Kei Koito has risen to the highest ranks of the world’s concert organists and is widely acclaimed as one of the most exciting performers of our time for Baroque organ music.

Born into a family of artists, Kei Koito started studying music at the age of six, taking lessons in piano, cello, voice and harpsichord. At the age of sixteen, she decided to study the organ, her favorite instrument, with Mitchio Akimoto in Tokyo and subsequently continued her studies with Pierre Segond in Geneva and Xavier Darasse in Toulouse.

Thereafter, she studied Early music in Fribourg with organist, harpsichordist and musicologist Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, as well as Baroque music with Baroque violinist and conductor Reinhard Goebel in Cologne. At the same time, she studied philosophy and musical aesthetics at the University of Fine Arts & Music in Tokyo and attended courses in Geneva, in composition, orchestration and musical analysis from the 16th century to the present day with composer Éric Gaudibert.

Since 1985, Kei Koito has specialized in Baroque music, notably that of J.S. Bach and his most important predecessors. Her interpretive approach is the result of her tireless research into historical performance practice, her extensive investigation of period instruments, and her personal intuition and inspiration.

As part of her career as a concert organist, Kei Koito has performed as a recitalist all over Europe, the United States, South America, Russia and Japan. She has also collaborated, among others, with the Baroque orchestra Musica Antiqua Köln (dir. Reinhard Goebel) for Bach’s organ sinfonias (cantatas) and Handel’s organ concertos, and with Ensemble Gilles Binchois (dir. Dominique Vellard) in both the French pre-classical and classical, and the Italian Renaissance repertoires. In addition, she has performed a Haydn’s organ concerto with the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Major Concerts & Festival in www.kei-koito.com

Kei Koito has recorded several Early organ music CDs, playing on outstanding historical instruments. She has received numerous prestigious prizes and international awards, including several “Diapason d’Or”, “Choc” du Monde de la Musique/Classica, “Événement exceptionnel” of Télérama, “Clé” of ResMusica, “10/10” from Répertoire, “5/5” from Le Temps, “5/5” from Journal für die Orgel, “5/5” from Early Music Review, “5/5” from Choir & Organ, as well as “Editor’s Choice” (Gramophone, Musik & Theater, Toccata-Alte Musik Aktuell, Record Geijutsu, Orgues Nouvelles). Her recordings have also received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from the general public. Full discography & Awards in www.kei-koito.com

A highly sought-after pedagogue, Kei Koito has been Professor of organ at the Lausanne University of Music since 1992. From the very start, her classes have brought together students from all over the world. Since 2012, she has devoted herself entirely to comparative research on the repertoire of Bach, his predecessors, precursors and contemporaries.

She gives lectures and masterclasses as a visiting professor (at the Royal Academy of Music in London, at the Baroque Academy of Gmunden / Salzburg, at the Conservatories of Rouen, Quebec and Buenos Aires, at the University of Belgrade as well as at various American universities); She is also frequently invited to be part of the jury of international organ competitions (in Maastricht, Aachen, Liège, Wasquehal, St-Omer, Geneva, Alkmaar, as well as for the Grand Prix Bach de Lausanne and at the 50th St Albans Organ Competition).

Since the creation of the “Lausanne Bach Festival” in 1997, Kei Koito, Founder, has been Artistic Director of both the festival and the “Grand Prix Bach de Lausanne” (International Organ Competition). About in www.kei-koito.com

Her recent recordings released on the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi / Sony label, “Organ Music before Bach”, works by Pachelbel, Froberger, Muffat, Kerll & Fischer (2015), “Baroque Organ Concertos”, works by Haendel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Albinoni & Torelli (2016), “Splendor”, Golden Age of North Organ Music, works by the Praetorius family of Hamburg, Scheidemann, Weckmann, Tunder, Buxtehude & Böhm (2017), and her new album “Back to BACH” : All Bach program. New Albums & Recordings reviews in www.kei-koito.com

 

« Concert Reviews »

 

Wien  — Großer Sendesaal des Wiener Funkhaus

« Wobei gerade diese knappe Stunde mit der Organistin Kei Koito die anregendste, um nicht zu sagen : sensationeliste war. Nicht nur, daß diese drahtige von konzentriertester Energie förmlich berstende Persönlichkeit ihren Bach (Canonische Veränderungen über « Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her », Concerto  C-Dur « Grosso Mogul » nach Vivaldi) mit stupender Virtuosität, klarster Artikulation, leuchtkräftiger Registrierung und schier explosiver Agogik erfüllte ; auch die von ihr ausgewählten zeitgenössischen Kompositionen faszinierten ungemein. »

