Mitsuko Shirai

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Mitsuko Shirai ( Japanese 白 井 光子 , Shirai Mitsuko ; born May 28, 1947 in Nagano , Japan ) is a Japanese singer with a soprano and mezzo- soprano voice .

Live and act

Mitsuko Shirai graduated from the Musashino Academy of Music Tokyo ( Musashino Academia Musicae ) in Japan in 1972 . She then moved to Germany to study at the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts . There she met the pianist Hartmut Höll , with whom she soon organized art song evenings in Europe, Scandinavia, Israel, Africa, Japan, South America, Russia, the USA and Canada. As a duo, the two have made a name for themselves in the field of song design and recorded numerous records. Shirai has also performed orchestral songs with the Berlin Philharmonic , the New Japan Philharmonic , the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Nouvel Orchester Philharmonique de Paris and the Vienna Symphony . Occasionally she also sings operas; She made her operatic debut in Frankfurt in 1987 as Despina in Così fan tutte .

She has been a professor since 1992. Since 1994, Shirai and Höll have been leading the “song design” class at the Karlsruhe University of Music .

Awards

Mitsuko Shirai has won numerous singing competitions, including the following awards:

  • In 1982 she received the Robert Schumann Prize .
  • In 1996 she won the Idemitsu Grand Music Prize.
  • In 1997 she won the ABC International Music Award.
  • In 2008 she received the "Merit Medal on the Violet Ribbon" from the Japanese Emperor for her services to the German song, an honor that is rarely given to musicians.
  • In 2010 she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by the Federal President in recognition of her artistic and educational achievements .
  • In 2018 she was awarded the oldest order in the country by the Japanese emperor: “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette”. This honored her life's work and her outstanding services to the art of song, especially the German song.
  • 2018 Award of an honorary doctorate by the University of Victoria / Canada

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mitsuko Shirai receives the Federal Cross of Merit ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pamina-magazin.de
  2. ↑ Mitsuko Shirai at Bach Cantatas (English)
  3. ↑ Federal Cross of Merit for Karlsruhe Professor Mitsuko Shirai  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 4, 2010@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / interior ministry.baden-wuerttemberg.de  
  4. ^ Robert Schumann Prize Winner, accessed on April 2, 2010
  5. ↑ a b c University of Music Karlsruhe: Mitsuko Shirai accessed on March 29, 2010
  6. ^ Karlsruhe University of Music: Federal Cross of Merit for Prof. Mitsuko Shirai, accessed on August 4, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Shirai, Mitsuko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 白井光 子 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Japanese soprano
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Nagano