Biography
Japanese-born pianist, Ruriko Osawa, is an accomplished performer both as a soloist and chamber musician. Although her degrees focused on solo performance, she has collaborated with many singers and instrumentalists. Her interest in chamber music led to her participation at the Bowdoin Music Festival in Maine and the Idyllwild Chamber Music Festival in California. She received an Accompanying Assistantship from Peabody Conservatory during her study at the conservatory. Winner of numerous competitions and a recipient of the Grand Prize at the Sapporo (Japan) Young Musicians Concert for her “outstanding performance,” she has appeared as a soloist in the Temple Square Concert Series in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as the Sapporo Musicians Concert Series and Sapporo City Hall Concert Series in Japan.
Dr. Osawa earned her B.M. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at Brigham Young University as a recipient of the E. Mona Smith Scholarship and the Outstanding Achievement Award in Piano Performance. She was awarded the Anne and Aaron Richmond Scholarship from Boston University, where she earned her M.M. in Piano Performance. She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Her major teachers include Paul Pollei, Anthony di Bonaventure, Tong-Il Han, and Ellen Mack.
As a devoted teacher, Dr. Osawa taught private piano lessons at many schools, including The Park School of Baltimore and Garrison Forest School in Maryland. She has served as an adjudicator for many competitions such as Peabody Preparatory Junior Concerto Competition and MTNA Piano competition. She currently teaches privately in her home studio in McLean, Virginia.