Born in Berkeley, California in 1998, pianist Karin Kei Nagano began studying piano at age 3 and has worked with the internationally celebrated Germaine Mounier, Igor Lazko, Vadim Suhanov and Alexander Paley. She currently studies with Collette Zerah, the renowned French pianist and specialist in French repertoire.
In February 2014, Karin Kei Nagano released her first highly acclaimed disc on the Analekta label with the Cecilia Quartet featuring two of Mozart's early piano concertos, Nos. 12 & 13.
Karin began competing internationally in 2007, winning First Prize at the Paris International Scriabin Competition and First Prize and Best Interpretation Prize at the Berlin International Piano Competition and First Prize at the Rubinstein International Piano Competition (2009-10). Since her professional debut in 2007 in a performance of the Mozart Piano Concerto K246 with the orchestra of Dr. Wachtang Korisheli, Karin has appeared with the Bayerische Staatsorchester at the Grassau Festival, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, the Schwaebisches Jugendsymphoniorchester, and the Attaca Orchestra. Recent highlights feature her recital debut at the Festival Harmonies d’Automne in Paris, a concert of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in Augsburg, and in duo recital with her mother, pianist Mari Kodama, at the Fête de la Musique in Mont-Tramblant (Quebec). Karin appears at the Oxford Piano Festival this summer.
Fluent in French, English, German and Japanese, she divides her academic and professional studies between Paris and Munich. Beyond the world of professional music, Karin enjoys creative writing, bicycling, painting, ballet, jazz dance, and swimming.