of Music, as part of the Norwegian Programme for Artistic Research, she has developed the project Mi(my)crotonal Piano. In it she has commissioned, premiered and recorded roughly 30 works for microtonal piano, from solo pieces to chamber music and piano concertos, by composers from Norway and abroad. The project asks what happens to the piano, and to the pianist, when the notes between the keys are given a voice.

Yoshida plays in Ensemble Ernst and is a co-founder of Ensemble Temporum, which specialises in contemporary music. Her solo appearances include the Ultima Festival, the Bergen International Festival and the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music. A recording of David Monrad Johansen's chamber music, made with the group Fragaria Vesca, earned a Spellemannsprisen nomination.