Kaoru Iwamura – A strong advocate for historical piano
Kaoru Iwamura gives solo concerts on the fortepiano, plays in ensembles and accompanies song recitals. Her music takes her from living rooms, castles and museums to festivals and concert halls, from northern, central and southern Europe to Asia. She has played in venues such as the Spiegelzaal at the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), St. Cecilia’s Hall (Edinburgh), Johann Michael Haydn Gedenkstätte (Salzburg), Finchcocks Musical Museum (Goudhurst, Kent) and various locations in Japan and the Netherlands.
Historical compositions brought to life
Kaoru has developed and played well-received programmes in which she brings to life historical compositions for fortepiano. Examples of this are “Bach & Bach”, “Trout and Other Fish”, “200 Years After Waterloo”, “260 Years of Mozart – His Life Journey on Fortepiano”, “Piano Trio of Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” and “The Early Fortepiano Music in the Age of Enlightenment – Giustini, Haydn and Mozart”.
Old music and modern compositions
As well as historical pieces, Kaoru performs premieres of modern compositions for fortepiano. She has already premiered the work of about fifteen composers, amongst them Miranda Driessen, René Samson and Hugo Bouma. Together with Martijn Padding, composer and teacher at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, Kaoru has supported young composers in the creation of their work.
La Corde Vibrante
With guitarist Dario Macaluso, Kaoru formed the duo La Corde Vibrante which recorded a successful album under the same name, with music by Giordani, Carulli, Von Weber and others. Christo Lelie wrote in the Dutch national newspaper Trouw: ‘It’s surprising how fortepiano and guitar form a sonic unity; often one can hardly tell them apart.’ The duo La Corde Vibrante has toured the Netherlands, Italy and Japan.
Kaoru’s MagiPodium: a piano voyage through time
In her interactive family concert Kaoru’s MagiPodium Kaoru shares her love for the historical instrument with children from 6 to 99 years old. With accessible music by Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven, a suitcase full of stories and her Mozart piano, Kaoru takes her audience on a piano voyage through time. Kaoru’s MagiPodium was initially made possible in part by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.
Muzio Clementi Award
Kaoru started playing the piano when she was four years old. She received her master’s degree in piano from the Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo, where she studied with Motoko Kinebuchi and Professor Konstantin Ganev. It was her passion for fortepiano that brought her to the Netherlands. There she specialised in historical performance practice at the conservatoires in The Hague and Amsterdam with Stanley Hoogland, and took harpsichord and organ as secondary studies. She studied harpsichord for a further year with Siegbert Rampe and fortepiano with Wolfgang Brunner at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Kaoru received several bursaries, including the Fukui Naoaki Memorial Scholarship (Tokyo), the Asahi Shimbun Foundation (Tokyo) and the Erasmus Grant for exchange students (Netherlands).
In 2006, Kaoru received the Muzio Clementi Award at the Finchcocks Musical Instrument Museum in Kent, England, in recognition of her dedication to the study and promotion of early keyboard instruments, following her skilled performance on ten different instruments built between 1668 and 1866.
Masterclasses on historical keyboard instruments
Alongside her work as a piano teacher in Hilversum, Kaoru has given masterclasses in several European cities. She also leads workshops on location, where pianists are introduced to the fortepiano, the harpsichord and the spinet. The participants have chance to discover the old instruments and the music that was written by Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
Special concerts and locations
Kaoru has played in venues such as:
the Spiegelzaal of the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Finchcocks Musical Instrument Museum (Goudhurst, Kent), Fenton House (London), Houghton Hall (Norfolk), St. Cecilia’s Hall (Edinburgh), Johann Michael Haydn Gedenkstätte (Salzbug), ‘Steri’ (Palermo, Sicilië), Salvatore Cicero (Cefalù, Sicilië), Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam), Amstelkerk (Amsterdam), Geelvinck Hinlopenhuis (Amsterdam), Pianola museum (Amsterdam), Posthoornkerk (Amsterdam), Felix Meritis (Amsterdam), Noorderkerk (Amsterdam), Vondelkerk (Amsterdam), Werkgebouw Het Veem (Amsterdam), Seinconcerten (Hilversum), Heuvellaan Hilversum (Hilversum), Kasteel Heeswijk (Heeswijk), Kasteel Loenersloot (Loenersloot), Studio de Bakkerij (Rotterdam), Van Houtenkerk (Weesp), Geelvinck Muziek Museum (Zutphen), Zael (Meppel), Kuopio Conservatry (Kuopio), Museum of Musical Instruments (Hamamatsu), Myo-nichi kan (Tokyo), Oumi-Gakudo (Tokyo), Chateau Kamiya Ushiku (Ushiku), Nova Hall (Tsukuba), Bach no Mori (Tsukuba), Placio de la guitarra (Ishioka), Museum of Bokusui Wakayama (Numazu).
She performed amongst others at:
the The Hong Kong Early Music Festival (online version) in 2021 (Hong Kong), Festival di Musica Antica (Cagliari, Sardinië), the Geelvinck Fortepiano Festival (Amsterdam & Zutphen), Eratofestival (Meppel) and Festival Toetsenparade (Amsterdam). She can also be heard annually at The Day of the Castle and the PianoWandeling (Edam).
Musical collaborations
Kaoru collaborates with many musicians, composers and organisations:
- Fortepianotrio Belfontis (with Heleen Hulst & Nina Hitz) and Duo Belfontis (with Nina Hitz)
- Fortepiano Kwintet SOUNDS (with Barbara Erdner, Esther van der Eijk, Nina Hitz and Maria Vahervuo)
- National tour of Schubert’s Trout Quintet and new work inspired by it by young composers Hugo Bouma and Mark Toxopeus
- Camerata Amsterdam under the direction of Jeroen Weierink – four seasons as continuo player on harpsichord in Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater
- Live cinemaproject FACES – tour on spinet with Lukas Simonis, Huib Emmer, Joost van Veen & Nina Hitz with electronic music and improvisation
- Collaboration with Guy Sonnen – performances of Schubert’s Winterreise in various cities
- Musical guided tours on authentic instruments at the Geelvinck Hinlopen Huis (Amsterdam) – loved by an international audience
- Board member of the Stichting Sweelinck Fortepiano Collectie (Amsterdam)
- Jury member of the Geelvinck Fortepiano Concours Amsterdam
- A programmer and player during the Pianoforte Festival in the Honig Breethuis in Zaandijk
- Conductor & organist of the catholic choir in the sung Latin Mass at the Stephanuskerk (Amsterdam) and others