Mitsuko Uchida is a performer who brings a deep insight into the music she plays through her own search for truth and beauty. Born in Japan but now based in London，her home since 1972，she first came to Europe in 1961 when her father，a Japanese diplomat，was posted there. She entered the Vienna Music Academy，continuing her studies there even after her family moved from the country.
  She is renowned for her interpretations of Mozart，Schubert，Schumann and Beethoven，both in the concert hall and on CD，but she has also illuminated the music of Berg，Schoenberg，Webern and Boulez for a new generation of listeners. “To decipher what these composers of the past and present have written on pieces of paper ― this is the starting point for us performers.” By “making conversations” with the composers through the scores，she tries to understand what those composers wanted to express.
  Mitsuko Uchida performs with the world’s finest orchestras and musicians. Some highlights from recent years include her Artist-in-Residency at the Cleveland Orchestra，where she directed all the Mozart concerti from the keyboard over a number of seasons. She has also been the focus of a Carnegie Hall Perspectives series entitled ‘Mitsuko Uchida: Vienna Revisited.’ She has featured in the Concertgebouw’s Carte Blanche series where she collaborated with Ian Bostridge，the Hagen Quartet，Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as directing from the piano a performance of Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. Uchida has also been Artist-in-Residence at the Vienna Konzerthaus，Salzburg Mozartwoche，Lucerne Festival and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra，with whom she performed a series of chamber music concerts and a Beethoven Piano Concerti cycle with Sir Simon Rattle.
  She says，“Maybe that is because I am a single-minded person who has no other interest other than music. Life is too short. If anybody offered to give me anything，I would say I want to have more time so that I can hear more music，and think about music.”
  Mitsuko Uchida has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to aiding the development of young musicians and is a trustee of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust. She is also Director of the Marlboro Music Festival. In May 2012 she was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Gold Medal and in June 2009 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She has received various Honorary Degrees including from The Juilliard School，the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. In 2015 Mitsuko Uchida was awarded the Golden Mozart Medal at the Salzburg Mozartwoche.
  This November will see her return to perform again in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall after an absence of two years.