Asako Hirabayashi

A harpsichordist and composer, Asako Hirabayashi’s first recording, on the Albany Label, entirely composed and played by her, was selected as one of the top ten albums of the year 2018 and was awarded the Gold Medal Award by the Global Music Awards. It was also selected as one of the five best classical CDs of 2010 by Minneapolis Star Tribune. Ms. Hirabayashi has won numerous grants and awards including the 2009 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians and two Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative grants. She won the 2016 McKnight Fellowship for Composers, was an awardee of MN Opera’s Miniatures 2021 grant for Tiny Operas and Big Ideas, and has appeared as a featured guest soloist in international concert series worldwide since her New York debut recital at Carnegie Hall. Her live performance of her own composition was featured in the United States’ most popular classical music program, Performance Today in 2018. She holds a doctoral degree in harpsichord performance from the Juilliard School and a master’s degree in composition from Aichi Art University in Japan.