Aimi Kobayashi
has come under a spotlight- she is a leading Japanese young pianist who will surely make the world her stage.

From the age of eight, she was a pupil of Yuko Ninomiya. She enrolled in Toho Gakuen Music High School on a full scholarship in 2011, then moved to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in 2013 where she continues her study under Meng-Chieh Liu.

Born in Yamaguchi, Japan, on 23 September 1995, Aimi began her piano studies when she was three, and made her first appearance with orchestra at age of seven, following her international debut two years later. She broke the records for receiving the gold medal at the major Japanese annual competition: Piano Teachers’ National Association (PTNA) Competition’s under-16 category, and the first prize at the Student Music concours of Japan at the youngest age in 2004 and 2005 respectively. She actively participated in Asia and won the first prize in the junior section at the Asia-Pacific International Chopin Competition (Korea) in 2009 and the gold medal for the concerto category at the Chopin International Piano Competition in ASIA in 2011.

Since her debut at the age of nine, Aimi appeared four times at the Carnegie Hall in New York. Her international career continued to flourish: she was invited from various venues including Moscow, Poland, and Brazil, and amazed the audience by her performance with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, as well as the Moscow Virtuosi with Vladimir Spivakov. She visited Poland many times to appear on stages including the International Music Festival “Chopin and his Europe”, and other orchestras’ concerts for concertos. She has performed with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, HYOGO PAC ORCHESTRA, and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and received high acclaim with her recitals in various regions in Japan including the SUNTORY HALL.

She released her first CD: Debut! at the age of 14 (in 2010) and her second work Appassionata the following year from EMI CLASSICS. She was given the “Chopin Passport” from the government of Poland in 2011 in an occasion to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth.

Aimi has been focused by various media since her youth and has made appearances including the TV documentary program by French LCI, “Yomi kyo Orchestra Hour” (Nippon TV), “Untitled Concert” (TV Asahi), “Everyone’s Chopin” (NHK-BS), and “Classic Club” (NHK-BS Premium).