piano, Taubman Technique
Living in Canada, Montreal based pianist Mariko Sato was born in Tokyo, Japan, and has had a long and distinguished career spanning the last half century as a professor, concert artist, professional accompanist and teacher. She possesses a diverse musical background, having studied with Joko Gondo, Seymour Bernstein, Arminda Canteros, Lorand Fenyves, Itzhak Perlman, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and György Sebök among others. Always seeking professional development, she has studied Eutony, Improvisation, Feldenkreis, Osteophony and the Taubman Approach. She also explored the psychological dimension of the artist’s life with Eloïse Ristad, the author of “A soprano on her head”, as well as exploring her creativity with cellist David Darling and pianists Lisa Parker and Anne Faber.
As a performer, she has played in several countries on three continents, recorded frequently for the radio and collaborated to the recording of six CDs. She has contributed to the performance and recording of various world premieres of works by various composers from North America and Europe, such as Rebecca Clarke and Anton Rubinstein. Two of her CDs, featuring works by some of these composers, have been re-released on major platforms recently. Mariko Sato has given innumerable solo recitals and chamber music recitals, playing with seasoned performers such as Chantal Masson-Bourque (viola), Helmut Lipsky (violin), Garry Antonio (guitar), Michiko Nagashima (violin), André Lefèvre (clarinet), Leslie Snider (cello), Sylvie Tremblay (voice), etc.
As a professor and teacher, she taught many years at Laval University and CEGEP régional de Lanaudière, before retiring from these institutions and becoming an Associate Faculty Member of the Golandsky Institute in New-York. She has been working with the Institute since 1995, first perfecting her technical, pedagogical and physical knowledge of the piano through the Taubman Approach. Mariko has since become one of only three Canadian educators to be certified, and the single one at the Master Level. Since 2006, she has been teaching this approach using it to help pianists overcome technical limitations or injuries.
Mariko Sato is now dedicating her time to teaching using the Taubman Approach. Through conferences and workshops, she helps professional pianists, university and college students, accompanists and music lovers of all ages free themselves from physical and technical limitations in order to achieve effortless playing. As a seasoned specialist in injury prevention, she works mainly with pianists and other instrumentalists, helping them overcome injuries that affect their well-being and sometimes even threaten their career.
You can consult her website here: https://www.studiomarikosato.com
You can also see her profile on the Golandsky Institute website, as well as finding more information about the Taubman Approach, at https://www.golandskyinstitute.org/profile/mariko-sato