About Maki Sekiya

At the age of eleven, described by the London Evening Standard as “the piano prodigy of tremendous inner rhythm and vitality”, Maki Sekiya has since been captivating audiences around the world. Born in Tokyo, Maki's public career began when she was 10 years old and appeared on Japanese television; later that year she appeared in several of the biggest halls in Tokyo. As a teenager, a scholar at the Purcell School in London and pupil of Benjamin Kaplan, Maki performed solo recitals and concertos with orchestras throughout the UK, as well as overseas, and became a prize-winner in several international competitions. 

After the Purcell School, and an award of the Performance Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music, Maki entered the Moscow State Conservatoire, where she gained her diploma with distinction. She pursued her post-graduate studies in the classes of V.Gornostaeva and M.Olenev. While in Russia, Maki continued with her concert career, making numerous appearances in solo recitals and concerto performances with orchestras in Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Bulgaria, and the UK. Her performances have been broadcast by Japanese and Russian television and radio. 

Maki returned to live in the UK where, while playing in the Abbey in Dorchester-on-Thames, she was spotted by the conductor John Lubbock OBE, the founder of the Orchestra of St. John’s (OSJ). He immediately engaged her to give a solo recital in the OSJ's annual “Music in the Abbey” festival. This led to an ongoing collaboration and numerous performances as a soloist with OSJ, where she appeared in venues such as the Sheldonian Theatre, the Ashmolean Museum, SJE, and Blenheim Palace and St. John's Smith Square in London. With a very wide classical repertoire, Maki feels equally at home with contemporary music, and has given many critically acclaimed world premiere performances of compositions by leading Russian, Japanese and British composers.  Recent highlights include solo recitals at Iffley Music Society, SJE, and the piano series at Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, St Hilda’s College, where she has given world premieres of music by Somei Satoh, Joel Baldwin, and an Oxford premiere for Oliver Knussen. She is performing her inaugural solo recital at Wigmore Hall on 30th January 2022. 

Maki is currently Musician-in-Residence at Green Templeton College, Oxford. (www.gtc.ox.ac.uk/musician-in-residence).

Maki lives in Oxford. She speaks and writes fluent Japanese, English and Russian.