Waka Hasegawa, Piano

Biography

PIANO 4 HANDS was formed in 1997 at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and is widely regarded as one of Britain's most exciting young piano duos, much in demand for concerts both in the United Kingdom and abroad. They were prize winners at the Tokyo International Piano Duo Competition in 2003 as well as at the Schubert International Competition for Piano Duos held in the Czech Republic.

Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa made their London Wigmore Hall debut in 2003 to critical acclaim and have given several recitals at the Purcell Room on the South Bank including the prestigious Park Lane Group Series and 'Fresh' Young Artists Platform. They have already performed at many of the major concert halls around the United Kingdom. In 2004 they were invited to give a live broadcast on Radio 3's In Tune program; other recent highlights have included recitals at the Guildford International Festival, and the Schubert Society of Britain.

Their repertoire is unusually wide-ranging and encompasses four-handed works from Mozart through to the present day. Given the relatively small number of contemporary duets, the Duo decided to generate new interest by setting up their own Composers Competition in 2002.                     

Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa have performed regularly in Japan, including several recitals in Tokyo which have featured the first performances of new works by five British composers. The duo has commissioned several new works from composers such as Nicola LeFanu, Dai Fujikura, Robert Keeley and Edwin Roxburgh, whose Reflets dans la Glace they recently recorded for the Col Legno label.

Future engagements include two recitals at Wigmore Hall in London later this year and concerts at the York Spring Festival, St George's Bristol, Bury St Edmunds Festival Adur Arts Live Festival and University of Leeds. The duo has recently recorded a CD of Debussy for the Quartz label, due for release this autumn.

Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa gratefully acknowledge financial support from the PRS Foundation for New Music under their Performance Groups scheme.