Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka

Kimiko playing in the Trinitatis Church, Bonn, Germany.

Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka (born 4 December 1976) is a German-Japanese pianist, former olympic weightlifter[1] and powerlifter.[2] She was born in Bonn, Germany.[3]

Music

A performance of Goldberg Variations

Douglass-Ishizaka (known as Ishizaka) started playing the piano at age four, was a member of the Ishizaka Trio for 16 years with her brothers, and graduated from Hochschule für Musik Köln. As a solo pianist, she has performed concerts throughout Europe, North America, and Japan, as well as appearing with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, the Klassische Philharmonie, and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra (Michigan).[3]

Kimiko Ishizaka performing at the O.H.M. festival in the Netherlands, 2013.

In 1998 Ishizaka was the winner of the Deutsche Musikwettbewerb (German Music Competition), along with her brothers Kiyondo Ishizaka and Danjulo Ishizaka.

Ishizaka is part of the Open Goldberg Variations, a Kickstarter-funded,[4] and Bösendorfer-sponsored[5] team that recorded Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations and released the score and recordings into the public domain in May, 2012.[6][7][8]

Ishizaka's interpretation is characterised by straightforward musicianship, immaculate technical aplomb, and a warm, beautifully modulated sonority. Counterpoint passes back and forth between the hands in a conversational and judiciously balanced manner, while a strong lyrical impulse informs the cross-handed variations' rapid, bravura passages.
— Jed Distler, Gramophone Magazine[9]

In November 2013 Ishizaka and Open Goldberg Project completed another Kickstarter project to fund the recording Book I of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. The new recording was released into the public domain in March, 2015.

Donald Rosenberg, writing for Gramophone Magazine, writes that "She scales her Bach to the rhythmic, structural and sonic needs of the music, without touching the sustaining pedal."[10]

James Oestreich, reviewing for The New York Times, reported that Ishizaka is a "gifted and obviously devoted Bachian" and that she "performed the 24 preludes and fugues of Book 1 from memory and without major flaw".[11]

Fugue No. 19 in A major (BWV 864)

In April 2015, Ishizaka began another Kickstarter-funded project to record Chopin's 24 préludes on an 1842 Pleyel piano.[12] The recordings will be released under a Creative Commons license.

Ishizaka made her debut as a composer on March 19, 2016, with her performance of Bach's The Art of the Fugue featuring her own completion of the final fugue.[13]

Powerlifting

Kimiko performing the deadlift at the 2005 German Championships in Powerlifting

Ishizaka was placed 3rd in the weight category < 82 kg in the 2005 German championships in powerlifting and in 2006 she was placed 2nd in the disciplines of bench press, squat and deadlift.[14]

Olympic weightlifting

Ishizaka won three medals at the 2008 German championships in olympic weightlifting.[15]

In the spring of 2008 she was placed 5th in the ELEIKO Women's Grand Prix in Niederöblarn, Austria in the 63 kg class.[14]

Kimiko Ishizaka performing the Clean and Jerk

References

  1. ↑ "Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka, Piano and Weightlifting", Westdeutscher Rundfunk. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  2. ↑ Hadel, Andreas (2005). "KDK DM05 Broschure" (PDF). Power Training.
  3. 1 2 "Biography", Kimiko Ishizaka web page. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Open Goldberg Variations - Setting Bach Free", Kickstarter. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  5. ↑ "Bösendorfer Sponsors the Open Goldberg Project", boesendorfer.com. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  6. ↑ "Open Goldberg Variations Raises $16,000 in 20 Days for 'Open Source Bach'", opengoldbergvariations.org, 25 March 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  7. ↑ OpenGoldberg. "The Open Goldberg Variations Project - Setting Bach's Music Free", YouTube, 6 March 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  8. ↑ The Open Goldberg Variations Downloads"
  9. ↑ Distler, Jed (September 2012). "'Open Goldberg Variations'". Gramophone (Awards): 86.
  10. ↑ ROSENBERG, Donald (June 1, 2015). "Gramophone talks to... Kimiko Ishizaka". Gramophone Magazine.
  11. ↑ OESTREICH, James (September 12, 2012). "KIMIKO ISHIZAKA". New York Times.
  12. ↑ "Kimiko Ishizaka plays Chopin on an 1842 Pleyel". Kickstarter. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  13. ↑ "Perfectly right for this performer at this time - Kimiko Ishizaka performs The Art of Fugue with her own completion".
  14. 1 2 Conny Högg. "Beigeistert am Piano und überzeugt an der Hantel: Kimiko Douglass", Netzathleten Magazin, 08.12.2008. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  15. ↑ Nelie Satie. "Nach dem Scherenschnitt ein perfekter Auftrit". Gewichtheben DM Rodewisch. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
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