Artist Biography
Gail Niwa, Piano, Artistic Director
Gail Niwa's "brilliant insights" and "power, eloquence and striking sound color" have made her an audience favorite throughout the world. Ms. Niwa won high praise for her New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall, and her recitals at Orchestra Hall in Chicago on the Allied Arts Piano Series and at the Ambassador Auditorium's Gold Medal Series in Pasadena. She also received outstanding reviews for her solo appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in February 1995, performing the Schumann Piano Concerto with Sir Georg Solti conducting. "She reveled in Schumann's lyricism...Her tone is big and velvety, and the concerto's virtuoso declarations were both clearly etched and full of thunder," said the Chicago Sun-Times. "Soloist Gail Niwa...achieved a heroic tone and perfect marksmanship," praised the Chicago Tribune. Among her recent solo engagements are performances of the Brahms Concerto #2 with the San Luis Obispo Symphony and Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto with the California Philharmonic. She has been soloist with the Utah, Memphis, Fort Wayne, Augusta, Columbus, Reno, Evanston and Grant Park Symphonies and has given recitals at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Washington's Kennedy Center, and in Athens, Montreal, Seoul, and St. Louis. She has also toured Scandinavia and the Far East.
In 1991 Ms. Niwa created a sensation by becoming the first woman ever to win the Gold Medal at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. She was also awarded the Audience Prize and the Chamber Music Prize. Ms. Niwa has also won major prizes in the International Chopin Competition, the Mae Whitaker Competition and the Washington International Competition.
An outstanding ensemble player, Ms. Niwa recently toured Holland as a member of the renowned Het Reizend Musik Geselschap. She won the prestigious Best Accompanist Award at the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition for Violinists in Moscow. She has been featured soloist with the Kammergild Chamber Players, the Banff Festival Chamber Orchestra, the Highland Park Strings and the Ocean State Chamber Players. She is a regular participant in the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, the Park City International Music Festival and the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival.
Ms. Niwa can be heard in Fantasia 2000 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals". She has also collaborated with violinist David Kim on recordings for the Musical Heritage Society and Teldec labels and with the late bassoonist Bruce Grainger on the Centaur label.
The daughter of professional musicians, Ms. Niwa was born in Chicago. She began piano studies with her mother and made her orchestral debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age eight. She earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees on scholarship at the Juilliard School as a student of Adele Marcus. Ms. Niwa has given master classes in many parts of the world, including Pusan University in Korea, the TCU Cliburn Institute, Brigham Young University and the University of Oklahoma. In 1999 Ms. Niwa joined the faculty of the University of Southern California as an Assistant Professor of Piano. Feeling the need to return to the East Coast, she resigned her position in 2001. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music at Great Gorge, a concert series in northwest New Jersey, and continues to delight audiences with both her solo and chamber playing.