A Lecture Recital With Pianist Nana Miyoshi

Nana Miyoshi, a 15-year-old piano prodigy, is coming to Sag Harbor all the way from Japan, and on Saturday, March 25, at 4 p.m. will perform a recital at The Church in Sag Harbor. Miyoshi will perform a special repertory that highlights the works of Florence Beatrice Price and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, two Black composers currently enjoying a renaissance through performances around the world, in addition to classics by Beethoven, Clara Schumann and others.

This unique program was crafted exclusively for The Church in collaboration with the Alexander & Buono Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation established in 2008 with a mission to identify the world’s most promising classical musicians and help them launch and sustain careers, while developing new audiences who understand, value and appreciate classical music. In addition to Miyoshi’s piano performance, the event will also include a lecture by Barry Alexander and Cosmo Buono who will discuss the rich histories of the composers and the music performed.

A special emphasis will be placed on exploring the composition of Florence Beatrice Price (American, 1887 - 1953). Price has over 300 works that were forgotten and only discovered after her death. Finally, Price is gaining the international recognition and acclaim she deserves. The 90-minute concert will include a performance of Price’s “Sonata” in E-minor, with a brief introduction of the piece, noting Price’s career and newfound fame as a Black female composer. The rest of the recital features a standard repertoire that includes the works of Clara Schumann, Ludwig van Beethoven, among other notable composers.

Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” If there is a connection between genius and hard work, it is amply demonstrated in Nana Miyoshi and the pursuit of her dream to become a concert pianist. Speaking on Miyoshi, the Alexander & Buono Foundation states, “Having begun her piano studies at age three, it seems hard to imagine that at fifteen Nana has already worked at her craft for over a decade. Audiences continue to be inspired by her focus, dedication, and promise, and all of us at ABF consider it a privilege to guide her career path.”

Nana Miyoshi, a native of Tokyo, is the student of Cosmo Buono. Miyoshi is fully committed to her dream of becoming a concert pianist and practices weekly via Zoom with Buono, battling the 14-hour time difference between Japan and New York.

With concepts like career strategy and the need to establish professional credentials firmly in her grasp, Miyoshi has already won a number of competitions, among them first prize in the Yokohama International Piano Competition; the Imola International Piano Audition in Japan; Austria’s Classic Pure Vienna International Music Competition; as well as the Bradshaw & Buono in 2019, which provided her Carnegie Hall debut.

In 2020, she performed the Mozart “Piano Concerto No. 23” in A-major, K. 488 in Turkey with the Mersin State Opera and Ballet Orchestra under the baton of Nezih Seçkin, conductor and music director of Ankara State Opera and Ballet and returned in January of this year by special invitation from Naci Özgüç, chief conductor of the Ankara State Opera and Ballet Orchestra, to perform the Grieg “Concerto in A-minor.”

Through her work with Buono and the foundation, she is also being guided in the selection of repertoire that will not only aid in the slow and progressive development of her technique but is also being given works that will bring her to the attention of concert sponsors, conductors, and eventually management since, as with a building, every brick is important.

Tickets for the lecture and recital with pianist Nana Miyoshi are $40 ($35 members, $15 students and children) at thechurchsagharbor.org. The Church is at 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor.