World Renowned Marimba Artist, Keiko Abe to Visit Europe in September and October

Yamaha artist and World renowned marimba player and composer, Keiko Abe, is to visit Europe in September and October where she will be performing and judging at the 6th World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart, Germany before heading to the UK and France.

Keiko Abe’s first appearance in Europe will be as part of the forthcoming World Marimba Competition that will take place between 22nd and 30th September at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Stuttgart. Here she will perform alongside Marimba Ensemble Japan and Percussion Ensemble Stuttgart as part of the Yamaha sponsored Keiko Abe Anniversary Concert that takes place on Saturday 22nd September at 7pm.
After her concert, Professor Abe will take up her place as Honorable Jury member for the competition that was first established by Keiko Abe and Klaus Tresselt in 1996. During the competition Yamaha, together with Keiko Abe, are offering one of the major prizes which is the award for Best Performance of a Keiko Abe piece where the winner will receive a 4 mallet set of each of Keiko Abe’s Yamaha Signature Mallets.
The day before the final of the competition presents an excellent opportunity for players to try Yamaha’s Concert Marimbas YM-5100 and YM-6100. At 6pm on Saturday 29th September, there will be a special presentation by Yamaha that will take place at the University and will feature Yamaha Artists Jean Geoffroy and Tseuy-Ying Tai as well as Yamaha Percussion Specialist, Akihiro Shinozaki. 
Following on from the competition, Keiko Abe will then travel to the UK where she will conduct master classes at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester on the 2nd and 3rd October before travelling to France where she will be visiting the CNSMD (National Music Conservatory) in Lyon on 5th October.
Keiko Abe has developed her position as a world-class musician thanks to a rare combination of creative power, acute sensitivity and virtuosic technique. She commands an overwhelming repertoire and appears regularly throughout the world in performances of solo concertos, chamber music, and improvisations. She is also in demand as a guest lecturer and has given master-classes in leading music conservatories in North America, Central and South America, Europe, and Asia.
In addition, she has recorded extensively on the Denon label, and has received numerous awards, including induction into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame Award. Keiko Abe’s compositions have become some of the standards of marimba literature and can be heard in recitals by marimbists all over the world. Many modern composers have also dedicated new works to her; she has inspired and premiered countless new compositions.
By both pioneering new technical skills and expanding the literature, Keiko Abe has transformed what was once considered a primitive “Folk” instrument into a full-fledged concert instrument welcome in any of the most prestigious concert halls. In addition to her work as Professor of Marimba at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Abe maintains a full schedule of composing and touring.

For more information about the 6th World Marimba Competition, please visit:

http://www.worldmarimbacompetition.com/index.html