In Memory of the 200th Anniversary of Chopin's Birth: Makoto Ozone Piano Recital

Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts - Concert Hall 
Dates: Sept. 11, 2010　  19:30 
Price:  VIP　  380　  280　  180　  120　  80 RMB

Programme Introduction
 
Makoto Ozone
Influenced by his father Minoru, jazz pianist/organist, Makoto Ozone was brought up in a musically rich environment and started playing the organ on his own at a very young age. He appeared on TV at the age of six and performed regularly on Osaka Mainichi broadcasting at the age of seven. It was an Oscar Peterson concert that turned him onto the jazz piano at the age of twelve and became involved in writing orchestral arrangements when he studied under Tadao Kitano, leader of the "Tadao Kitano and Arrow Jazz Orchestra" big band.

In 1976, Makoto Ozone made his debut as a jazz pianist at "Wide Wide Jazz", the jazz festival held in Kobe. He moved to the U.S. in 1980 and studied jazz composition and arranging at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. In 1983, soon after graduating first on the list from Berklee, he gave a solo recital at the Carnegie Recital Hall and it was not long before he signed an exclusivity contract with CBS, making his international debut in 1984 with the album "Ozone". Makoto Ozone joined Grammy award-winning vibraphonist Gary Burton's quartet and toured enthusiastically around the world. It was around this time that he began his other musical career as composer. Since then he has been composing for various musicians including Gary Burton.

In 2004, Makoto Ozone was invited to work with Kimiko Ito on a recording project and gathered together some of the top Japanese jazz musicians to form the big band the "No Name Horses." Initially intended to be together for the recording only, the sophisticated sound and polished technique of the band led to such success that Makoto and his fellow musicians decided to continue their activities together.

The first album by the No Name Horses, with the recording engineer Joe Furla, was released in 2006 and followed by a one-month tour of all the Japanese "Blue Note" clubs. In the same year, the band made its debut at the IAJE (International Association for Jazz Education) in the US where it received a standing ovation. The second Japanese tour took place in 2008, followed by the release of the second album, No Name Horses II.

Makoto Ozone has released four albums with CBS, three with Victor Music Entertainment, and more than ten albums with Universal music/Verve label. In 2003, he was nominated for a Grammy Award with his duo album Virtuosi (Concord) with Gary Burton.

In recent years he has spent extensive time focusing on classical music. With internationally known conductors like Charles Dutoit, Alexandre Rabinovitch, Tadaaki Otaka, Eiji Oue, and Michiyoshi Inoue, he has played Gershwin, Bernstein, Beethoven, and Mozart in collaborations with Sinfonia Varsovia, the New Japan Philharmonic, the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, the Miyazaki International Music Festival Orchestra, and the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. At the 18th National Culture Festival in Yamagata 2003 he played and conducted his own composition, a piano concerto named Mogami. In August 2006, he was invited to the International Music Festival Chopin and His Europe in Warsaw, playing Mozart with Sinfonia Varsovia and Alexandre Rabinovitch as well as in duo with clarinetist Paquito D'Rivera, an explosive combination that will appear in Japan in September 2008. August 2007 sees a re-invitation to the festival with a Beethoven concerto as well as jazz improvisation. His performances of chamber music with violinist Tsugio Tokunaga and violist Masao Kawasaki at the Miyazaki International Music Festival in 2007 were received enthusiastically and he has been invited to numerous music festivals in Japan and overseas.

Program
Mazurka No. 13 in A minor　　　 
Mazurka No. 24 in C major　　　
Minute Waltz in D-flat major　　　
Prelude No.4 in E minor　　　
Nocturne No. 2 in E-flat major　　 

——Intermission——

Improvisation of Jazz Music
　
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