Haruka Ogawa

She showed exceptional talent from a very young age and began playing the piano at age 3. At age 15, she moved to France on her own. After graduating from the Marseille Regional Conservatory (CNR) with a First Prize awarded unanimously by the jury and the Grand Prix of the City of Marseille, she enrolled at the Paris National Conservatory of Music (CNSMDP), the pinnacle of music education in France. She graduated from this institution with degrees in both piano and chamber music, winning First Prize—the highest distinction—on both occasions. She also earned the master’s degree in Ondes Martenot at the Paris National Conservatory of Music with top honors, she developed an exceptional capacity for musical analysis, enabling her to tackle both classical and contemporary music. She then studied at the prestigious Fiesole School of Music in Italy under the guidance of the legendary pianist Maria Tipo. In 2009, she graduated from that school as the sole recipient of the Excellence Scholarship. She has also been very well received on the international stage, notably winning 5th place at the Ettlingen International Youth Piano Competition (Germany) and 2nd place at the EPTA International Piano Competition (Belgium). While honing her art as a pianist, she devotes her passion to “training and nurturing the talents of the next generation.” She has thus inherited the “authentic European tradition” passed down by world-renowned teachers, including Chiyoko Yamada, Elena Ashkenazy, Elena Varvarova, Brigitte Engerer, Michel Béroff, Éric LeSage, Denis Pascal, Maria Tipo, and Elisso Virsaladze, among others, and has refined the “authentic European tradition” inherited from these world-renowned teachers into a teaching method of her own. Her teaching is characterized by “verbalization” and a “logical and reproducible approach,” avoiding as much as possible the purely intuitive and vague expression typically observed. By imparting a “rational playing technique” that makes use of gravity, she provides her students with impressive technical stability and a varied tonal palette. Far from simply imposing ready-made answers, her approach—which encourages “the student’s autonomy as an artist” by exploring issues from every angle—enjoys the unwavering trust of aspiring professionals, high-level students, and their parents, both in France and abroad. As a one-of-a-kind educator, she works in France and online with students from all over the world.