Aimi Kobayashi
Fourth Prize winner of the 18th Chopin Piano Competition, Aimi Kobayashi, garnered international acclaim for her exceptional talent.

She is considered one of the most sought-after pianists in Japan of her generation.

Aimi was born in 1995 in Ube, Japan. She started playing piano at age three, made her concerto debut at age eight, and started her international career at age nine.

She studied with Meng-Chieh Liu at the Curtis Institute of Music.

In 2009, she won the junior section prize of the Asia-Pacific International Chopin Piano Competition in Korea. Then in 2011, she was the gold medalist at the Asia International Chopin Competition for her performance in the concerto section, and in the same year, she won the Yasuko Fukuda prize. In 2012, she won third prize at the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition.

She gave her first recital at Carnegie Hall for the Japan NYC Festival – of which Seiji Ozawa was the musical director – before giving a recital at the Tokyo Opera City the following month.

She has already performed with several major orchestras, both in Japan and overseas, including the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Bruggen and the Moscow Virtuosi under Vladimir Spivakov.

In Japan she regularly performs with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and New Japan Philharmonic. She has recorded pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt for Warner Classics. In 2015, she became one of ten finalists at the 17th Chopin Piano Competition of 452 entrants from 45 countries. In July 2019, she played Mozart’s Piano concerto No.20 in D minor K.466 with Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège under Christian Arming. In March 2020, she played Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich under Kristiina Poska.

In October 2024, she played Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Krzysztof Urbański. In November 2024, she played Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini op.43 with Tugan Sokhiev conducts Münchner Philharmoniker.