Mariko

"A manifestation of grace and elegance"
Instrumentalists — Harp

• Manager: Mark Z. Alpert
  Management Territory: Worldwide

"She realizes and projects the varying fragrances of each piece, and does so with the probing nuances of a master Kyoto player." —Fanfare Magazine

"You hear an artist wrapped up in expressing the composer, not her own whims. I can't think of another artist who does it quite like this. Her depth of dynamics, her pedaling that results in both delicate resonance and remarkable clarity, and her terracing of levels of activity reveal a consummate musician..." —American Record Guide

"Blessed be he who paired Mariko Anraku with the harp. It comes to life in her hands, it sings again as it did for the bards of yore. This very elegant and beautiful woman, this masterful artist of intelligence and wit, gave a breathtaking perfromnace at Weill Hall under the auspices of Pro Musicis." —New York Concert Review (Recital at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall)

About

Mariko Anraku is hailed as a manifestation of grace and elegance and has won attention as one of the world’s outstanding harpists. Since her debut as soloist with the Toronto Symphony led by Sir Andrew Davis, Ms. Anraku has appeared with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia among others. As a recitalist, she has performed in major concert halls on three continents, including the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie . . . Hall and the Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Jordan Hall in Boston, the Bing Theater at the Los Angeles County Museum, the Opera Comique in Paris, the Palazzo dell’Esposizioni in Rome and the Casals, Kioi, and Oji Halls etc. in Tokyo. Furthermore, Ms. Anraku continues to hold the position of Associate Principal Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra – a position she has held since 1995.

Ms. Anraku has an impressive list of awards, which include First Prize at the First Japan International Harp Competition, First Prize, the Channel Classics Recording Prize and the ITT Corporation Prizes at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York, and the Pro Musicis Foundation International Award. She was also awarded Third Prize and the Pearl Chertok Prize for the best performance of the required Israeli composition at the International Harp Contest in Israel.

Ms. Anraku’s strong commitment to contemporary music and the expansion of the boundaries of the harp repertoire has included an invitation to premiere works by Toshio Hosokawa at the Donaueschingen Musiktage in Germany, the Wien Modern in Austria, and festivals in Tubinger and Cologne, Germany, collaborating with traditional Japanese musicians and monks. Ms. Anraku also gave the United States premiere of Jean-Michel Damase’s Concerto “Ballade” with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra at the American Harp Society Conference. Ms. Anraku also collaborated in a tribute to Takemitsu at Merkin Concert Hall in New York.

An active chamber musician, Ms. Anraku has performed at the Spoleto, Tanglewood, Newport and Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festivals in the USA, the Banff Festival of the Arts and the Festival of Sound in Canada, the Spoleto Festival in Italy and the Karuizawa and Takefu Music Festivals in Japan. She has also performed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Harvard Music Association and Columbia University and has collaborated with artists like clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and flutists, Emmanuel Pahud, Carol Wincenc, Paula Robison, Emily Beynon, and Michael Parloff.

Ms. Anraku is an exclusive recording artist with EMI Classics. Her three solo recordings include works by Handel, Scarlatti, Rota, Faure, Debussy Satie, Hindemith, Salzedo and Akira Senju. Her newest CD, “Beau Soir” is a collaboration with eminent flutist Emmanuel Pahud and is available internationally. “Music for Harp”, a new compilation from her solo CDs is also released internationally on EMI’s Encore series.

She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from The Julliard School and is a recipient of an Artist’s Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Ms. Anraku also studied Art History at Tokyo’s Sophia University. Her teachers have included Nancy Allen, Lanalee deKant, Judy Loman and her aunt, Kumiko Inoue. Ms. Anraku has contributed to community service projects performing in hospitals, drub rehabilitation centers, prisons, schools for the blind, homes for the elderly and other similar facilities in the United States, France, Italy, and Japan.

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