Johann Sebastian Bach:
Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1, BWV846〜869
Mayako Sone, harpsichord
Recording: 27/02-03/03, 2007, Paris
SACD Hybrid
CD STEREO/ SACD STEREO/ SACD SURROUND
Mayako Sone (harpsichord)
Born in Tokyo, Japan, Mayako Sone began studying the piano and the violin at the age of five. At the age of sixteen, she enrolled at the Toho Gakuen High School of Music, Tokyo, where she met with harpsichord playing. She took the harpsichord class of Motoko Nabeshima and worked privately with Chiyoko Arita.
In 1983, Sone started her activities as a continuo harpsichordist. Having been awarded a prize at the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges (Belgium) in 1986, she continued her studies in France and Italy with Scott Ross, Kenneth Gilbert and Gustav Leonhardt. In 1990, she was invited to become a resident harpsichordist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, performing regularly under Shlomo Mintz.
Sone became the first exclusive Japanese artist and made her CD debut from ERATO (France) in 1991. She was chosen by the label to record Domenico Scarlatti’s Unpublished Sonatas, a project undertaken in order to fulfill the wishes of the late Scott Ross who had released a collection of the complete harpsichord works of Scarlatti. Since then, based in Paris, she has been active in performing across the world.
In October 2003, Sone started a series of J. S. Bach concerts at Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo, 12 concerts in total that spans 6 years.
Sone also takes great interest in the search for new artistic horizons, collaborating in a highly acclaimed performance with a contemporary dancer Santiago Sanpere in Tokyo and in Paris.
She is also active abroad. In 2006, Radio France made special program featured Sone, and was invited to La Folle Journee (Nante, Lisbon and Tokyo), and La Roque d'Antheron International Piano Festival, where she reappeared in 2007. (avex-classics)
