Midori Komachi & Simon Callaghan
Biographie Midori Komachi & Simon Callaghan
Midori Komachi
has developed a diverse career in bridging UK and Japanese cultures through music. Based between London and Tokyo, her recent projects have included collaborations with British Airways, LUSH, OPPO, All Nippon Airways and Backes & Strauss. Since 2021 Midori is a Musician in Residence at the British Council and PRS Foundation, where she has led a digital residency with Diamantina, Brazil.
Midori has performed as a soloist extensively throughout Europe and Japan. Midori made her debut as a soloist at the age of 12 with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Howard Griffiths. Since then, she has appeared in some of the world's most prestigious venues, including Tonhalle Zurich, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Philharmony Warsaw, Wigmore Hall, and the Rector's Palace (Croatia).
Composer: Midori's works explore sounds in relation to space, architecture and cultural heritage of places. Over the years, she has composed for a variety of site-specific projects, including Musicity x Sculpture in the City, Maggie's Centres LIFE Exhibition (2017-19), LUSH New Spa Experience and most recently Kengo Kuma's Bamboo Ring for Milan Design Week 2021. Midori's compositions have ben released by Nonclassical.
In 2021 she was selected by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)/CHASE for her research Takemitsu and the Steel Pavilion: Spatial Timbre as a parameter of composition as a fully funded PhD candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London. Midori is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Queen's University (Canada) and Japan Engagement Officer at the BISC (UK Campus), where she has founded a new online exchange program with Universities in Japan.
With a particular interest in promoting British and Japanese music in both countries, Midori has appeared frequently on TV and Radio. In 2017, NHK TV broadcast a documentary about her projects, and in 2018 she joined BBC Radio 3 for the Japanese music season Night Blossoms, introducing many leading composers and artists from Japan. Currently, Midori is a presenter/curator for her radio programme Midori Selects on British Airways in-flight entertainment.
Her discography has gained critical acclaim in both UK and Japan. Her 1st album Colours of the Heart received enthusiastic reviews from publications such as The Strad, International Record Review and was chosen as a recommended disc by Record Geijutsu. In 2014, her CD release UK tour was supported by Arts Council England. Her 2nd Album, Warp & Weft (EM Records) features rare works by 20th & 21st Century British composers.
Writer: A bilingual in English and Japanese, Midori specialises in the research and dissemination of 20th Century British music. In 2017, her first book, a Japanese translation of Eric Fenby's classic book of recollections Delius as I knew him (1936) was published by Artes Publishing. This became the first resource on Delius to be published in Japanese, and has ben featured widely on the national press. Midori also founded the 'Delius Project' in Japan, an initiative involving publication, recordings and events in order to disseminate the works of Delius. In 2022, her second book, a Japanese translation of Simon Heffer's Vaughan Williams will be published in Japan.
Concert Projects: Midori has founded various concert projects based on several research topics. In 2012, her Delius Project culminated in a series of her concerts in London, Cambridge and Tokyo. This project was featured in the Arts & Collections International Magazine and the Nikkei Newspaper (Financial Times) in Japan. In January 2013 she was awarded the Delius Society Certificate for her performances of the Delius Violin Sonatas.
Since 2012, Midori has developed a cultural exchange project in UK and Japan, introducing works by composers from both countries. For this project she has been supported by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Britten-Pears Foundation, Holst Foundation and Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust. In 2012 she led a series of workshops with composers Nicola LeFanu and Yuka Takechi, and in 2013 worked with Toshio Hosokawa, performing his Elegy for Solo Violin in Tokyo and London to high critical acclaim.
Education: Midori studied in Basel, Switzerland at the age of 12 where she was accepted exceptionally as a “Young Talented Student” at the Basel Music Conservatoire.
Midori is a recipient of numerous prizes, including 1st Prize at competitions Max Pirani Prize and Sir Arthur Bliss Prize, as well as receiving the Friends of RAM/Honorary Patrons' Development Award and MBF Emerging Excellence Award.
In October 2012, Midori completed her Master of Music degree with Distinction at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was supported by the Seary Charitable Trust and the William Barry Trust. Over these years, she studied with Maurice Hasson and Tomotada Soh.
Simon Callaghan
Simon Callaghan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, in parallel with a highly successful career as a recording artist. He appears regularly in the UK’s major concert halls, and on tours to Asia, North America and Europe. Callaghan’s recent release of Bennett Concertos with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Martin Yates was Gramophone Editors’ Choice, and received critical acclaim, notably from Presto Music: “his technique is seamless in its command, but always in service to the music so that the fireworks are integral to the musical communication rather than being the focus. It is his commitment to the substance of whatever he is playing that makes Callaghan a persuasive advocate of a wealth of under-appreciated repertoire”.
As concerto soloist, Simon Callaghan has recently collaborated with the Ulster Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Sinfonieorchester St Gallen, with conductors including Jac van Steen, Martin Yates, Modestas Pitrėnas and Martyn Brabbins. Recital partners have included Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Jack Liebeck, Coco Tomita, Nicholas Daniel, Julian Bliss, Adrian Brendel, Ben Goldscheider, Feng Ning, Raphael Wallfisch, Ruth Rogers, Samuel West, Prunella Scales and Timothy West. He is also a founding member of the London Piano Quartet, joining colleagues from the renowned Piatti Quartet to showcase the repertoire for piano quartet with a particular focus on revivifying works that have fallen into obscurity.
Simon Callaghan’s distinguished and eclectic discography includes recordings for Hyperion, Somm, Nimbus and Lyrita. He has a strong profile on BBC Radio 3 and on a variety of streaming platforms, his most recent single on Apple Music with Coco Tomita surpassed 1 million streams in its first month. He is a strong social media enthusiast, using it as a form of promotion for classical music in general but seeing it as a particular tool in his advocacy of the rare and unexplored.
Callaghan’s broad repertoire encompasses the standard works of the 19th and 20th centuries and increasingly concentrates on much that is little known, examples including Bernhard Scholz, Josef Rheinberger and Carl Reinecke. A cornerstone of Simon’s work is his commitment to British music, and he has an ongoing series on Lyrita, recording world premieres of British concertos with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Callaghan has also made first recordings of the complete piano music by Rebecca Clarke, George Dyson and William Busch. He has recorded four albums for Hyperion’s celebrated The Romantic Piano Concerto series. His first disc for Hyperion, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins, formed part of his PhD at the Royal Northern College of Music and was praised by BBC Radio 3’s Andrew McGregor: “I have nothing but praise for the performances... impressive pianism”.
In 2020, Simon recorded L’Histoire de Babar with actor Miriam Margolyes. The album received five stars from The Independent, reviewer Michael Church commenting that: “here, thanks to Harry Potter actor Miriam Margolyes’s artistry and Simon Callaghan’s excellent pianism, is Poulenc’s delightful musical response… It lasts just 30 minutes, but my god does it resonate.” Simon Callaghan’s reputation and experience in chamber music led to his appointment as Artistic Director at London’s celebrated Conway Hall, only the sixth incumbent since the founding of the Sunday Concerts series in 1887, and from October 2026 he is also Artistic Director of the Penkhull Festival of Music and Art in Stoke-on-Trent. He is Professor of Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music, and was elected a Steinway Artist in 2012.
