Approaching PHILIP GLASS's anniversary: a recital by renowned Japanese pianist MAKI NAMEKAWA

As the 90th birthday of Philip Glass, one of the most influential music creators of our time, approaches, renowned Japanese pianist Maki Namekawa – one of the most prominent interpreters of Glass's music – will perform in Lithuania. The composer himself has said of her: "She is one of the strongest pianists." The piano virtuoso's recital, which will take place on October 28 at the National Philharmonic, will feature works by the legendary minimalist and music by American jazz legend Keith Jarrett. Almost all of the works in the concert will be performed for the first time in Lithuania.

Maki Namekawa is called one of the most prominent pianists of today; she has performed on such prestigious stages as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Vienna Musikverein, London's Barbican Centre, the Philharmonie de Paris, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, and Tokyo's Suntory Hall, as well as at the Salzburg Festival, Ars Electronica, and the Ruhr Piano Festival. She has performed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, the Munich Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony, the Dresden Philharmonic, the Linz Bruckner Orchestra, and the Seattle Symphony.

Among other extraordinary pianists, Maki Namekawa stands out for her special attention to contemporary music, and especially for her close creative relationship with the legendary American composer Philip Glass. The pianist has performed and recorded a large part of his work, and in 2013, at the Perth International Arts Festival, with the composer himself in attendance, she gave the world premiere of the complete cycle of all 20 of Glass's Piano Etudes. A year later, her recording of all of Glass's Etudes reached number one on the iTunes platform among classical music albums. Also, in 2018, Maki Namekawa recorded a piano version of Glass's music for the film "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" – her performance was honored with the prestigious "Pasticcio Prize" from the Austrian national broadcaster ORF.

"Maki Namekawa is a very strong performer. She is one of the strongest pianists and undoubtedly has a deep sense of music. She plays from the heart," is what Philip Glass himself has said about the pianist. The artist's special relationship with his music is also evidenced by the fact that in 2019, Glass composed his first Piano Sonata specifically for Maki Namekawa. The pianist performed its premiere at the Ruhr Piano Festival in Germany, with the composer of the work watching the performance.

This is not the only work that the famous minimalist has written for the Japanese pianist. Together with her husband, conductor Dennis Russell Davies, Maki Namekawa has been playing in a piano duo since 2003, for which Glass has also written works – "Four Movements for Two Pianos" and "Two Movements for Four Pianos" (together with the Katia and Marielle Labèque piano duo).