Gerhard Kramer, Die Presse

 

Paris  — Auditorium de Radio France

« Une très, très grande organiste. Un des personnages  les plus intéressants de la musique qui apporte beaucoup au renouveau de l’orgue actuel. »

Claude Noisette de Crauzat, France Musique

 

New York  — New York Bach Festival

« Unsually spirited rhythmically alert Bach playing was the unifying thread of a stimulating-organ recital by Kei Koito. »

Will Cruchtchfield, The New York Times

 

Madrid  — Teatro Real, Madrid

« Un clima de interes maximò, un nivel de exception. Se abarrataron el salon de actos, el vestibulo, el estrado, sus escaleras de accesso, y el publico aplaudió con verdadero entusiasmo a la interpréte : la magnifica organista Kei Koito. »

Antonio Fernandez-Cid, ABC

 

Luzern  — KKL, Internationale Musikfestwochen Luzern

« Wenn Kei Koito handkehrum das majestätische Thema wie aus einem Guss in den Raum stellte, als unverrückbbare Klangskulptur von geradezu hypnotischer Sogwirkung, wirkten Raumhall und Instrumentalklang homogen zusammen. »

Urs Mattenberger, Neue Luzerner Zeitung

 

Luzern  — Hofkirche, Internationale Musikfestwochen Luzern

« Kei Koito, la Reine – Die Aura war an dem gutbesuchten Festwochenorgelabend geschwängert von Schönheit und Schrecken, Fülle und Stille, Überschwang und Schlichtkeit, Könnerschaft und Kunstverstand. Kei Koito ist ohne Zweifel eine grosse Organistin, die die Registervielfalt der Hof-Orgel reichlich auszukosten verstand. »

Jürg Erni, Basler Zeitung

 

Ravenna  — Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna Festival

« Un organista di capacita eccezionali. L’abbinata Bach-Koito harichiamato un bel publico e il concerto s’è concluso con calorosi applausi e l’esecuzione di un fuori programma. »

Eudoro Maramotti, Carlino Romagna

 

Göttingen  — Internationalen Orgeltage

« Tanz und Metaphysik… »

Matthias Hengelbruck, Göttinger Tageblatt

 

London  — London Bach Festival

« Kei Koito’s expressive use of slightly detached touch (resulting in a beautifully clear articulation) was an object lesson to most English organists, as was her use of added ornaments – frequently thouhgt-provoking, occasionally daring, but always musical. »

Andrew Benson-Wilson, Early Music Review

 

Genève  — Victoria Hall with OCL

« Interprétation pleine de sève et de fierté, très pointue de technique, dont on gardera en mémoire la magnifique fraîcheur et la clarté étincelante de lecture. Un travail limpide et dynamisant auquel il fait bon se ressourcer. »

Sylvie Bonnier, Journal de Genève

Lyon  — Auditorium Maurice Ravel

« Kei Koito à l’Auditorium : une imagination illimitée. »

Philippe Andriot, Le Journal Rhône Alpes

 

Copenhagen  — Copenhagen Bach Festival

« Orgelt som orkester : Bach, spillet fortraeffeligt verlartikuleret og med en ypperlig tempo-drive, som appellerende effettivt med sin smittende vitalitet. Praestationen var af absolut carat. Alt i alt en fortraeffelig aften pa en hojt plan. »

Hans Voigt, Berlingske Tidende

 

Tokyo — Tokyo Metropolitan Theater

« Dazzling success of Kei Koito – brillant musical dialogue with three wonderful organs. Ovation ! »

Buzz – Geigeki Art Magazine, Tokyo

 

Paris — Recording Reviews for Bach : 6 Trio-Sonaten and 5 Concertos

« Il y a longtemps que nous n’avions entendu organiste oser des phrasés si libres, ductiles, organiste jouer de façon sensible, sans cette froideur mécanique que l’on peut regretter chez certains de ses confrères… On avait presque oublié qu’un orgue pouvait être si proche de la voix humaine. »

Alain Lompech, Le Monde