"A performance of noble grace and clarity combined with emotional warmth and celestial lyricism." - Elena Vorotko, Keyboard Charitable Trust
Japanese-American pianist Ayane Nakajima is the prize winner of several international competitions including Young Texas Artists, International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival and YoungArts.
Hailing from New York City, Ayane began playing the piano at the age of three under the tutelage of Chaim Freiberg at the Kaufman Music Center. From six to eighteen, she studied privately with Dr. Hiromi Fukuda. Ayane is currently pursuing her Master's degree at the Royal College of Music in London with Danny Driver, where she is a Big Give Michael Whittaker Scholar. She previously attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and received her Bachelor of Music with Dr. Jon Kimura Parker at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas.
In recent years, Ayane has given performances at prestigious venues such as Steinway Hall London and New York, Scandinavia House, Alice Tully Hall, Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the New World Center. She also actively engages in summer festivals, most recently at the Académie Internationale d'Eté de Nice, where she studied intensively with pianist Akiko Ebi. Additionally, she was nominated as a 2019 U.S. Presidential Scholar, selected as a recipient of the 2023 Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts and a finalist in the 2024 Royal Overseas League Competition.
As a collaborative pianist, Ayane enjoys working with both singers and instrumentalists. She is a laureate of multiple competitions including the 1st prize at the Brooks van der Pump English Song Competition, honorable mention at the Titanic Memoriam Pianist Prize at the Royal College of Music and the Young Musicians Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She was also invited by euphonist Demondrae Thurman, Chair of the Department of Brass at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, to perform alongside him in New York. She has received guidance from notable vocal and chamber coaches such as Audrey Hyland, Simon Lepper, Ben Johnson, Tim Evan Jones, Paul Kantor, Desmond Hoebig and Kathleen Winkler, and has participated in masterclasses with distinguished teachers and performers such as Jeremy Denk, Roberto Plano, Logan Skelton, Nina Lelchuk, Akiko Ebi and Marina Lomazov.