Biography
Born in Osaka during 1972, pianist Momo Kodama spent most of her childhood in Germany after her family relocated to Europe the following year. Her sister Mari Kodama, also a pianist and five years her senior, has shared both the concert platform and recording projects with her. At thirteen Kodama entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where her teachers included Germaine Mounier, András Schiff, Murray Perahia, and Tatiana Nikolayeva. She captured first prize at the Concours International d'Épinal in 1987; two years afterward she became the youngest winner to that point of the Munich International Piano Competition, an achievement that accelerated her career. Later honors included the Saji Keizo Prize conferred by Japan’s Suntory Foundation. Early releases on the Triton label featured several albums, among them a 2006 recording of Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’enfant Jésus.
Kodama’s dedication to Messiaen’s music deepened through the support of the composer’s widow, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, who helped arrange the premiere of his Fantasie pour violon et piano (1933) with Kodama and violinist Isabelle Faust. She made her Japanese solo debut in 1984 and, already seasoned, performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995, the same year she first appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Appearances as concerto soloist have taken her throughout Japan, Europe, and beyond. Equally drawn to chamber music, she has collaborated with violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Renaud Capuçon, cellist Steven Isserlis, and her sister Mari. Her advocacy for contemporary French repertoire has led to commissions from Toshio Hosokawa and Jörg Widmann. On ECM she issued the solo recital La vallée des cloches in 2013 and returned to the label several times, including for the 2021 album Hosokawa / Mozart. Her PentaTone Classics discs have centered on core classical works; the 2024 release Mozart & Poulenc: Double & Triple Concertos also featured Mari Kodama.
Her choice of new pieces by French, Japanese, and German composers mirrors the international character of her upbringing. Although engagements have carried her to Israel and Brazil, she has preserved close links to Japan and returns there regularly. A substantial catalog includes discs on ECM New Series and PentaTone Classics as well as other labels.
Kodama’s dedication to Messiaen’s music deepened through the support of the composer’s widow, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, who helped arrange the premiere of his Fantasie pour violon et piano (1933) with Kodama and violinist Isabelle Faust. She made her Japanese solo debut in 1984 and, already seasoned, performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1995, the same year she first appeared at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Appearances as concerto soloist have taken her throughout Japan, Europe, and beyond. Equally drawn to chamber music, she has collaborated with violinists Christian Tetzlaff and Renaud Capuçon, cellist Steven Isserlis, and her sister Mari. Her advocacy for contemporary French repertoire has led to commissions from Toshio Hosokawa and Jörg Widmann. On ECM she issued the solo recital La vallée des cloches in 2013 and returned to the label several times, including for the 2021 album Hosokawa / Mozart. Her PentaTone Classics discs have centered on core classical works; the 2024 release Mozart & Poulenc: Double & Triple Concertos also featured Mari Kodama.
Her choice of new pieces by French, Japanese, and German composers mirrors the international character of her upbringing. Although engagements have carried her to Israel and Brazil, she has preserved close links to Japan and returns there regularly. A substantial catalog includes discs on ECM New Series and PentaTone Classics as well as other labels.
Albums
Point and Line: Debussy & Hosokawa
2017
Toshio Hosokawa: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1
2014
La vallée des cloches: Ravel, Takemitsu, Messiaen
2013
impressions - Debussy: Piano Works -
2008
Live
